Re: Iconic Adventures
kiznit's pretty much nailed it there.
***many MAJOR SPOILERS below***
kiznit said:
Read these three and I think you'll get a picture of interconnectedness:
Module one: The Sunless Citadel
Module five: Heart of Nightfang Spire
Module eight: Bastion of Broken Souls
The Druid guy (or his legacy) shows up in The Standing Stone as well.
Ashardalon is also mentioned in the Standing Stone. Basically, he's an ancient red dragon that once ravaged the area. The Sunless Citadel and Nightfang Spires are both sites connected to an ancient cult that used to worship him, which was led by the vampire Gulthias.
In the Sunless Citadel, the Gulthias Tree (which is worshipped, tended, and studied by the main villian Belak the Outcast, a renegade druid) is a tree that grew over the spot where Gulthias was staked to the ground in the caverns beneath the citadel. Presumably, at the end of the adventure, the heroes cut down the tree. Unbenownest to them, this frees Gulthias.
The area around Ossington (in the Standing Stone) is an old forest that was hit particularly hard by Ashardalon, wiping out most of the local human population. The druid guy is Dydd, who defeated Ashardalon, and later used a druidic ritual to turn animals into faux humans to repopulate the area.
Somehow, Ashardalon's heart survived his defeat becoming a great source of necromantic power kept within the Heart of Nightfang Spire. The players learn this in the adventure of the same name, in which they face off against Gulthias, who has returned to lead his cult.
In the Bastion of Broken Souls, it is revealed that Ashardalon yet lives, having replaced his heart with a living demon. He now rests at the center of the Bastion of Unborn Souls, feeding on the preincarnate souls to sustain himself. The players, after getting involved in some planar politics, are finally able to confront him. One of the PCs is revealed to be a legendary descent of Dydd, and because of this is the key to defeating Ashy.
kiznit said:
Also a dwarven smith named DurGeddin is mentioned in both Forge of Fury and Iron Fortress, but I forget how he relates. The one module that sticks out in my mind as not having anything to do with anything was Deep Horizon, but though I've read it, I haven't played it. Does anyone else have any ideas on how this module relates?
Durgeddin is a legendary dwarven smith. Forge of Fury is an exploration of a dwarf hold that he founded, with the players searching for weapons that he crafted. In Lord of Iron Fortress, his spirit shows up as a petioner that's been kidnapped from his final rest and brought to the Iron Fortress to help in the re-forging of a legendary blade.
What else? I think that one of the lieutenants of the villian in Iron Fortress is a son of Ashardalon.
I think that there are some very minor ties into some of the other modules in Speaker in Dreams, but I can't remember them. As far as I can recall, kiznit is correct about Deep Horizon being completely unconnected. In my opinion, it's also the least interesting of the bunch.
Have fun!
