Hi all,
I am currently DMing Keep on the Shadowfell. As is the case with all premade adventures, it has plenty of room for improvement.
I intend to use this thread to post any ideas, comments, questions, concerns, and advice I might have that relates to making KotS a more enjoyable experience. My hope is that other DMs running KotS will do the same so that we can all draw on each other for inspiration and advice. I made a similar thread when I was running Red Hand of Doom and it became quite popular. I'm hoping this one will be just as successful.
I'll kick things off with a suggestion on how to expand on the dragon burial site encounter:
The Missing Mentor: Douven Staul & the Dragon Burial Site
I used the "missing mentor" as the main hook for the adventure (I had him be the adventuring mentor for all 5 of the PCs). We ran through the burial site encounter during the second session. Afterwards, I felt like the whole thing had been rather anticlimactic. I wish I had thought of the following idea in time to implement it in my campaign, as I feel it takes an encounter that otherwise feels "tacked on" and actually incorporates it into the main plot of the adventure and gives it a bit more depth. That and it would make the quest take a bit longer to resolve. ;)
Rather than having the PCs find Douven Staul under a pile of blankets at the burial site as written in the adventure, put him in one of the holding cells in Area 2 of the keep's dungeons. When the gnome Agrid and his lackeys came upon Douven at the site, they shipped him off to the keep as another victim for Kalarel's sacrifices. Kalarel, however, realized Douven might know something so he kept him alive and tortured him for information (Kalarel wanted to know what Douven knew about the keep and the mirror relic supposedly located with the dragon's bones). By the time the PCs arrive, Douven has told Kalarel everything he knows that might be useful and is just waiting to be sacrificed.
Leave the picture of Douven's wife in the magic amulet as a clue that he was actually there. Also include a diary belonging to Douven in the pile of equipment at the site. Date the last entry - in which Douven talks about how he has nearly finished unburying the dragon's skeleton - several days/weeks prior to the day the PCs arrive so they'll know he's been missing from the site for some time.
If the PCs keep any of the humans or the halfling alive and successfully interrogate them, they can learn that a man going by Douven's description was at the site and that he was taken away by hobgoblins however many days ago. If the PCs take Agrid the gnome alive and successfully interrogate him, he can identify Douven by name and can explain that the hobgoblins work for a guy named Kalarel and that they took Douven away for questioning. If any of the PCs reveal that Douven was their mentor, have Agrid cruelly add that Kalarel has probably had Douven killed by now.
As I said, I didn't come up with this idea until after my PCs rescued Douven, so it's a little too late for me to use it. I'm hoping that it might be of some use to someone else though.
Rather than having the PCs find Douven Staul under a pile of blankets at the burial site as written in the adventure, put him in one of the holding cells in Area 2 of the keep's dungeons. When the gnome Agrid and his lackeys came upon Douven at the site, they shipped him off to the keep as another victim for Kalarel's sacrifices. Kalarel, however, realized Douven might know something so he kept him alive and tortured him for information (Kalarel wanted to know what Douven knew about the keep and the mirror relic supposedly located with the dragon's bones). By the time the PCs arrive, Douven has told Kalarel everything he knows that might be useful and is just waiting to be sacrificed.
Leave the picture of Douven's wife in the magic amulet as a clue that he was actually there. Also include a diary belonging to Douven in the pile of equipment at the site. Date the last entry - in which Douven talks about how he has nearly finished unburying the dragon's skeleton - several days/weeks prior to the day the PCs arrive so they'll know he's been missing from the site for some time.
If the PCs keep any of the humans or the halfling alive and successfully interrogate them, they can learn that a man going by Douven's description was at the site and that he was taken away by hobgoblins however many days ago. If the PCs take Agrid the gnome alive and successfully interrogate him, he can identify Douven by name and can explain that the hobgoblins work for a guy named Kalarel and that they took Douven away for questioning. If any of the PCs reveal that Douven was their mentor, have Agrid cruelly add that Kalarel has probably had Douven killed by now.
As I said, I didn't come up with this idea until after my PCs rescued Douven, so it's a little too late for me to use it. I'm hoping that it might be of some use to someone else though.
I have encountered a couple of issues I'm not sure how to resolve though.
Major Spoilers (How do you hide text as you did in your post?)
They've unfortunately skipped a good portion of the 1st level, encompassing areas 9, 10 and 11. They noticed the stairs leading down from area 3, but I fear I may have overemphasized the cave-like environment in this area as they have wrongly deduced that the 'older' area of the keep must be where the portal to the Shadowfell is. They have been fairly thorough with their exploration so far, so I'm sure they will return to these areas. My only concern is that the encounters to come on level 2 may be a bit more difficult/challenging than the ones in the remaining areas on level 1. I supposed I could increase the difficulty depending on when they return. I just think it would flow better if they finished level 1 first.
Secondly, I wanted the party to fight Ninaran before going down to the second level. I like the conversation dynamic with the hobgoblins and it becomes much more interesting if the PCs have a password (whether a right one or wrong one). I thought about having a villager come to the keep to tell the adventurers that Winterhaven was under attack by undead, but then I thought, why not have Ninaran do it herself? Then Winterhaven wouldn't necessarily even have to be in danger. She could lead them straight to the graveyard.
What do you guys think?
Major Spoilers (How do you hide text as you did in your post?)
Use "sblock" and "/sblock" in brackets rather than quote marks.
They've unfortunately skipped a good portion of the 1st level, encompassing areas 9, 10 and 11. They noticed the stairs leading down from area 3, but I fear I may have overemphasized the cave-like environment in this area as they have wrongly deduced that the 'older' area of the keep must be where the portal to the Shadowfell is. They have been fairly thorough with their exploration so far, so I'm sure they will return to these areas. My only concern is that the encounters to come on level 2 may be a bit more difficult/challenging than the ones in the remaining areas on level 1. I supposed I could increase the difficulty depending on when they return. I just think it would flow better if they finished level 1 first.
So if your players think that the rift is in the "older" area, how come they skipped it? Do they want to clear out the manmade dungeons first or something?
It certainly would flow better if they cleared out level 1 first but don't force them to do it. All I can suggest at this point is just gently reminding them that it might not be a wise move to leave portions of the upper dungeon unexplored before heading down to the next level. Who knows what might follow them and/or block their exit if they need to leave in a hurry? If you have an NPC with the party, you can have them say it IC, otherwise I would just bite the bullet and give them a bit of OOC advice.
Secondly, I wanted the party to fight Ninaran before going down to the second level. I like the conversation dynamic with the hobgoblins and it becomes much more interesting if the PCs have a password (whether a right one or wrong one). I thought about having a villager come to the keep to tell the adventurers that Winterhaven was under attack by undead, but then I thought, why not have Ninaran do it herself? Then Winterhaven wouldn't necessarily even have to be in danger. She could lead them straight to the graveyard.
What do you guys think?
I think that's a great idea, actually! I've been trying to figure out how to stop my players from going down to the second level before going back to town ... and I've been trying to figure out how to make them want to go back to town in the first place. Using Ninaran herself could be perfect. In fact, she could already be in the dungeon (having just reported to Kalarel) and pretend to have just arrived. That would work well in my campaign because of what I've done with Ninaran and the elf cleric PC ...
During the first night that the PCs spent in Winterhaven, I gave the elf cleric PC a dream. In the dream, he saw "a village that looked very much like Winterhaven" under attack by an army of undead creatures being led by some dark cultists. One of the cultists turned and looked straight at the elf, who woke up suddenly in a cold sweat.
He didn't tell any of his fellow PCs about the dream at first, but when he went down to the ground floor of the inn for some breakfast, I told him that Ninaran was there and that she was staring straight at him. Eventually, he was unnerved enough that he went over and talked to her (she had refused to talk to any of the PCs the night before). She "revealed" that she'd had the same dream as the PC and explained that it was because they were both elves. She whispered that she had seen the cultists in the dream going to meet with the kobolds, who lived behind a waterfall.
The elf cleric PC later encountered Delphina Moongem and asked her if she'd had a dream but she had not (I made it clear that she was a total airhead).
