Adapting "The Slaying Stone" for Neverwinter Campaign Setting

Khyl'Dran · Sep 1, 2011

Hello!

I'm going to start a new campaign with a group of friends, and wanted to start with a published adventure and build from there. I was browsing Level 1 adventures and loved The Slaying Stone (HS1).
I was thinking of doing this campaign in the Nentir Vale, but now I bought the Neverwinter Campaign Setting and I really liked that book!

I need help with ideas to bring The Slaying Stone to the Neverwinter Campaign Setting. The easy way out would be to just have Kiris Dahn be a town near Neverwinter, but I want more than that: what are some good ways to tie the campaign setting themes, factions, etc to the adventure??

Thanks!

S'mon · Sep 1, 2011

I'm currently running Slaying Stone in my Loudwater FR campaign; the goblin-infested ruined town fits perfectly with the threat of the Southwood goblins there.

For Neverwinter, I think the first thing is to replace the undetailed, off-stage Dreus Matrand with a suitable Neverwinter evil faction leader who's also seeking the stone, while the orc mercenaries should be from the local orc tribe. I think personally I'd choose the Ashmadai, but Thayans or several others would fit. The goblins may be linked to one of the factions.

You can also lose Kiris Alkirk and have the wise-woman Treona be linked to one of the more sympathetic factions, like the rebels or Lord Neverember, who are also looking for it. Or Kiris Alkirk may be a rebel and plans to use the stone to kill Neverember.

Whoever gains the stone can use it to kill an enemy faction leader, so the consequences will be major whoever gets it - I'd ignore the "Treona just wants it to destroy it" thing. I'd also ignore or expand the geographical limit, and raise the attack bonus from +10 to +20 vs Fort, since it's supposed to be a 17th level artifact.

IMC I made the Slaying Stones ancient Netherese artifacts, you could have the Netheril faction seeking it for research purposes - they want it so they can make more. You can really bring the adventure to life by having several different adventurer parties from different factions seeking the stone, you could have the PCs come across the remains of battle between eg Ashmadai and Orcs or Netherese & Rebels. I'd make these parties higher level (say 3rd-4th, vs 1st level PCs), but not have them just leap out and ambush the PCs; have the PCs encounter depleted remnants of rival parties, or come across a battle between two factions and decide whether to get involved and which to aid.

Finally, getting the stone off the dragon may be very difficult, the dragon may end up keeping the stone, or being persuaded to destroy it (killing a random goblin would work).

Daern · Sep 1, 2011

Here's some ranting about that particular mod. Playing D&D With Porn Stars: The Slaying Necklace - the module
Def make Alkirk a Dead Rat. Slaying Stone could totally take place in a ruined part of the city.

S'mon · Sep 1, 2011

Durn said:
Here's some ranting about that particular mod. Playing D&D With Porn Stars: The Slaying Necklace - the module
Def make Alkirk a Dead Rat. Slaying Stone could totally take place in a ruined part of the city.

Very useful stuff on that blog for me, and I like the idea of just setting it in Neverwinter.

Edit: Do you mean make Kiris Hoyt a Dead Rat?

Bruenorg · Oct 7, 2011

I am also going to use The Slaying Stone to start a Neverwinter campaign.

The only thing about using Neverwinter itself as the location is that I'm not sure how likely it would be that there is a brass dragon hiding out inside the city. I am currently considering using Thundertree...still working out the details.

Once a prosperous logging village and the source of the best Neverwinter timber, Thundertree became a skeleton of its former self when Mount Hotenow erupted. Building frames, ankle-deep in detritus, stand alongside ancient logs culled from fallen trees that the villagers abandoned when they fled. Now, spirit-animated plant monsters haunt pockets of Thunder tree. (To create such creatures, add the undead keyword and resist 10 necrotic to whatever plant monsters you choose.) Only one other creature calls the ramshackle remains home: the dwarf Favria, a member of the Ashmadai, who lives in the wine cellar beneath a ruined inn.

Looks like a pretty good fit to me.

Aoirorentsu · Oct 10, 2011

My first thought was also to use Neverwinter itself instead of Kiris Dahn. You'd have to adopt the backstory of the adventure slightly, but unless you're playing all humans you can have SS take place about 10 years after the cataclysm, goblins having moved into the city after all the others left, and then have the same group of PCs return to Neverwinter. In this case, Slaying Stone becomes something of a prelude to your main campaign. Also, SS is not only an adventure, but also an opportunity for your players to learn about Neverwinter's geography without spoiling all the factiony intrigue that makes Neverwinter an awesome setting.

