T H E S I T C H
Princess Lilac (or Prince Lotus, if you like), heir to the Enchanted Domain of the Fey Folk, has been abducted by The Lizard King, a maniacally evil lizardman with ambitious plans, and his scaly subjects. The tribal shaman has read the entrails of a catoplebas and learned of a rare celestial event, a night when the two moons will be consumed by the shadow of Sess'inek. This marks a time when the Shadowfell is coterminous with a ley line that slices through the Oozing Bog of Ugh. On this night, an offering of noble fey blood can be used to transform The Lizard King into a powerful shadow dragon.
The adventurers have been hot on the trail of the lizardfolk, pushing deep into their swampy domain in an effort to rescue Princess Lilac and prevent The Lizard King from completing his dark metamorphasis. As they arrive on the scene, the ritual is nearly complete: Princess Lilac is lashed to a huge dragon's skull atop a pile of skeletons which drains her lifeforce and powers a spinning whirlpool in the muck where The Lizard King is transforming.
Will the heroes be able to rescue Princess Lilac before her noble essence is stolen away and prevent The Lizard King from becoming a fearsome dragon?
T H E K I N G ' S C O U R T
Shetharularor, The Lizard King (MM pg. 205)
Sazglaur, lizardfolk shaman (MM pg. 205)
7 lizardfolk (MM pg. 204)
Princess Lilac, a noble (MM pg. 348, modified to reflect elf traits)
Possibly:
Adult Black Dragon (MM pg. 88, modified with shadow dragon template on pg. 84-85)
While Shetharularor swims in a whirlpool of swamp water, bathing in the power of the Shadowfell, Sazglaur chants praises to Sess'inek, a tanar'ri demon lord. Seven lizardfolk warriors - the fiercest of the Forked Tongue tribe - witness the transformation and guard against interference. The Lizard King will dive beneath the water to avoid being killed before the ritual is completed if he must. The lizardfolk do what they can to keep the adventurers away from Princess Lilac.
Princess Lilac is currently having her fey essence drained by the evil magic of the skull altar. Her arms are outstretched, wrists tied with vines to the two horns of the dragon skull. At the end of each round, Princess Lilac loses 2 hit points. When she reaches 0 hit points, The Lizard King transforms into a shadow dragon if he is still alive. (Because The Lizard King and his tribe claim the Oozing Bog of Ugh, it becomes the dragon's lair for the purposes of Lair Actions.) The dragon tries to drive off its enemies, standing its ground only until reduced to 25% of its hit points at which point it flees, vowing revenge.
The "I Can Do Anything" Option: If Princess Lilac is taken from the altar before she is reduced to 0 hit points or the altar is disrupted, The Lizard King transforms, but is not imbued with the power of the Shadowfell. As a result, he becomes an adult black dragon without the shadow dragon template. This option makes this encounter a bit more difficult.
T H E O O Z I N G B O G O F U G H
Dry Land (or not): As the ritual draws to an end, The Lizard King's draconic presence begins to transform the land. The relatively dry land upon which the adventurers walk when they arrive begins to change into a sucking morass. Any enemy that ends its turn in this muck must make a DC 12 Strength saving throw or start to sink and is restrained. Once restrained, escape requires an action and a DC 12 Strength check. Three consecutive failures means the creature is pulled under and is at risk of suffocation.
Lilipads: These large lilipads look like they could support the weight of a man, but at best they can support Small creatures. The beauty of the water lilies thriving in such a dark place is inspiring to Princess Lilac. If she is given a flower, she regains 2 hit points.
Log Rafts: Thatched huts made of damp reeds and mud are built upon rafts of logs lashed together with vines. They are not attached to anything so they can be moved around with an appropriate amount of effort. Because they are constantly soaked in water, they are not flammable, nor are the huts themselves. Inside each hut are primitive tools, weapons, and animal trophies, plus a small amount of treasure. Large fires burn in the center of two of the rafts.
Skull Altar: On one of the log rafts, the lizardfolk shaman has gathered a pile of skeletons, victims of his tribe's raids on civilized lands. Atop the pile of skeletons is a very large dragon skull decorated with primitive symbols painted in blood. Princess Lilac is tied to the skull and as it drains away her life force, the ocular cavities of the dragon light up with a baleful glow. A dispel magic or similar effect can suppress the draining effect of the skull altar (DC 15) for 1d4 rounds.
Swamp Water: Any given spot in the murky water is as deep in feet as it is far from the dry land to a maximum of 60 feet. The water is muddy and filled with vegetation which makes any creature completely submerged within it heavily obscured.
Whirlpool: The magic of the altar and the power of the ley line on this night of darkness creates a whirlpool in the murky water of the bog. Any creature without a swim speed that is in the whirlpool at the end of its turn must make a DC 15 Strength save or be moved 15 feet counter-clockwise and be pulled under the water to a depth of 15 feet. Getting away from this effect requires an action to make a DC 15 Strength check. Creatures with a swim speed can choose to go with the flow. The whirlpool dissipates when the ritual is completed or disrupted.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
How would you or your players (if you're DM) take on this challenge? What would you add or change? As always, constructive feedback is welcome and if you use this is in your campaign, let me know how it went!
