Klaus
First Post
After a one-years hiatus brought forth by a baby and Heart of Nightfang Spire (best left unfinished), I managed to start my Eberron campaign.
SPOILERS!
I downloaded the adventure Dark and Stormy Knight, from the WotC site. For those who do not know it, the PCs seek shelter from a storm in a chamber carved on the side of a tor. It turns out to be the burial chamber of a bugbear warlord. Inside they also find a lesser vargouille (only has the shriek), two hobgoblins thinking of setting up camp there (after descending from the top of the tor on a rope), a spider, a trap, some rats and the warlord, now a bugbear zombie.
Now first, the PCs:
Drago Vedenin is a human Karrnathi artificer. He left his homeland because not only he lacks the martial inclination of his countrymen, he abhorrs the use of undead. He joined several caravans in circling the Mournland, offering his repair expertise in return for his travel fare. Once he reached the Breland/Mournland border, he joined the caravan of Bonal Geldem, provost of Morgrave University, who was returning to Sharn with Cyran relics he purchased at border towns (among them a statue of a warforged wielding two shields... turns out it will be a PC).
The caravan is composed of two carts, the provost, four mercenaries hired from House Deneith (human War1) and a guide/scout, a Brelish shifter druid named Soranda Moonhunt (the other PC).
Now the adventure:
When a heavy storm hits them on the road, Soranda guides them to a local tor, where they might get shelter. Turns out a lightning bolt had opened the side of the tor, exposing a chamber that dated to the Dhakaani civil war (5000 years ago). The provost and two guards remained in the entry chamber while the PCs and two guards went exploring (an encounter with several rats convinced them that it was wise to ensure no other surprises remained).
On one room, they discovered a stone chest with exactly 1000 dhakaani silver pieces and four ivory statuettes of goblinoids wearing heavy armor. The artificer disarmed a trap there.
On another room they found 7 stone sarcophagi, carved out of the wall, along with several relics (like those found in egyotian tombs). The sarcophagi depicted hobgoblins, and one seemed to wear a winged helmet. But that was no winged helmet! It was a vargouille, attracted by the foul magic that permeated this place. For centuries it bathed in the evil aura and the vermin that inhabited this place. The artificer and a guard were frozen with fear, but the shifter cut the beast in twain with two scimitar slashes.
Proceeding to another room, the expedition discovered a sacrificial chamber, where the hogboblins mummified in the vargouille room were prepared. Bloodstains revealed that the hobgoblins might not have been quite dead when they were mummified. Here the PCs battled two flail-wielding hobgoblins, intent on using this tor as a banner to attract more goblinoids to their band. One of the guards was killed by a javelin, but the hobgoblins were killed, and the guard was replace with another guard from the entry room.
A web-filled side corridor was promptly torched, which killed the spider that nested there.
At last, the expedition reached the main room, where a bugbear decked in rotting spiked chainmail and holding a heavy flail (think of the first Conan movie, when the recently-escaped Conan found the burial chamber of 'Crom'). The bugbear, a warlord of old, was now a zombie (and a fearsome one, at 42 hp and 1d10+4 damage!), and proceeded to smash the interlopers into a pulp. The shifter, having keen reflexes, acted first and charged the undead, bringing to bear her ferocious heritage (razorclaw). One of the guards also charged, while the artificer pulled out his crossbow, 'Rebecca', and the other guard pulled out his bow.
The shifter and the artificer did some decent damage (the artificer had used Personal Weapon Augmentation to give his weapon the bane [undead] quality), but the zombie killed the first guard with his first strike (head smashed into his torso). Another wave of attacks followed, with the second guard rushing in to avenge his comrade, only to be reduced to 1 hp by a single strike of the ancient flail.
Left alone, the artificer and the druid battled the monster, with a strike of the flail bringing the druid to half her total hit points. But on her next strike, she slashed her foe, causing it to collapse. On its back, she saw strapped an amazing weapon: a masterwork silver scimitar, a trophy the bugbear had from the time the Dhakaani battled the Tairnadal elves.
With the tor cleared, the provost catalogued what he could and loaded the carts, heading for Sharn. Relics were amassed, but two of their guards were dead, with another very close to it.
SPOILERS!