To make the adventure till make sense, you'd maybe have to consider reskinning the goblins and kobolds as orcs, figure out a reason for the dragon to be there (perhaps it came looking for magical power or to root out the nature of the cataclysm). As for the backstory of the stone, I would keep the Architects of Victory in there just because the name of their organization is so freaking cool - perhaps they were working for the Netherese... or maybe they were Netherese agents?

Good luck! I may do this also!

CM · Aug 19, 2013

Thread necro incoming! :devil:

Found this thread in a web search and thought I would add to it:

I too am planning on adapting the Slaying Stone to launch my Neverwinter campaign. Here's a rundown of the changes I will be making:

The Slaying Stones will actually be a set of five daggers crafted by Thay. On a hit when activated, the target is killed, as normal for the slaying stones. One round later, the remains begin to bubble and smoke, growing into a huge undead monstrosity, stats somewhere around a level 3 solo with a weak necrotic aura, attacks with knockback, threatening reach, and so on. Essentially an abomination from Warcraft. Thay crafted these weapons as a form of terrorism to incite the populace into panic and encourage them to flee the city. On the night the adventure begins, four of the weapons will be successfully used in crowded taverns. The characters, who don't yet know each other, will be present for one of these fights. The encounter begins when a man in simple robes with a shaved head stands up and yells "All will submit to the glory of Thay in life, or in death!" and then stabs the nearest NPC and activates the dagger. The PCs will have to work together to defeat the abomination (along with whatever surviving bar patrons haven't fled).

The fifth dagger was never used. When the cultist wielding it stood up to make his speech, an annoyed bartender smashed him in the back of the head with a liquor bottle, knocking him out. He dropped the dagger, and a street urchin grabbed it and fled into the streets. Guards later arrested the cultist and threw him in jail.

The next day, notices are posted all over town for rewards offered for the return of the remaining dagger. Few groups are willing to go after such a dangerous item, however (except, hopefully, the PCs). if they take the job, the players are allowed to question the cultist before he is hanged, but he doesn't have much to offer. They can examine the used daggers, which the authorities can confirm were crafted as a set of five. Apparently if all five were activated at once as intended, their effect would have been much more powerful.

Questioning the vagrants and others who live around the tavern where the failed attack took place result in one person who saw a street urchin of matching description running down an alley. The person then heard a fight, but was spooked and did not investigate. Finally the witness can lead the party to the alley, where they can find some claw marks and a dead dead rat (gang member). These clues can lead to a number of dead rat hangouts (encounters 4-7 and 12, reskinned to be human dead rat gang members), a gray wolf tribe hideout (encounter 8-9 reskinned to be uthgardt gray wolf tribesmen), and so on. Clues and interrogations eventually lead to Tyristys' lair.

NPCs:

Treona and Alkirk are affiliated with Helm's Hold and are working as consultants for New Neverwinter's mercenary guards. I haven't decided if either has a secret motive.
Dreus is working for Thay, most likely.
Kiris Hoyt at the Shrine of Selune--Not sure on this guy yet, might make him a Harper that comes under attack by Nashers who believe they have proof he's responsible for Cymril's death. He attacks the players because he believes they are in league with the Nashers and part of the ambush, but can be convinced to stop attacking the party during combat. I'll probably make him a werebear so as not to associate him with the dead rats or the gray wolves (note: wow, no werebears in the compendium yet? might just use wereboar).
Severed Eyes: These orcs can just be a group associated with Many-Arrows, perhaps even hired through Bregan D'aerthe?
Tyristys is perhaps a bit greedier than the adventure intends, and spends a lot of time in human form (my house rule, all dragons can shapechange to one or more humanoid forms, depending on age) prowling the ruins for treasure, or infiltrating human society. He was present in the tavern during the failed attack. Sensing the powerful magic in the dagger, he grabbed it and fled into the night. He briefly skirmished with a group of dead rats, killed one, and fled back to his lair. Dead rat survivors that are interrogated might be able to tell the story about the urchin changing into a golden-scaled dragon, terrifying them into fleeing. The clues at the library point to some other treasure that Tyristys looted in the past, unrelated to the adventure.

Scrivener of Doom · Aug 20, 2013

The Slaying Stone could also be something that "fell off" Xinlenal when it crashed, including, say, a temple of Shar that provides the power for the 'Stone. That temple sunk underground as a result of the impact - that lets you add an adventure based on the maps of Sunless Citadel - and also justifies throwing in the Netherese at some point. The ruined city could be, as already suggested, Thundertree but it could also be Conyberry (in which case add Remains of the Empire from Dungeon 165 [?] to reflect the presence of things from Abeir and because trained warwing drakes make cool mounts) or even Port Llast or Leilon.

In short, you can expand it with a couple of other published products into a mini-megadungeon/mini-sandbox.