For me, the whirlpool really makes the challenge. In a straight fight, we likely can either save the protectee or eliminate the BBEG p quickly. The whirlpool effectively stalls around 2 moves (more if luck isn't with you). And that's enough to ratchet the countdown tension.
Im not looking at the MM, however, if the lizardmen don't have a swim speed, I'd add one.
hmmm..here we have a conflict of interest...I want the lizards to win :D
Definitely an interesting premise! 
If the party were large enough, perhaps it could be split into two with one group focusing on the lizardfolk while the other group does what it can to reach the princess as quickly as possible. 
or the party could offer to bring the chips and soda since the lizards provide the main course :D but seriously, nice scenario.
bawylie wrote:
caridhor wrote:
Well, they effectively have 5 rounds to prevent her from dying. If they have no intelligence about the situation, they are going to lose, because they are not going to get to her fast enough (barring flight and other options).
I would think that the alter would have an option for more permanent disruption than a dispel magic, assuming that the party is under about level 7. However, disrupting the skull is a priority. That'll buy them some time. The wizard probably needs to do that on the first round. As positioned on the map he can JUST reach it with one move. However, any oddity (even being a gnome) would be enough to make it out of reach. Hope he's got a buff. The wizard's next move is going to be to cast fly and move up. He needs to be at least 30' up to get out of easy javelin range.
It might be worth it for him to LEAD with this instead, and drop it on the rogue, if the rogue and the wizard are going fast. Rogue can then move+dash and get up in the shaman's face. This would probably be the ideal tactic if you have a Rogue/Assassin rather than a Rogue/Thief, as he could potentially get his sneak against the not-particularly-fast lizardmen.
Cleric - I'd want to know if I can disrupt the ritual with silence, and I'd put it on anyone that it would be effective on.
If someone can get up and land a hold person on the shaman, that seems like it would also disrupt it. It seems unlikely that the party would be able to drop the lizard king from range in one round.
Just drop two fireballs on the middle Lizardmen and King, Bless and Polymorph into a T-Rex and Bobs your Grandad. 
Nice scenario Iserith. 
raleel wrote:
Ah, level 8. Lots of options at level 8.
Wizard casts fly. Wizard moves. Next round, wizard moves, wizard casts Otiluke's resilient sphere around princess. Princess safe for a while.
Fighter pulls out longbow and hopefully takes out some dudes.
Cleric does freedom of movement, and if he's really smart, he did control water. Very large control of the battlefield at that point. Wizard can also do this. Wizard can conjure a water elemental as well... pretty handy for this sort of fight.
I don't know if this would work but here's a plan I'd suggest:
Mage casts fly on the fighter.
The fighter flies over to the lizard king and grabs/grapples him, perhaps aided by a bless spell and perhaps a lasso.
Fighter flies back to the mage with the lizard king in tow.
Mage casts rope trick and fighter drags lizard king into the extradimensional space, maybe aided by the rogue.
Since the lizard king will be in another dimension, and spells can not cross the entrance to the extradimensional space, in theory this will sever the connection between the lizard king and whatever powers are trying to transform him.
Cleric dispells magic on the alter to give them more time
The party tells the clan they will get their king back unharmed in the morning (after the celestial event has ended of course) if they release princess lilac. Otherwise their king dies as he is at the party's mercy.
Shasarak wrote:
No, I can't say that I'd totally expect it out of every wizard, but some of the trickier ones use it. That whole weightless thing is pretty handy
Cant beleive i missed this. Water walk, first round by the cleric. Affects all the party, no concentration, 1 hour duration. Mobility is no longer an issue. Also pretty well negates the whirlpool. I think it's even a reasonable take if the party knows they are heading into a swamp.
with water walk, your fighter and your rogue move quickly to dispatch lizards. They work as a pair. Fighter, assuming he's a battle commander, will use commanders attack to grant extra attacks by the rogue and drop folks very fast.
Who needs Dragon magazine or its ilk when you have Iserith posting on the forums.
Is there anything preventing the cleric from dashing and swimming to the closest raft with 2 lizardmen on it? Then he can fight the lizardmen and cast healing word on the princess. That will buy the others some time.
thehobb wrote:
raleel wrote:
Wuzzard wrote:
iserith wrote:
Against waterwalk I suggest the aforementioned entangle, using the water lilies and other waterweeds for good measure. Actually, I would do it anyway ...
Not sure if this would work...
1) Kill the princess to neutralize the ritual. A couple arrows or a magic missile should do the trick. (Logically, if killing her would complete the ritual, the lizards wouldn't be wasting their time with the whole "slow drain" thing.)