Anyway, the player of the elf cleric PC now feels his character has some sort of connection with Ninaran, so I think that if I had her come and tell the PCs that they should return to the village ASAP, the elf cleric's player would urge the others to listen to her.
And I've been intending to run the extra Ninaran encounter from the FR conversion (where the PCs track her down at her hut in the woods), so with the graveyard attack, I'll have her make an appearance but then flee and her place will be taken by an undead mage (using the Human Mage from the MM) to keep the encounter at the same level.
)First things first, the "Keep on the Shadowfell" was a bit of a giveaway, especially considering very few (really only Valthrun and after he does research) know of the existence of the rift below the keep. So the locals just refer to it as the 'Old Ruins' and older sorts (Eilian the Old for instance) refer to it as "Keegan's Folly". While they don't know any of the details, the local legends know that somebody named Keegan was of some importance when the Keep was abandoned.
Setup for the module. I put the town of Winterhaven under a sort of kobold siege and the party entered the town as caravan guards protecting a couple of wagons. (not my idea but played very well into the initial ambush) This caravan became the first to make it through to the town in months. It also allowed me to introduce two halfling merchants (retroactively made members of the halfling trading clan in Fallcrest) who I plan to use for hooks throughout the later modules. (very mild comic relief with them making at least one appearance per module where applicable)
My take on the module overall was to make it a much darker environment. With that, the skies have been overcast with drizzle on the best days, worsening storms and heavy downpours as the timeline progresses and Kalarel moves forward with his ritual.
With the dragon boneyard, I made some modifications to the mirror. The mirror is ice cold to the touch and any character who gazes into it sees a twisted undead reflection of themselves. They are then cursed and lose one healing surge from their total until the curse is removed. As my players voted not to remove the curse right away, I plan on having it increase in power (removing more healing surges) as they head into deeper levels of the Keep.
I also had the players start to have recurring dreams in which a malformed and sickly looking goblin was reciting some lines of a poem. Because of the horrific nature of the dreams, each player could only recall certain lines from the poem. Note: the cleric and pally, because of their faith, were instead treated to dreams of their deity's angels standing guard over them while they slept, keeping some sort of black influence away from them. Fast forward to the keep's 1st level, Splurg in the cell is the goblin that they were seeing. I used him as a sort of twisted mutant savant who had been driven crazy by the influence of Orcus. He recited the poem in its entirety (idea for the poem was submitted by another creative mind, I just changed from of the lyrics around for my own purposes) before letting out a scream about the unstoppable approach of Orcus and how he would consume all of their souls.
(I apologize for bumping around here, I'm just listing these as they come to mind) To get the players to return to Winterhaven before they reached the Hobgoblin level, I had Keegan's ghost tell them that he was aware of a large group of necromantic creatures had left the keep and were headed to the village. He implored them to save the village as he was able to detect that Kalarel had not penetrated all of the magical seals guarding the rift yet.
To spice up the graveyard encounter I added the side trek with Maw and more undead in a sort of second wave to make it a more dire situation for the players. (they still stomped through it fairly easily) Here's a question for the others though...Ninaran survived the encounter and fled the area. My thoughts are to A. have her in the second level of the Keep somewhere, possibly beside Kalarel or B. save her for later as a recurring villianess. Thoughts? Suggestions?
I hope that wasn't too jumbled and gives some DM's some additional ideas. When I get home tonight to my notes, I'll include the various links, the poem lyrics, etc. for any that are interested.
So if your players think that the rift is in the "older" area, how come they skipped it? Do they want to clear out the manmade dungeons first or something?
I actually had my players reach the same conclusion when they saw the steps descending down. They thought that the natural cavern was the entryway to the second level instead of being part of the first. Thankfully they took their time against the goblin barracks and figured out that somebody (i.e. Balgron) had slipped away so they checked down there anyway. (which was a good thing as I put a ton of time into prop handouts and some handmade slime minis that I wanted them to encounter before they hit the real second level.)
So if your players think that the rift is in the "older" area, how come they skipped it? Do they want to clear out the manmade dungeons first or something?
Heh. Spoiler block... sweet.
Show
They have actually been very careful not to skip anything. They took the quest from the scholar Parle Cranewing to map the keep. The ranger has actually gone so far as to integrate dungeon clearing rules into his dungeoneering skill. Such as 'right is right' and 'clear by tier'. And that is where my problem begins. Areas 1, 2 and 4 are on 'tier 1'. And areas 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8 are on 'tier 2'. Which means that areas 9, 10 and 11 are on the same 'tier' as all of the areas on level 2. If I had known then what I know now about how they would have decided such things I would have changed the bridge between area 3 and 9 to a straight tunnel instead of stairs.
I liked your idea to ingratiate Ninaran with a member of the party through dreams. I didn't attempt anything so elaborate. What I did do was play up the letter from Kalarel to Irontooth. Specifically the part about a spy in Winterhaven. They spent almost an entire night trying to figure out who it was, making for many interesting exchanges with the NPCs of Winterhaven.
I liked your idea to ingratiate Ninaran with a member of the party through dreams. I didn't attempt anything so elaborate. What I did do was play up the letter from Kalarel to Irontooth. Specifically the part about a spy in Winterhaven. They spent almost an entire night trying to figure out who it was, making for many interesting exchanges with the NPCs of Winterhaven.
First things first, the "Keep on the Shadowfell" was a bit of a giveaway, especially considering very few (really only Valthrun and after he does research) know of the existence of the rift below the keep. So the locals just refer to it as the 'Old Ruins' and older sorts (Eilian the Old for instance) refer to it as "Keegan's Folly". While they don't know any of the details, the local legends know that somebody named Keegan was of some importance when the Keep was abandoned.
This is a good plan. I don't think I've had anyone in-game refer to it as the Keep on the Shadowfell (or even Shadowfell Keep) but the players all know the name of the module. I think I've just been referring to it as "the keep". But they've just come back to town from the kobold lair, so they're about to find out more about it (I had Douven tell them the story but Valthrun will be able to tell them more).
My take on the module overall was to make it a much darker environment. With that, the skies have been overcast with drizzle on the best days, worsening storms and heavy downpours as the timeline progresses and Kalarel moves forward with his ritual.
I've made the Nentir Valley (not only does WotC have an obsession with the word "vale", in this instance they came up with one that sounds too much like the one from Red Hand of Doom - Elsir Vale. Since that was our last 3.5 adventure, I thought having a Nentir Vale and an Elsir Vale was too much. Fortunately, simply changing "Vale" to "Valley" seems to make a big difference.) a properly northern environment and I've set the adventure at the onset of winter. I plan on having the first snow fall occur while the PCs are in the dungeon under the keep. When they emerge, the snow will be coming down pretty hard. It should add an interesting terrain element to the graveyard encounter.
With the dragon boneyard, I made some modifications to the mirror. The mirror is ice cold to the touch and any character who gazes into it sees a twisted undead reflection of themselves.
These are cool ideas. I might use them. I've used someone else's idea to make the mirror a relic of the Raven Queen. I haven't decided yet whether it's an actual magical artifact or not, but I told the PCs they couldn't detect any magic on it. However, when the cleric PC was messing around with it and using his Religion knowledge to find out more about it, I had it give him a vision of the cultist he saw in his dream. The others didn't see anything although the wizard used prestidigitation to make the cleric think it was happening again when he next looked into the mirror. That was humorous.