I downloaded the adventure Dark and Stormy Knight, from the WotC site. For those who do not know it, the PCs seek shelter from a storm in a chamber carved on the side of a tor. It turns out to be the burial chamber of a bugbear warlord. Inside they also find a lesser vargouille (only has the shriek), two hobgoblins thinking of setting up camp there (after descending from the top of the tor on a rope), a spider, a trap, some rats and the warlord, now a bugbear zombie.
Now first, the PCs:
Drago Vedenin is a human Karrnathi artificer. He left his homeland because not only he lacks the martial inclination of his countrymen, he abhorrs the use of undead. He joined several caravans in circling the Mournland, offering his repair expertise in return for his travel fare. Once he reached the Breland/Mournland border, he joined the caravan of Bonal Geldem, provost of Morgrave University, who was returning to Sharn with Cyran relics he purchased at border towns (among them a statue of a warforged wielding two shields... turns out it will be a PC).
The caravan is composed of two carts, the provost, four mercenaries hired from House Deneith (human War1) and a guide/scout, a Brelish shifter druid named Soranda Moonhunt (the other PC).
Now the adventure:
When a heavy storm hits them on the road, Soranda guides them to a local tor, where they might get shelter. Turns out a lightning bolt had opened the side of the tor, exposing a chamber that dated to the Dhakaani civil war (5000 years ago). The provost and two guards remained in the entry chamber while the PCs and two guards went exploring (an encounter with several rats convinced them that it was wise to ensure no other surprises remained).
On one room, they discovered a stone chest with exactly 1000 dhakaani silver pieces and four ivory statuettes of goblinoids wearing heavy armor. The artificer disarmed a trap there.
On another room they found 7 stone sarcophagi, carved out of the wall, along with several relics (like those found in egyotian tombs). The sarcophagi depicted hobgoblins, and one seemed to wear a winged helmet. But that was no winged helmet! It was a vargouille, attracted by the foul magic that permeated this place. For centuries it bathed in the evil aura and the vermin that inhabited this place. The artificer and a guard were frozen with fear, but the shifter cut the beast in twain with two scimitar slashes.
Proceeding to another room, the expedition discovered a sacrificial chamber, where the hogboblins mummified in the vargouille room were prepared. Bloodstains revealed that the hobgoblins might not have been quite dead when they were mummified. Here the PCs battled two flail-wielding hobgoblins, intent on using this tor as a banner to attract more goblinoids to their band. One of the guards was killed by a javelin, but the hobgoblins were killed, and the guard was replace with another guard from the entry room.
A web-filled side corridor was promptly torched, which killed the spider that nested there.
At last, the expedition reached the main room, where a bugbear decked in rotting spiked chainmail and holding a heavy flail (think of the first Conan movie, when the recently-escaped Conan found the burial chamber of 'Crom'). The bugbear, a warlord of old, was now a zombie (and a fearsome one, at 42 hp and 1d10+4 damage!), and proceeded to smash the interlopers into a pulp. The shifter, having keen reflexes, acted first and charged the undead, bringing to bear her ferocious heritage (razorclaw). One of the guards also charged, while the artificer pulled out his crossbow, 'Rebecca', and the other guard pulled out his bow.
The shifter and the artificer did some decent damage (the artificer had used Personal Weapon Augmentation to give his weapon the bane [undead] quality), but the zombie killed the first guard with his first strike (head smashed into his torso). Another wave of attacks followed, with the second guard rushing in to avenge his comrade, only to be reduced to 1 hp by a single strike of the ancient flail.
Left alone, the artificer and the druid battled the monster, with a strike of the flail bringing the druid to half her total hit points. But on her next strike, she slashed her foe, causing it to collapse. On its back, she saw strapped an amazing weapon: a masterwork silver scimitar, a trophy the bugbear had from the time the Dhakaani battled the Tairnadal elves.
With the tor cleared, the provost catalogued what he could and loaded the carts, heading for Sharn. Relics were amassed, but two of their guards were dead, with another very close to it.
I used Dark and Stormy Knight for Eberron, too. It's kind of a weird one, though...to use a descriptor I dislike, "videogamey." The separate rooms, the traps, the one-magic-item-for-everybody...Oh well. My PCs fortified the door and stayed there a while, keeping their heads down from the gang chasing them 
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