2) Kill the lizards
3) Resurrect the princess (Since there's a reasonable chance that the party can defeat the king, shaman and lizards given enough time, I assume that cleric is high enough level to resurrect.)
Keanu Reeves approves. ("Shoot the hostage")
SterlingRat wrote:
thehobb wrote:
Regin_Vargtass wrote:
Hale, the half-orc ranger.
Long have I been travelling the lands. My heritage a bane to my reputation. A brutal killer is what they call me. Perhaps it's what I am. This lizard king; he's no so different from me. No, perhaps we're both of the same cloth. Maybe we could have been friends. Yes, perhaps it may have been so at another time and another place. We're most likely both victims of circumstances.
*BBEG revels in the shadowfell energies, a gruff snaky cackle resonates through the bog; drowns out the whimpering of the elven princess*
Look at him, seems he found his place in the world. Yeah; maybe I should find mine. My 4 comrades pretends we're all friends, but I see it in their eyes when I let loose; the fear. It's something I came to realize in the past months. We accomplished many things together, but gradually, I came to understand this fear as something different from the ones I saw sketched on all my previous opponents. Aye, this one grew on them, like a comfortable blanket beside a campfire they wrapped themselves in it.
*Adventurers rush the lizards shouting battle-cries, flinging spells and launching bolts; the robe-wearer yelling Hale's name sternly*
Ah, I guess it's my turn now. Oh lizard pal; why'd it come to this. Now I have to draw both my weary blades in yet another addition to my grim tally, against a foe much in the same rut that I find myself. Oh look, there goes Mr.Toogoodforeveryone speared. Yeah I see you, from the bushes I catch your last look; it seems accusing. Sorry, not my fault; this time it wasn't me. And there goes the Golden Boy himself, hah, thrown into the waters: never liked your haughty brags, too bad I couldn't see it myself. These bushes are pretty nice right now. Looks like you're going to win this one Mr.Lizard King.
*Seeing his friends felled, the cleric bats away the spirits assailing him honing his god's symbol with his faith, the spirits dissipates to the great disappointment of the shaman. It is too late, and he starts the retreat hoping the thief can cover him*
Run robed dunst, they're almost at your heels. The short one won't help you; he got dragged under already. Probably have issues with seeing things clearly with those bushy eyebrows of yours. No matter, you'll be feeding the lizards too soon enough.
*The Elven Princess succumbs to disaster and expires*
Never like those elves; too frail, too much like our late Golden Boy. Ho ho priest, you chose the white and now wear the deepest red. I'll be seeing you one day. Not today, no, I'm hungry and this isn't my scene.
*The ranger leaves the scene through the bush, like an artist observing the work of another's. He heads for easier game.*
"Hale hungry. Rabbit is good. Hale get rabbit."
There. Encounter done. The Ranger Wins.
iserith wrote:
SterlingRat wrote:
iserith wrote:
SterlingRat wrote:
Timborama wrote:
I'm confused about the "I can do anything" option. Why should rescuing the princess make the encounter harder? Isn't saving her the point?
SterlingRat wrote:
Rils wrote:
From a character's perspective, I would want to save the girl and prevent the emergence of an evil black dragon. From a player perspective, I wanna fight the dragon.
That option is there so the players can save the girl and fight the Big Bad Dragon.
Banish the princess.
Polymorph then sleep on Lizard King.
Deal with other lizards.
Gather princess. Take Lizard King someplace within an hour's journey. Deal with him.
Profit?
SterlingRat wrote:
Judou_Hanabi wrote:
Well he needs the Princesses essence to succeed, shoot the Princess and kill her before he completes the ritual.
Archon007 wrote:
The Wizard does a Dimension Door with the Rogue onto the altar raft to neutralize the Shaman.
The Cleirc puts freedom of movement on the Fighter and he goes into the water to demolish the Lizard King
After that the Wizard and Cleric damage/buff depending what the lizards do and the Rogue is likely murdering any Lizard stupid enough to try and climb out of the water onto the Altar.
Should be 4 turns tops before all the Lizards are dead.
OrionStyles wrote:
As a player, it may not be obvious that killing the princess would stop the ritual... her death may still be enough to power the magic.
Iserith, can the players tell that the Shaman is no longer necessary? Because that seems like the easiest link to break otherwise.
I like how you took distance into account, so that they had to move to the rafts just to cast a lot of the magic.
Thanks for the feedback. I tend to frame the scene in such a way to make that kind of stuff apparent and then see what the players do with the information. I probably wouldn't think to bring up killing the princess as a way to defeat the encounter, but I would say that the shaman's work is done for now. I mostly put him there so he could hinder approaching PCs with entangle and a conjured giant constrictor snake and whatnot.
The dry land is also an issue for those that might want to hang back like spellcasters and archers - it's easy to get sucked into the mud and you likely don't have much Strength to get out. A particularly unlucky wizard might end up a well-preserved fossil for future generations to dig up.