Anyway, the wizard PC died in the fight at the kobold lair (as did the cleric). I decided I didn't want any dead PCs just yet (we had too many in my 3.5 RHoD campaign and it had an adverse effect on some of my players. That is not to say that I won't let their 4e characters die. It's just that in this instance, it serves the story better to have them stay alive ...), so on the spot I decided to give the kobold wyrmpriest the power to raise the dead. However, his power isn't very good and it doesn't raise people properly. Unfortunately, he was killed before he could raise both dead PCs but he managed to work his magic on the wizard. So now the wizard is alive (and the others plan to raise the cleric in town) but I'm going to creep out his player with lots of creepy sights, sounds, smells, etc. Nothing that will have a mechanical effect. I just wantto scare him. One idea I've had is that he'll briefly shift into the Shadowfell every so often (so the landscape around him will go all bleak and will be slightly altered and he might see some undead hanging around nearby), although I wouldn't do that at a critical moment in a fight or anything. Anyway, to make a long story short, I intend to use the mirror as a medium for some of the otherworldly creepiness. Next time he looks in it, I'll tell he sees an undead version of himself. And eventually he might see the Raven Queen or one of her messengers. It depends on whether they keep the thing for any length of time or try to get rid of it at the first opportunity (although I might make it so they can't get rid of it ... Maybe they'll sell it and then it'll turn up back in their pack the next day, and the money they got for it will be gone as well -- to prevent them from selling it repeatedly to make money).
I also had the players start to have recurring dreams in which a malformed and sickly looking goblin was reciting some lines of a poem. Because of the horrific nature of the dreams, each player could only recall certain lines from the poem. Note: the cleric and pally, because of their faith, were instead treated to dreams of their deity's angels standing guard over them while they slept, keeping some sort of black influence away from them. Fast forward to the keep's 1st level, Splurg in the cell is the goblin that they were seeing. I used him as a sort of twisted mutant savant who had been driven crazy by the influence of Orcus. He recited the poem in its entirety (idea for the poem was submitted by another creative mind, I just changed from of the lyrics around for my own purposes) before letting out a scream about the unstoppable approach of Orcus and how he would consume all of their souls.
This is cool too. I might do something like this with the wizard PC who has one foot in the grave, er, I mean, the Shadowfell (see above).
To get the players to return to Winterhaven before they reached the Hobgoblin level, I had Keegan's ghost tell them that he was aware of a large group of necromantic creatures had left the keep and were headed to the village. He implored them to save the village as he was able to detect that Kalarel had not penetrated all of the magical seals guarding the rift yet.
The encounter with Keegan is actually fairly problematic for me. He's quite a powerful undead creature (his hit points are too high, btw) and yet he doesn't seem to be doing anything to try and stop the ritual himself. Is he trapped in the tomb? That's a good answer. Once the PCs open the door, though, why doesn't he just leave and try to stop the ritual? Perhaps the power of Orcus can keep him at bay? Also, it's rather convenient/odd that there was already a special tomb for him in the dungeon ... I'm thinking of changing the room so it's more of a morgue type area and that rather than an actual tomb, it's just a stone slab and Keegan's body is resting on top of it or slumped at its base.
Here's a question for the others though...Ninaran survived the encounter and fled the area. My thoughts are to A. have her in the second level of the Keep somewhere, possibly beside Kalarel or B. save her for later as a recurring villianess. Thoughts? Suggestions?
I'm planning on using the expanded encounter from the Forgotten Realms conversion. In that one, Ninaran escapes and the PCs have to track her back to her hut in the woods. I'm going to have an undead mage (based on the Human Mage from the MM) fight the PCs in the graveyard in her place, although they will still find the note (hopefully) and she might make a brief appearance so they know she's no longer trustworthy.
Heh. Spoiler block... sweet.
Glad you figured it out. I'm hoping that we won't need spoiler blocks in this thread though. I only used one in my initial post because my suggestion was so long ...
They have actually been very careful not to skip anything. They took the quest from the scholar Parle Cranewing to map the keep.
I gave them this quest as well but we haven't gotten to the keep yet so I don't know what their plans are. I have a sneaking suspicion that they may clear out the keep and then map it out once it's safe to do so (in which case they'll just say, "OK, now that the bad guys are all dead, we spend some time mapping out the dungeon. There we go. Done."
I liked your idea to ingratiate Ninaran with a member of the party through dreams. I didn't attempt anything so elaborate. What I did do was play up the letter from Kalarel to Irontooth. Specifically the part about a spy in Winterhaven. They spent almost an entire night trying to figure out who it was, making for many interesting exchanges with the NPCs of Winterhaven.
It was very much a spur of the moment thing because I really wanted to plan the red herring seed that Valthrun might be the cult (I love his prewritten response about "someone trying to lead you astray".). Unfortunately, the players didn't really bite (the cleric PC's player refused to talk to anyone other than Ninaran about his dream until after they'd left Winterhaven. It wasn't until they were resting after the dragon burial site that he told the others about his dream, and by then it was too late to go asking around town. Now that they've got Kalarel's note, they'll probably bring up the subject of a cult. I'm thinking of maybe having Valthrun brush it off anyway instead of taking it seriously.)
I want to add some more intrigue in the town, but I'm not sure I like a lot of what's in the Eberron conversion. I kind of like making Valthrun a bit shady by having him want to join the Blood of Vol (I'm using most of the Eberron religions in my homebrew setting). I'm still thinking about this stuff.
I have been playing up how the kobolds have betrayed worship of Tiamat to follow Orcus. Kobolds of importance wear amulets which were originally carved in the shape of a dragon to Tiamat have been scraped and marred with a ram's head carved in the base. Both Kobold Hall and Irontooth's lair had an alter to Tiamat which has been defamed and ram's heads carved upon them. As a result, Lord Armos Kamroth of Fallcrest has been secretly directing the PCs against Orcus's cult.
I've done the same. I got the idea from Justin Alexander's KotS Kitbashing thread. I used his revised Kobold Lair as well, with all the druid stuff and the defaced temple to Tiamat with the golden ram's skull on the altar.
I also had Irontooth wearing a withered hand around his neck. The hand once belonged to the kobold chief, who is currently wasting away in one of the cells in Shadowfell Keep's dungeon. This is also something that I got from Justin Alexander's thread (although he used a withered arm, I believe). Since the PCs have pretty much slaughtered the kobold tribe, the chieftain will curse them if he finds out they did it. I haven't decided what the curse will be yet, though, or even if it will have an actual in-game effect.
I had Ninaren join Kalarel in the final encounter. It made a sort of sense, as I also had changed Kalarel to a Half-Elf and made him the offspring of Keegan and Ninaren.
That's an intriguing idea. I read somewhere else where somebody had switched Kalarel and Ninaran's genders, so Kalarel was female and Ninaran was her male elf lover.
I've done the same. I got the idea from Justin Alexander's KotS Kitbashing thread. I used his revised Kobold Lair as well, with all the druid stuff and the defaced temple to Tiamat with the golden ram's skull on the altar.
I also had Irontooth wearing a withered hand around his neck. The hand once belonged to the kobold chief, who is currently wasting away in one of the cells in Shadowfell Keep's dungeon. This is also something that I got from Justin Alexander's thread (although he used a withered arm, I believe). Since the PCs have pretty much slaughtered the kobold tribe, the chieftain will curse them if he finds out they did it. I haven't decided what the curse will be yet, though, or even if it will have an actual in-game effect.
Pretty neat we had the same idea. I will have to check Justin Alexander's thread out.
Pretty neat we had the same idea. I will have to check Justin Alexander's thread out.
Here is the link to Justin's thread: http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1037342
I'm going to use some of the ideas from both the Eberron and FR conversion articles, although I am going to modify them to fit into my campaign world. These are some of my plans:
1) I am going to use the changes to Valthrun from the Eberron conversion, although I'm going to have to change his motivations as I am not making Kalarel a Blood of Vol cultist pretending to be an Orcus cultist. As in the conversion article, I'm going to make Valthrun an old man afraid of death who hopes to find some way of attaining immortality, if not divinity, through undeath as per the supposed tenets of the Blood of Vol faith. The mirror will play a part in his plans and he will attempt to get the PCs to give it to him (although if they do, it will mysteriously reappear in their possession overnight -- causing Valthrun to insist that he accompany them). Perhaps he hopes that if he can give the mirror to Kalarel as an offering to help with his ritual, the grateful cultist will help him become an intelligent undead creature (although Kalarel would most likely just turn him into a blazing skeleton or some such thing).
