4E The Nentir Vale: A Sandbox

[LostSoul]

Watcher's Hill

Here is a "lair" - something that I don't know if I'd map up. (The lower levels would be a proper dungeon.)

Watcher's Hill

An old fort (think Weathertop), built during the Bloodspear War to protect Winterhaven's flank and keep the road open. Destroyed by the Bloodspear orcs after a long siege, it has lain empty for a hundred years. Local legend has it that Watcher's Hill is haunted, patrolled by the restless spirits of those who fell during the Bloodspear War. Strange lights have been seen on dark nights and during the full moon, and it is eerily quiet - no birds sing their songs nearby, no crickets chirp, no wolves howl on that haunted tor.

DM's Notes: In truth, Watcher's Hill is not haunted. Bandits use the fort to spy on nearby Winterhaven and their torches are the lights the locals have seen. A Gelatinous Cube lairs here, devouring anything that comes near (hence the absence of animals and insects); the bandits are aware of it and avoid it.

Watcher's Hill was built on the site of an ancient Bael Turathian Warlock's tower, abandonded during the war with Arkhosia. A demon still waits to be released, helpless, in a summoning circle in the secret chambers beneath the hill.

The Bael Turothian chambers are sealed beyond a black, runed-covered door; behind this lies a small chamber (10x10) with a portal circle inscribed into the stone floor and similar runes carved into the wall. Only one rune is missing from the portal; replacing it with one of the wall-runes will activate the teleport circle (cost for components: 50 gp for powdered silver or similar), sending the PCs to another level. Which level can only be determined through exploration or a DC 31 Arcana check.

Within these ancient chambers the PCs may find maps, etc. of nearby areas, including Gardmore Abbey, portal runes that will transport the PCs across the world (and to Vor Kragal), and ley-line information.

This Tiefling Star Pact Warlock - Sargon of Yeth - was a master of portals and came to his end of the world (Nimrud in the ancient tongue) to study them. He created the Shadow Rift and opened a portal (closing it before he left) to the Abyss. He created the portal that leads to the Death Knight in the Cairngorms, closing that one as well.

Valthrun the Wise has a book of his ("The Blessings of Khirad") and, if the PCs ask him about the strange markings and inscriptions in Watcher's Hill (History DC 15 to identify them as ancient Bael Turathian, DC 30 to identify them and Sargon of Yeth), he will recall the information in Sargon's codex and tell them about it. It is a long and rambling treatise about the Far Realm and its "glory". By reading it and making a DC 19 Arcana check, the Linked Portal ritual can be learned - though only at great strain; the reader gains a temporary insanity (treat as a disease) on success or failure of the roll. The reader also gains a +5 bonus on Arcana checks to bypass wards set by Sargon. It sells for 1800gp.​

 

[LostSoul]

Catacombs, level 2

This area isn't finished yet, but I like how it's turning out.

CATACOMBS LEVEL 2

Overview: This area is divided up into two sections, an east and west side. The western area has been taken over by the Gutwound Hobgoblins who lair on level 3 of the Tombwood Crypts. The eastern side is the lair of a group of desperate kobolds from the Cloak Wood, who, after an unsuccessful raid on a well-defended caravan, found a tunnel leading here. They've tamed a clutch of drakes.

Wandering Monsters: Monsters wander in from above and below. Each time the PCs take a short rest or make an excess of noise, roll 1d6. On a roll of 6 the PCs encounter a wandering monster. Roll 1d6 to determine the nature of the encounter.