2) I want to use the changes to Bairwin from the FR conversion, but I can't decide what kind of cultist to make him. I have two options: I can make him an Orcus cultist and have him be the one who sent supplies and equipment to Kalarel as per the article, or I can have him act as a red herring by having him be a member of some unrelated cult. No matter which option I choose, I'm thinking of making it so that villagers have been mysteriously disappearing for some time now -- some as victims of the cult(s), some to be sold as slaves by the Bloodreavers. If any of my players ask, the reason they're only just finding out about this now is because no one in the village wanted to mention it to a bunch of strangers. Now that they've earned the town's trust by dealing with "the kobold problem", the villagers feel comfortable enough to mention "the other problem" to the PCs.
If I decide to make Bairwin an Orcus cultist, then he will have kidnapped some of the villagers to send to Kalarel as human sacrifices to aid his ritual. If I make him a "red herring" cultist (I'm thinking of maybe making him a follower of the Shadow, so that I won't have to change anything in the encounter stats other than references to Shar - since she's now all about shadows and stuff, then all the shadow fluff in the encounter will work with the Shadow as well), he could simply have kidnapped the villagers either for his own ritual sacrifices or to sell to the Bloodreavers for the slave trade. Either way, some of the villagers will have been kidnapped by the Bloodreavers directly, and I'm thinking of including the child of one of the more prominent villagers, perhaps even Lord Padraig himself, as one of them (although I haven't decided yet whether this child has already been kidnapped or doesn't get kidnapped until near the end of the adventure, so as to add a little more urgency to the hook leading the PCs to H2).
3) On a slightly unrelated note, I am changing the fluff in the Skeletal Legion encounter. As mentioned in the Eberron conversion article, I am making it so the skeletons all display Dol Dorn's holy symbol on their shields. However, I am dedicating the altars to Dol Arrah. The domed ceiling will look like a starry night sky, with the stars being the source of the dim light. If any of the PCs pray to Dol Arrah at the altars, the "sun" will rise from below the floor, go up one of the walls, and stop at the apex of the dome, transforming the ceiling into a blue sky that sheds daylight. I thought this would be a cool magical effect that my players might appreciate. The reason the altars belong to Dol Arrah and the skeletal warriors to Dol Dorn is because I wanted to highlight the relationship between the two deities in my campaign world (they're twins rather than just siblings) by emphasizing the idea that they can either overcome the encounter through sheer strength and endurance (by defeating all the skeletal warriors) as per Dol Dorn's doctrine or by turning to Dol Arrah for light and protection and having her "fight" for them.
On a totally unrelated note, I am doing away with the entire Kruthik Lair encounter. I don't like the kruthiks (partly because I feel like they're one of WotC's "cool" pet monsters--along with the kobolds and the shadar-kai--but also because the encounter seems unnecessarily stacked against the PCs. Also, kruthiks don't appeal to me.). Instead I'm going to have a cavern choker and some doomspores. I'm not entirely sure of the layout but I'm thinking that if one of the PCs goes down fighting the ochre jelly and the rats (and I'm going to swap out some of the giant rats for two dire rats, mainly to reduce the sheer number of creatures on the map), the cavern choker will come creeping out and attempt to drag the downed PC back into its lair. If it makes it, the other PCs will have to get through the doomspores in order to rescue their comrade. [Note: I'm not sure I understand how you're supposed to go about awarding XP for hazards. You obviously don't give it out if the PCs "trigger" the hazard. Do you only give it out if they successfully bypass the hazard? If I have a room full of doomspores, do I give the PCs XP only if they manage to get from one side of the room to the other without any of the spores attacking them (or at least only give them XP for the spores they managed to avoid, if they set off some but not all of them)?]
EDIT: On the way home from work, I had the idea that maybe I would make Kalarel only a pretend Orcus cultist. In reality, he's a follower of the Shadow, and he is attempting to steal power from Orcus by reopening the rift. Bairwin can be an agent of the Shadow as well. This way I can make the BBEG in H2 a follower of the Shadow, and I can make Vecna an exarch of the Shadow, so that I can still have him appear before the PCs in that adventure without violating my "the gods don't appear in physical form" rule.
I don't have the adventure in front of me, but I'm thinking about making Bairwin a lvl 3 Orcus underpriest (downleveled from the 2nd to last encounter assuming it's a controller as well). I'd like to replace the Dark Servants with some Orcus-flavored humanoids. One of these is going to be Delphina Moongem who one of my players has already met and fallen for. I suppose I could put some generic Skeletons in place of the Sightless Reapers as something that Bairwin was able to summon from the Shadowfell for the encounter.
Or should I just not sweat it and use the shadow-themed stuff as written? I suppose it does serve as a good change of pace amongst the undead encounters and the final two Orcus-related ones.
On a side note, I whole-heartedly agree on not having Douven Stahl be found at the burial site. I think they're going to find him strapped to a table in the torture chamber getting the hot poker treatment. I considered extending that thread all the way to H2 and having him be sold to the Bloodreavers, but I decided that would be too mean to my players as they seem dead set on rescuing him. They're currently in the process of ignoring the sorry plight of Winterhaven (burning farms, food shortage, people abducted or killed) in a monomaniacal effort to find the missing archaeologist. Apparently they're not as motivated by gold as I thought since they're delaying clearing out the kobold lair.
I am wanting to use the Bairwin cult subplot from the FR conversion, too. However, I'm wanting to leave this as a cult of Orcus... any ideas on how to make this encounter more Orcus-tinged? I'm not entirely sure that putting a stack of undead in the store's secret cellar really makes a lot of sense.
Have you read through the entry on Orcus' cults and such in the MM? That should give you some ideas. Apparently the cults like to spread disease by fouling wells and things, so that's one thing you could try.
I don't have the adventure in front of me, but I'm thinking about making Bairwin a lvl 3 Orcus underpriest (downleveled from the 2nd to last encounter assuming it's a controller as well). I'd like to replace the Dark Servants with some Orcus-flavored humanoids. One of these is going to be Delphina Moongem who one of my players has already met and fallen for. I suppose I could put some generic Skeletons in place of the Sightless Reapers as something that Bairwin was able to summon from the Shadowfell for the encounter.
Do you mean that Delphina will be one of the cultists or that the cultists will have killed her and she's now a zombie or something?
Or should I just not sweat it and use the shadow-themed stuff as written? I suppose it does serve as a good change of pace amongst the undead encounters and the final two Orcus-related ones.
Personally, I would sweat it and try to make the encounter as Orcus-themed as possible.
On a side note, I whole-heartedly agree on not having Douven Stahl be found at the burial site. I think they're going to find him strapped to a table in the torture chamber getting the hot poker treatment. I considered extending that thread all the way to H2 and having him be sold to the Bloodreavers, but I decided that would be too mean to my players as they seem dead set on rescuing him.
Yeah, I think that would be a bit too mean.
That reminds me, though ... I was going to mention before that I am planning on giving the wizard PC dreams about the Pyramid of Shadows starting near the end of the H1. And that made me realize that I might end up giving that particular PC (and by extension his player) too much attention because he's also the one who was raised improperly and was going to be tortured with creepy visions, sounds, etc. I was thinking that I might drop that bit and instead have the creepy things happen to all the PCs and have it be because of the mirror rather than someone having been raised improperly.
What do you guys think?
It was a bloodbath. Comical, certainly, but a bloodbath nonetheless. Unknowingly, the characters took the "let's make a beeline for the BBEG" approach. Perhaps this is due to the adventure being entitled "Keep on the Shadowfell", so the characters felt obligated to go to the keep. Hmmm.
I changed little of the adventure as written, wanting to see how the mechanics shook out. Overcoming the kobold ambush, the PCs arrived at Winterhaven in the evening. After asking a few questions and getting some info at Wrafton's (not from the prominent residents, the ones who actually know what they're talking about), they secured lodging and bedded down. Early the next morning, they're off to the keep, rushing like lemmings to their doom. Of course, with the players being my friends who have gamed together for years, I let them.
The PCs were mid-2nd level when they attempted to tackle the ghoul warren, cathedral, and rift location all in one fell swoop. But I'm thinking that they still would have gotten their butts handed to them even if they had been 3rd.
On the bright side, I now have a better understanding on the desired balance for designing my own adventures. And one thing I did which I consider a good idea, since we were all playing just for familiarization, with no intention of going further than KotS, was to rotate the characters among the players. This way, they learned the mechanics for several races and classes, not just one.
I never was a fan of modules or canned settings, preferring instead to design my own. However, to get a handle on the feel of 4E, both for myself and my players, I ran KotS.
I'd much prefer to design my own but I'm a very time-poor DM. I've got a wife and two children under two. Even though I am now only running my game every other week (I share with one of the other guys in the group, who is running a SWSE campaign at the moment), I still don't much time. 4e has been an absolute godsend for me. It is so much easier to prep for than 3.5 was! I find that I spend almost no time at all on the monsters' stats, so instead I can use what little prep time I get to pump up the roleplaying side of things.
Perhaps this is due to the adventure being entitled "Keep on the Shadowfell", so the characters felt obligated to go to the keep. Hmmm.
Yes, it is extremely unfortunate that adventures have such giveaway titles, but I suppose they kind of have to, otherwise we wouldn't necessarily want to buy them. I guess the trick really is to try not to let your players find out the name of the adventure you're running ...
Have you read through the entry on Orcus' cults and such in the MM? That should give you some ideas. Apparently the cults like to spread disease by fouling wells and things, so that's one thing you could try.
Hey, the Orcus section of the MM! Thanks, what a good idea.
To be honest, the Monster Manual is the book I've read the least because you don't really need it much to run the pre-published adventures. I'll take a gander at it and see what I can come up with.Do you mean that Delphina will be one of the cultists or that the cultists will have killed her and she's now a zombie or something?
I'm going for the former. I think it makes more sense to have multiple people attached to Kalarel within town. She fills the role of not-so-trustworthy damsel in distress that attracts and distracts any potential adventurers who come into town that might be trying to cause trouble for them.
That reminds me, though ... I was going to mention before that I am planning on giving the wizard PC dreams about the Pyramid of Shadows starting near the end of the H1. And that made me realize that I might end up giving that particular PC (and by extension his player) too much attention because he's also the one who was raised improperly and was going to be tortured with creepy visions, sounds, etc. I was thinking that I might drop that bit and instead have the creepy things happen to all the PCs and have it be because of the mirror rather than someone having been raised improperly.
What do you guys think?
I'm in a similar situation regarding the Pyramid visions as my wizard has been getting the most attention so far, too. I'm not sweating it though since most of the other characters will have a much closer tie to Douven when they find him.
As for you, I think it's fine to extend your plan to all of the party members. You could justify it with either the mirror or the ungoing softening of the wall between the natural world and the Shadowfell. I think it all depends on what type of players the rest of the party is.
I'm going for the former. I think it makes more sense to have multiple people attached to Kalarel within town. She fills the role of not-so-trustworthy damsel in distress that attracts and distracts any potential adventurers who come into town that might be trying to cause trouble for them.
Check out the Eberron conversion article if you haven't already. It changes Delphina into a doppelganger working for Kalarel. It might give you some ideas.
As for you, I think it's fine to extend your plan to all of the party members. You could justify it with either the mirror or the ungoing softening of the wall between the natural world and the Shadowfell. I think it all depends on what type of players the rest of the party is.
I don't think my players will mind, but I don't want to be seen as playing favorites - and it certainly wasn't my intention. I suppose with the bad dreams/visions and things, I could have it be because he was raised improperly but have it also be amplified by the mirror so that it affects everyone.
PC's find and free slaves in that ridiculous bolder trap room. I used an idea I found somewhere to let the slaves move the bolder with their feet, hanging from a grating in the ceiling. The freed slaves are confused and report that they were only meant to stay for a few days and are then being shipped off. The PC's arrived just in time to save them from an unknown fate.
In the dragon's treasure chest the PC's find a mysterious letter:
MIGHTY SZARTHARRAX!
I SEND YOU THE GOLD FOR THE SLAVES AS AGREED.
K. WANTS MORE, AND WOULD PAY EXTRA FOR FEY AND LARGE BLOOD VESSELS.
WE CANNOT POSSIBLY CATCH MORE PEASANTS FROM THE W. AREA.
I AWAIT YOUR RESPONSE.
SIGNED: IRONTOOTH
It's written in Draconic, and the wizard has to use the language ritual. But it turns out it's also encrypted
DCHNQA BLGWQNGWWGS!
C BOVM AYZ QNO HYRM XYW QNO BRGPOB GB GHWOOM.
J. TGVQB DYWO, GVM TYZRM KGA OSQWG XYW XOA GVM RGWHO URYYM POBBORB.
TO FGVVYQ KYBBCURA FGQFN DYWO KOGBGVQB XWYD QNO T. GWOG.
C GTGCQ AYZW WOBKYVBO.
BCHVOM: CWYVQYYQN
which was a lot of fun for them to solve. "Irontooth" was the first word they deciphered after "the"! They didn't go home until the cryptogram was completely solved, after which I rewarded them with 2nd level.
Kalarels initial remains mysterious/unsolvable in any encryption (K is one of the 5 letters that can't be solved).
So now I already have a couple of hooks and hints towards blood sacrifices.
The final levels of KotS I intend to turn into a truly macabre scene and bloodbath, with slaves lined up for slaughtering (and actually being slaughtered to rhythmic drumming and chanting while PC's arrive on the scene.) Orcus loves to drink blood... haven't you wondered where those streams of blood on the map are coming from?
I only fear my girlfriend will find it too disgusting... :D
The only thing now is to figure out how to get the PCs hooked into the encounter. Since the FR conversion article mentions that Bairwin tries to recruit any PCs of traditionally "non-good" races, I'm going to have him talk to the minotaur PC and try to recruit him. I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to say but I'm sure I'll figure something out on the night.
The first link has some great ideas for making your own slime/ooze minis. I followed the directions to the letter and my creations came out beautifully. (sidenote: for the ochre jellies I just used the Crayola material instead of adding wax)
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1040772
This second link contains the poem that one of the forumites put together. With some tweaks due to a different storyline, it fit into the adventure wonderfully.
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1040772
Last but not least, this thread had some great ideas on a darker campaign. (actually I think someone already posted this link but here it is again for posterity)
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1037828
I've been a bit unhappy with the layout of the last two encounter maps so during the convention I picked up some rubber molds for making my own dungeon tiles and walls. I'm in the process of building a model for the last two rooms that will hopefully keep my players talking for years. I'll post some pictures as the project comes together.
I'm finding that last link to be especially useful. I'm all for making the adventure darker. Speaking of which, I am reminded of a post the Rouse made in a KotS thread some months back. Someone was talking about how some of the zombies should be Keegan's family members, including his children, and the Rouse responded by saying that they had wanted to do that but couldn't because otherwise the product wouldn't have been suitable for the youngins. This is something I intend to do, though. I've bought two kobold zombie minis that I'm going to use to represent the Keegan's kids. I've got a plethora of Strahd zombies that I'm going to use, but I'm also going to through in a number of other zombies (like the orc and hobgoblin zombies and the like) to show that Kalarel's undead troops weren't all former inhabitants of the keep.
Cheers,
Jonny
Lord Padraig is aware of Kalarel and Bairwin's cult activities in his town. He knows/suspects that the townsfolk who have disappeared since they arrived have been taken by the cult. However, he has not acted because he has been led to believe that Kalarel kidnapped his son in order to keep him quiet.
However, his son was actually sold into slavery by the Bloodreavers and Kalarel was not involved -- so if the PCs go looking for the son in order to free up Lord Padraig and allow him to act, they won't find the boy. If I'm feeling nice, I might let them find him in Thunderspire Labyrinth. It would certainly make for a more compelling hook for H2.
If the PCs can at least establish that Kalarel does not actually have his son (and that he was not simply sacrificed to fuel Kalarel's dark ritual), then Padraig will feel free to act on what he knows and go after Bairwin (if the PCs haven't already dealt with him). Minor quest maybe?