Roll
1 Goblins scouting (1 blackblade, 2 sharpshooters, 3 warriors). XP: 650
2 Kobolds taking their drakes for a walk (1 dragonshield, 2 guard drakes, 2 slingers, 1 skirmisher). XP: 675
3 Goblins and kobolds coming from both directions (4 cutters, 1 sharpshooter, 1 hexer, 4 minions, 1 slinger, 1 wyrmpriest). XP: 700
4 lvl 3
5 lvl 3
6 A gnoll huntmaster, his slave gladiator Bargus, and 4 hyenas have come here looking for slaves. (XP 950)

Bargus: lvl 2 elite skirmisher
Init +5; Per +3
HP 82/41; AC 18, F 17, R 16, W 14
trident stab, reach 2, +7 v AC, 1d8+3 and grabbed. Cannot attack unless grabbed target is released.
Trident twist, minor, +5 v F, grabbed target only, 1d6+3 and prone.
net, recharges when net is picked up, area burst 1 within 3, +5 v R and restrained.
gladiator's riposte, immediate reaction, when missed with a melee attack, requires trident, +7 v AC, 1d6+3, prone, Bargus shifts 1.
Cheer of the crowd, immediate reaction, when first bloodied and within LoS of 2 allies, encounter, Bargus gains +2 to atk and dmg.
Bloodcut armour, minior, when bloodied, encounter, gain resist all 10 until end of next turn.
Skills athletics +9, acrobatics +8.
S +4 C +4 D +3 I +1 W +3 C +3
Equip: trident, net, gladiator's armour (bloodcut hide)

Bargus is a 25-year old man from Winterhaven, captured as a slave some 10 years ago. His will is broken but he might leave his gnoll master if the fight turns poorly for him.​

1. Entrance
The stairs descend into a corridor stretching east and west. Dim light comes from the western corridor.

DM's notes: The PCs may notice yaps and screeches of the drakes in area 3 with a DC 20 Perception check. If a character succeeds at this check, the same character may make a DC 15 Nature check to identify the noises as drakes.​

2. Gutwound Guard Post (XP 700)
This room, some 40x60 wide, has a wide open pit (30x20, 10 deep) in the middle of the room. Sharp wooden spikes lie at the bottom. A ledge winds its way around the pit on both sides. The walls are lined with empty niches, once used to hold the dead.

Torches light the area. The western end of the room has a low makeshift wall, about 4' high. It is constructed out of bones, wood, and debris.

There are two exits, a corridor going east in the eastern wall and another headed north in the western wall.

DM's notes: The Gutwound hobgoblins have created this guard post to keep out the drakes in the eastern edge (and worse from below!) until they fortified their position. Recently the drakes were tamed by a group of kobolds and this has caused the hobgoblin who commands the guard post to become exceptionally cautious to the point of paranoia. His troops have low morale (even for goblins!) as he killed a goblin blackblade whom he believed to be a kobold shapeshifter.

The hobgoblin commander is a hobgoblin archer; his troops are 2 goblin sharpshooters and 2 goblin warriors.

The pit has spikes at the bottom (atk: +4 v Ref, 1d6 dmg), and they have set up 3 sledgehammer traps in the middle of the ledge that leads around the pit.

Sledgehammer: lvl 2 minion (trap)
Per/Dungeoneering:
DC 15: There is a sledgehammer in the niches in the ledge around the pit.
DC 20: A nearly invisible wire 3' off the ground will trigger the sledgehammer.
Trigger:
When a character enters the trapped squares.
immediate reaction, encounter, +4 v R, 3d6+3 damage and push 1.
Countermeasures:
Avoiding the tripwire requires a DC 15 acrobatics check or a move action.
Cutting the tripwire requires a DC 20 check. Failure: the trap triggers.​

3. Kobold Guard Post (XP 675)
This room (40x50) slopes up 25' to a 10x50 ledge at the eastern end. A 5' wide walkway runs around the room; 15' and 30' away from the western entrance, 5x5 columns jut out from the northern and southern ledges into the room.

The room is dark.

DM's notes: The 8 squares in the middle of the slope have been covered with a grease rendered from animal fats, placed here by the kobold trapmaster. It is considered difficult terrain and characters who enter these squares must make an acrobatics check (DC 15) or slip and fall prone, tumbling to the bottom of the slope, and ending their move. Any fire damage done to the greased squares results in ignition; the square burns for the rest of the encounter, dealing 5 points of fire damage to any character who enters or begins their turn there. Fire spreads at a rate of 1 square per round in all directions (but only on greased squares). A character can see the grease with a DC 15 Per check.