EDIT: I meant to add that should the subject of missing persons be raised with Padraig but not in direct relation to queries about cults, then Padraig will dismiss it by saying that Winterhaven is a frontier town, so people go missing all the time. It's just a fact of life. Make nothing of it.
Sgt. Pepper, thanks the ideas and for the links. You inadvertantly made the second link the same as the first, though.
Hmm...you are indeed correct. That's what I get for trying to post and work at the same time. Next time I'll stop working.
Here is the correct link.http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1051843
And here's my spin on it.
In shadowed keep of tumbled stone,
A peril lurks, for years unknown,
The Kinslayer's spirit guards it yet,
'Gainst a newfound vile threat.
The Kinslayer once was proud and strong,
Until the Blood Lord came along.
The thing of evil sent dark dreams,
Nightmares wrought of tortured screams,
The vowed defender's mind did bend,
And with his blade he did rend.
Awakened to the awful truth,
Shattered bones of men and youth,
His wife and children, pride and joy,
Mistaken for demons he was forced to destroy.
The Kinslayer fled to meet death alone,
For wicked deeds he must now atone,
And so the fallen paladin must wait,
For heroes to arrive and reverse his fate.
But twisted whispers echo through the halls,
And ghostly blood runs 'long the walls,
None can face those cursed remains,
Fear like water in their veins.
A Blood Lord follower from a cursed line,
Now threatens to awake the unholy shrine,
Dark power craves as men do thirst,
Confining spells to be reversed.
Storm clouds gather with the demon's approach,
And the living dead will soon encroach,
The forces of good will never survive,
For the Prince of the Undeath will soon arrive.
Again, credit goes to the original author. I just changed a few things around.
Another idea I've just had over lunch:
Lord Padraig is aware of Kalarel and Bairwin's cult activities in his town. He knows/suspects that the townsfolk who have disappeared since they arrived have been taken by the cult. However, he has not acted because he has been led to believe that Kalarel kidnapped his son in order to keep him quiet.
However, his son was actually sold into slavery by the Bloodreavers and Kalarel was not involved -- so if the PCs go looking for the son in order to free up Lord Padraig and allow him to act, they won't find the boy. If I'm feeling nice, I might let them find him in Thunderspire Labyrinth. It would certainly make for a more compelling hook for H2.
If the PCs can at least establish that Kalarel does not actually have his son (and that he was not simply sacrificed to fuel Kalarel's dark ritual), then Padraig will feel free to act on what he knows and go after Bairwin (if the PCs haven't already dealt with him). Minor quest maybe?
EDIT: I meant to add that should the subject of missing persons be raised with Padraig but not in direct relation to queries about cults, then Padraig will dismiss it by saying that Winterhaven is a frontier town, so people go missing all the time. It's just a fact of life. Make nothing of it.
I would totally use this as a hook leading into H2 if I wasn't past that point in the story. I wonder what I can do to shoehorn it in. Hmm...
On that note, what other hooks are DM's using to lead their players from H1 to H2? Anything outside of the printed material or have you expanded on it? Should I start a new topic on this?
I would totally use this as a hook leading into H2 if I wasn't past that point in the story. I wonder what I can do to shoehorn it in. Hmm...
On that note, what other hooks are DM's using to lead their players from H1 to H2? Anything outside of the printed material or have you expanded on it? Should I start a new topic on this?
Feel free to keep talking about it here. This is supposed to be a catch-all for anything relating to KotS. Hooks from H1 to H2 is a fine topic as most of them will involve changing or adding to KotS in some way.
The moment my players entered the inn, one of them walked up to Ninaran and started flirting. Now, there were several ways to handle this. Obviously, the proper Ninaran response would be to brush him off. However, I decided it'd be more interesting to let it play out, especially since the player dropped the name of Orcus right off and just sort of left it there (his character doesn't know a whole lot about what's going on). I'm sort of playing it by ear at this point, but this way, I figure the betrayal's going to be a lot more dramatic.
I just started this one, and already we've derailed the plot. It was partly my players, but I admit, I helped.
The moment my players entered the inn, one of them walked up to Ninaran and started flirting. Now, there were several ways to handle this. Obviously, the proper Ninaran response would be to brush him off. However, I decided it'd be more interesting to let it play out, especially since the player dropped the name of Orcus right off and just sort of left it there (his character doesn't know a whole lot about what's going on). I'm sort of playing it by ear at this point, but this way, I figure the betrayal's going to be a lot more dramatic.
Sounds good. I didn't quite have Ninaran flirt with anyone, but she has definitely established a "connection" with the elf PC -- she claimed to have had the same dream as he did. So he thinks she's there to help them ...
The moment my players entered the inn, one of them walked up to Ninaran and started flirting. Now, there were several ways to handle this. Obviously, the proper Ninaran response would be to brush him off. However, I decided it'd be more interesting to let it play out, especially since the player dropped the name of Orcus right off and just sort of left it there (his character doesn't know a whole lot about what's going on). I'm sort of playing it by ear at this point, but this way, I figure the betrayal's going to be a lot more dramatic.
IMO you did the right thing. I had one of my players go and try to talk to her and he got the cold brush off and that immediately set off their spidey-sense. If I had played it out like you did, the surprise element would have been that much more sweet. (my players just finished the GY encounter at the end of our last session and weren't too surprised when Ninaran started turning them into pincushions)
IMO you did the right thing. I had one of my players go and try to talk to her and he got the cold brush off and that immediately set off their spidey-sense. If I had played it out like you did, the surprise element would have been that much more sweet. (my players just finished the GY encounter at the end of our last session and weren't too surprised when Ninaran started turning them into pincushions)
The flirting idea is really great. I think it's always good to learn from old movie drama tricks like this one (hero falls for beauty who betrays him.) Make her escape from the graveyard, and then show up at Kalarel's side along with some sexually explicit ritual perhaps?
One of my other ideas is to turn Winterhaven into something like HBO's Deadwood, with everybody more or less being corrupted and greedy, and only a few shining lights among them. It's a bordertown after all. The lord could be corrupted too, as somone suggested already. It's not a good idea to make him too important though, it would harm K's role as the ultimate villain. The lord mayor could simply be a weak figure (alcohol, drugs, women), also explaining why he hasn't been able to respond properly to the threats. Or there is an unofficial town leader (like Al Swearengen) who runs things and has an agreement with Kalarel. I'd suggest the innkeeper Silvana Wrafton, and also turn this standard inn into a raunching brothel.
Douven Staul could be the missing husband of a rich lady from Fallcrest who followed him to Winterhaven for adventure and is now in despair because he didn't return from a trip (also a Deadwood plot). She hires the PC's to find him. They find out that Silvana sold him a (fake) tip about treasure in the burial site, only to learn from Kalarel that there actually is treasure. Although she didn't order Staul's capture (or murder if you want) she is involved, and the PC's become suspicious. In the end Silvana is glad that Kalarel is dead because she hates competition.
The corrupting influence of Orcus is everywhere.
I'd much prefer to design my own but I'm a very time-poor DM. I've got a wife and two children under two. Even though I am now only running my game every other week (I share with one of the other guys in the group, who is running a SWSE campaign at the moment), I still don't much time. 4e has been an absolute godsend for me. It is so much easier to prep for than 3.5 was! I find that I spend almost no time at all on the monsters' stats, so instead I can use what little prep time I get to pump up the roleplaying side of things.
Yes, it is extremely unfortunate that adventures have such giveaway titles, but I suppose they kind of have to, otherwise we wouldn't necessarily want to buy them. I guess the trick really is to try not to let your players find out the name of the adventure you're running ...
My group fell to the same problem. the "lets go to the keep now, its where the adventure is" attitude.
I managed to circumvent this by giving them wrong directions, when the PC's started asking about directions to the ruined keep i had Ninaran speak up.
"I know where that is, give me your map i will mark it for you. Try not to get your necks broken while your there."
It actually worked really well for me later on because she lied to them. When they got a note about a spy in Winterhaven the PC's just went "it's Ninaran, we have to go back to town to warn them"
My group fell to the same problem. the "lets go to the keep now, its where the adventure is" attitude.
I managed to circumvent this by giving them wrong directions, when the PC's started asking about directions to the ruined keep i had Ninaran speak up.
"I know where that is, give me your map i will mark it for you. Try not to get your necks broken while your there."
It actually worked really well for me later on because she lied to them. When they got a note about a spy in Winterhaven the PC's just went "it's Ninaran, we have to go back to town to warn them"
oh, that is a great idea. I can just see it. Some PC talking with a slightly drunk farmer.
Farmer: "Keep? Oh yes,ok, so first you go down the road, hick, then, hick, yussssssssssss find yours self the big tree. Not the little one, but the big one. That will be where you have to head....a....what was I saying?"
Enter Ninaran shaking head "it is here" pointing to ambush site or gave yard.
I like it great way to add color to the NPC's and to get Ninaran involved.
oh, that is a great idea. I can just see it. Some PC talking with a slightly drunk farmer.
Farmer: "Keep? Oh yes,ok, so first you go down the road, hick, then, hick, yussssssssssss find yours self the big tree. Not the little one, but the big one. That will be where you have to head....a....what was I saying?"
Enter Ninaran shaking head "it is here" pointing to ambush site or gave yard.
I like it great way to add color to the NPC's and to get Ninaran involved.
LOL. That's a good one. Make the drunk farmer Eilian and you're sussed!
Game night tonight for me. The player of the currently-deceased cleric isn't going to be there, so I'm going to have Sister Linora take time to do some research, gather ingredients, and prepare her mystic salves before performing the raise dead ritual. I'm also going to have the ritual take the full 8 hours (instead of 4 hours because it's a scroll).
They'll probably want to speak to Lord Padraig as soon as they get back. I might stall them by having him be out on a hunt or something. When they do speak to him, I've got a potential little Negotiation skill challenge. Depending on their level of success, they might learn the following:
1) There are villagers missing.
2) Lord Padraig suspects the villagers have been taken by a cult.
3) Lord Padraig's young son, Carrick, has been kidnapped.
4) Carrick is being held hostage to keep Lord Padraig from doing anything to oppose the cult.
If they're really successful, they can convince Lord Padraig to commit to helping them out if they can rescue his son (although this will be a bit of a red herring because his son has actually been sold into slavery by the Bloodreavers -- I'll have to make it so they can learn this from someone in the keep's dungeons, otherwise they'll probably conclude that the boy has been sacrificed for Kalarel's ritual).
At some point, I'll have Bairwin approach the minotaur PC and try to recruit him for the cult (ostensibly to have him join but really to get him in a vulnerable position so they can capture him and use him as a sacrifice -- perhaps they believe minotaurs make for better sacrifices or something ... ;))
If they investigate, they'll trigger my modified "cult in the basement" encounter from the FR conversion article.
During the night, the PCs will have a bad dream. They'll see their cleric buddy approach out of the darkness only to discover he's been turned into a zombie or something. Then behind him will come some of the PCs' loved ones, who have also turned into zombies. They'll all wake up in a cold sweat.
Then I suppose it'll be off to the keep.
Another idea I've just had over lunch:
Lord Padraig is aware of Kalarel and Bairwin's cult activities in his town. He knows/suspects that the townsfolk who have disappeared since they arrived have been taken by the cult. However, he has not acted because he has been led to believe that Kalarel kidnapped his son in order to keep him quiet.
However, his son was actually sold into slavery by the Bloodreavers and Kalarel was not involved -- so if the PCs go looking for the son in order to free up Lord Padraig and allow him to act, they won't find the boy. If I'm feeling nice, I might let them find him in Thunderspire Labyrinth. It would certainly make for a more compelling hook for H2.
If the PCs can at least establish that Kalarel does not actually have his son (and that he was not simply sacrificed to fuel Kalarel's dark ritual), then Padraig will feel free to act on what he knows and go after Bairwin (if the PCs haven't already dealt with him). Minor quest maybe?
EDIT: I meant to add that should the subject of missing persons be raised with Padraig but not in direct relation to queries about cults, then Padraig will dismiss it by saying that Winterhaven is a frontier town, so people go missing all the time. It's just a fact of life. Make nothing of it.
So none of my players bit into any of these hooks. They talked to Lord Padraig and the subject of missing persons came up but they didn't press him very hard when he said that people went missing on a regular basis and that most of them probably just got lost in the wilderness and/or got killed by monsters. So they didn't find out about his kidnapped son.
I also had Bairwin approach the minotaur and offer him a proposition to join his little group, but the minotaur's player thought Bairwin was involved in some sort of "gay orgy" thing and didn't want to have anything to do with it. Shortly after that, the PCs all trudged off to the keep (they seemed to be in a hurry to go there and didn't want to wait around in the town any longer than needed).
Now that I've actually got a copy of H2, though, I'm liking some of the hooks it presents. I think I'll leave Bairwin as a cultist of the Shadow, but if they don't ever pursue that line of thought any further and end up fighting him, then I'll go with the H2 hook where he hires them to take something to the Seven-Pillared Hall for him (there's no reason he can't be an evil cultist and an opportunistic merchant -- plus it fits with the goings-on in the Seven-Pillared Hall anyway).
Depending on whether or not the PCs return to Fallcrest after they complete H1 (I've given them the "map the keep" quest, but I don't know if they'll bother going back for their reward right away), I'm thinking of having Parle Cranewing ask them to explore Thunderspire instead of Valthrun (who will most likely be dead anyway, since I'm making him a Blood of Vol cultist who will attack the PCs at some point). I'm actually going to try to get them to go back to Fallcrest anyway so I can get them to talk to the tiefling merchant there (of House Azaer) in order to find out how to get into Thunderspire (the Seven-Pillared Hall is supposed to be fairly secret, and the minotaur PC's backstory involves his father having gone to Thunderspire to try and find the lost city ... so I'm thinking the entrance will be more like the secret entrance to the Mines of Moria in LOTR -- hard to find ... which would help explain why the minotaur's father never found it and why more people in Nentir Valley don't know about it).
Some things I threw in while improvising on the night:
1) I gave them the dream I mentioned before but I told the player of the dragonborn paladin that he didn't dream the same thing. Instead, he woke up well-rested with only a vague and rapidly-fading memory of a large winged dragonborn watching over him (because of his devotion to Dol Arrah, her dragonborn exarch [of which there will be a mini in the Demonweb set but I don't remember her name] protected him from the dream).
2) In the morning, the minotaur ordered some milk with his breakfast and I told him that it was curdled. There was a halfling (the PC of a guest player) in the inn whose milk wasn't curdled, and Salvana was just as confused as the rest of them. That was fun.
3) Lord Padraig informed them that Salvana's husband, Kem Wrafton, had gone missing (I might make him be one of the slaves the PCs can rescue from the duergar in H2) but that they shouldn't talk to her about it as it was still a sensitive subject.
4) When they approached the keep, I told the eladrin wizard PC's player that his character saw the landscape shift briefly, with everything becoming cold and grey and dreary. Shortly after that, he saw a raven land amongst the rubble, caw at him, then fly off. He decided to attack it with a magic missile ... and of course because the others couldn't see it, they all thought he was crazy.
5) They reluctantly gave the mirror to Valthrun when he asked if he could borrow it and study it and then overnight it reappeared in their possession. When they met with Valthrun, they attempted to accuse him of losing their valuable possession but he pointed out that they didn't seem very surprised that it was missing, so they admitted that it had reappeared in their possession. Immediately, they got the idea that they could make money by duping people into buying it only to have it reappear in their possession overnight. Originally, I was just going to make it so that the money they got went back to the buyer but I might just let them get away with it and, after letting it happen once or twice, I'll have a disgruntled merchant send some enforcers after the PCs.
1) I'm thinking of scrapping my changes to Valthrun and Bairwin. I don't know that making Valthrun a sinister old man will really add much, and I want to keep Bairwin alive so I can use him as one of the hooks to H2.
2) I've decided to change the layout of the keep a bit. I didn't like how the first hobgoblin guard post was just a short stairway away from the zombie-filled crypt area and yet the text assumed that the hobgoblins would not seem to notice anyone fighting the zombies at the top of the stairs and would thus simply call out "What's the password?!"
So instead I've decided to move the bulk of the natural cave to the bottom of the stairs -- but I'm still doing away with the kruthik lair all together and I'm putting the blue slime-spoiled well right where the entrance to the natural cave was before. The entrance to the next level of the dungeon will be through the secret door in the natural cave (originally the little secret store room where Balgron goes to hide). There will be a hole there with a ladder leading down to a small room that then leads into the first hobgoblin guard room.
The way I see it, the second level of the dungeon is part of the Orcus temple and it was originally accessed through the cave. However, the soldiers built their level of the dungeon on top of it and then built the keep on top of that.
It's kind of hard to explain without being able to show you.
Anyway, I just got back from my latest session. The PCs finished clearing out the goblin-infested parts of the dungeon (they've killed all the goblins except for Splug, who's still languishing in his cell, and Balgron, who escaped through his secret door).
Despite the fact that this was their second foray into the dungeon and thus it has only been a few hours since their last extended rest, they have proceeded to barracade themselves inside Balgron's room with the intention of hanging out in there for an entire day until they can get enough rest.
I want to drive home the point that resting in the dungeon is a Bad Idea. I'll give them some unsettling, creepy descriptions and if they persist in staying the whole day, I'll tell them that they weren't able to get a good rest. But I'm not sure exactly what that means.
I'm thinking I should withhold some healing surges, but I don't know how many would be good. Let them get back to half their full amount? What about their hit points? Should I let them fully heal? And what about daily powers? Should they recharge? Or should healing surges be the only "hit" they take for resting in the dungeon?
Also, I'm not entirely sure what to do about Balgron. Would he just run away? Or would he try to contact the hobgoblins? And if he does that, then would the hobgoblins send a patrol to try to get the PCs out of Balgron's room? I imagine that this would then spoil any attempt on the part of the PCs to try to use the password on the hobs guarding the entrance to the second level ... so if I were to go this route, I might make it so that Balgron encounters the patrol first and they come directly without warning the rest of the hob troop.
What do you guys think?
Balgron runs to his 'hideout' near the rats, rest for a bit, then tries to get reinforcements or flees the dungeon. My party found him in his hide out and proceed to get ambushed by rats and other creatures in that section while finishing him off.
If you look upthread a little bit (post 36), you'll see that I've changed the layout of the dungeon ... Balgron's hideout has been replaced with the access to the second level. The secret door in the rat cavern now leads to a pit with a ladder leading down to a small antechamber adjoining the first hobgoblin room.
I don't know that I did either of these very well as the players just didn't seem to "get" it a lot of time. Oh well.
Then, in the morning I had Ninaran "lure" the hobgoblins away and then tell the PCs they had to come back to town urgently. She wouldn't explain so they got a bit suspicious but they went anyway and I ran the Dead Walk encounter. I had it snowing the whole time, which of course is a great idea but not all that evocative in execution because it ends up just being a flat penalty to attack people ... Oh well.
This is the main reason for my post today: as the PCs were making short work of all the skeletal minions, it suddenly occurred to me that the magic circle should play a more active role in the encounter ... so I had it randomly flash and cause all the fallen skeletons to rise up again, so the PCs had to fight them all over again. After this had happened a few times, they finally figured out what was going on and went to try and disrupt the circle.
I had Ninaran run away and "replaced" her with an undead mage based on the human mage in the MM (I had hoped my players would go "Oh no, it's a lich!" but I don't think I described it well enough because no one did). His thunder clap and dancing lightning were fun but he got taken out pretty quickly.
The zombie dogs were fun, though. They kept biting the minotaur fighter and dragging him to the ground, so he spent a good bit of the fight falling down and standing up and falling down and at one point he was dazed (the mage's thunder clap) so he stood up and couldn't do anything else. Ha ha.
Anyway ... just thought I'd share. The players really seemed to enjoy the idea of having skeletons that just kept getting back up again (although one of them kept saying they should get multiple amounts of XP -- but the way I reasoned it is that the skeletons weren't being defeated by knocking them down. The only way to "defeat" them was to get rid of the circle ... I might give them some extra XP anyway though).
During their investigations in town, the name Sir Keenan came up, and they heard of a place called Keenan's Crypt out in the wilderness...
It is where Keenans' wife and children were buried after they were killed, and the players were told that they may find more info on the Keep there. When they arrived, a hobgoblin band had taken it over as a hideouts of sorts, and the PC's cleared the place.
It was a 3 room dungeon, with each room having beautiful etched carvings on the walls depicting the story of Sir Keenan, and how he murdered his family. Inside the coffins, were 3 magic items, as a way to reward the players for coming to the session. The items were placed there to protect the family in the afterlife, and it was fun to see the Lawful Good Cleric arguing with the unaligned Rouge about grave robbing. Ultimately they agreed to use the items to defend against the evils of the Keep, and put them back when they finish... We'll see if the rogue keeps his promise...
I found it was a good side treck, for a little XP push, and it helped them in the Skill Challenge with Sir Keenan inside the Keep.
I ran into a situation while my PC's were in Winterhaven getting info on the cult, in that for the following session only 3 players were going to make it to the game. I'm running a 7 man party, so it was a big loss... So what I did was reward the players that showed up...
During their investigations in town, the name Sir Keenan came up, and they heard of a place called Keenan's Crypt out in the wilderness...
It is where Keenans' wife and children were buried after they were killed, and the players were told that they may find more info on the Keep there. When they arrived, a hobgoblin band had taken it over as a hideouts of sorts, and the PC's cleared the place.
It was a 3 room dungeon, with each room having beautiful etched carvings on the walls depicting the story of Sir Keenan, and how he murdered his family. Inside the coffins, were 3 magic items, as a way to reward the players for coming to the session. The items were placed there to protect the family in the afterlife, and it was fun to see the Lawful Good Cleric arguing with the unaligned Rouge about grave robbing. Ultimately they agreed to use the items to defend against the evils of the Keep, and put them back when they finish... We'll see if the rogue keeps his promise...
I found it was a good side treck, for a little XP push, and it helped them in the Skill Challenge with Sir Keenan inside the Keep.
Cool idea, enrique. Thanks for sharing!
BTW, I had a "grave robbing" incident last session with the "nihilist" ranger wanting to look in all the coffins for loot though he justified it by saying he was checking to make sure there weren't any more undead creatures around but none of the other PCs, not even the good cleric or lawful good paladin, said anything (although, admittedly, not everyone had gone into the mausoleum with the ranger).
Hmm...you are indeed correct. That's what I get for trying to post and work at the same time. Next time I'll stop working.
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1051843
And here's my spin on it.
In shadowed keep of tumbled stone,
A peril lurks, for years unknown,
The Kinslayer's spirit guards it yet,
'Gainst a newfound vile threat.
The Kinslayer once was proud and strong,
Until the Blood Lord came along.
The thing of evil sent dark dreams,
Nightmares wrought of tortured screams,
The vowed defender's mind did bend,
And with his blade he did rend.
Awakened to the awful truth,
Shattered bones of men and youth,
His wife and children, pride and joy,
Mistaken for demons he was forced to destroy.
The Kinslayer fled to meet death alone,
For wicked deeds he must now atone,
And so the fallen paladin must wait,
For heroes to arrive and reverse his fate.
But twisted whispers echo through the halls,
And ghostly blood runs 'long the walls,
None can face those cursed remains,
Fear like water in their veins.
A Blood Lord follower from a cursed line,
Now threatens to awake the unholy shrine,
Dark power craves as men do thirst,
Confining spells to be reversed.
Storm clouds gather with the demon's approach,
And the living dead will soon encroach,
The forces of good will never survive,
For the Prince of the Undeath will soon arrive.
Again, credit goes to the original author. I just changed a few things around.
I really liked your poem. I added it to my H1: Prince of Undeath Conversion Guide. Hope it is ok. I put you in the credits. Great work, would never have managed to put that one together.
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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
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