2 kobold slingers lie down flat on the top of the southernmost columns, hiding there (Per DC 22). At the top of the slope, 2 kobold dragonshields, just barely in sight from the bottom of the slope (Per DC 20), hold onto a needlefang drake swarm (!). In addition, they have a long (20') spiked log that they can release with a standard action - on this action the log will roll down the hill, making an attack against any character whose space it passes through: +4 v R, 3d6+3 damage, prone. A character who wishes to block it can do so, though he will take maximum damage (21) and make an attack: +6 v F, prone. Ask the players what their characters do as the log rolls down the slope.​

4. Goblin Lair (XP 850)
The main corridor runs 20' to the west. At the end of the corridor is a wooden door. Beyond the door, squabbling voices can be heard.

The room is some 50x50 feet. A curtain cuts off a 20x10' area of the southwestern corner. Three fire pits hold disgusting stews. 10 straw matresses covered in fleas are spread around the room. Boxes and barrels are strewn about the room. There is a corridor leading south about 30' from the door in the southern wall.

A stairway leads up in the western wall.

DM's notes: The voices are goblin, and they are squabbling about all sorts of things.

6 goblin cutters, 2 sharpshooters, 2 warriors, 1 blackblade, and a hobgoblin lasher are here. The lasher and the sharpshooters are behind the curtained area, while the minions and the warriors are spread about the room. The blackblade is in the corridor, which leads to a latrine.

A bed, desk, and chest are beyond the curtain.

If stew is dumped into the fire, it will create concealment for 1 round in a burst 1 area, as well as a horrible stench: +4 v F, -2 atk (sv). The same effect occurs if a straw mattress is burned, though this zone lasts until the end of the encounter.

[editor's note: It might be simpler to just add an extra -2 to atk if someone's in the area of effect; however, making an attack means that there's slightly more tactical space to maneuver in. Is it worth it? I don't know.]

Hobgoblin lasher: lvl 3 controller (leader)
Init +2; Per +2 (low-light)
HP 49/24; AC 17, F 16, R 14, W 14
poignard, +7 v AC, 1d4+4.
black lash, ranged 3, +8 v AC, 1d6+4 and -2 atk (sv).
wild lash, close blast 2, +7 v F, 1d6+4.
trip, ranged 3, +7 v F, 1d6+4 and prone. Miss: lasher falls prone.
He who bears the lash and drives us ever on, minor, all allies within 3, 5 damage and +4 atk and dmg until end of next turn.
S +4 C +4 D +2 I +1 W +2 Ch +0
Equip: lash, dagger, chain.

Treasure: 105 gp, 31 sp, 70 cp in a locked chest (DC 20) behind the curtain. The lasher has the key.​

 

[LostSoul]

5. Maglubiyet's Shrine (XP 675)
The main corridor running south turns to the west, where runs for about 10' before it ends in a wooden door. A pair of glowing red eyes has been painted on the door recently by someone of obvious talent.

This chamber is some 40x40 in area. A crude shrine, a large stone covered with a black cloth, dominates the western end of the room. The black cloth is bloodstained, and on it rest a dozen skulls. Two sticks of incense, releasing a nauseating odour, burn in the eye sockets of the skulls. The walls are covered in crude drawings of a goblin with glowing black eyes slaughtering elves and dwarves with a battle axe; the floor has a well-done, half-finished painting of the same goblin's head.

Two passages lead out of the room, one in the north wall and one in the south. Both are covered by black curtains. A wooden cage, 10x10 in area, is in the southwestern corner of the room.

DM's notes: Identifying the pair of eyes on the door as the symbol of Maglubiyet is a DC 15 Religion check. Characters who succeed at a DC 20 Religion check recall the rites of Maglubiyet - the sacrifice of a beating heart each new moon.

Four goblin cutters and a warrior are in the room, taunting the prisoners and worshipping at the shrine.

The passages lead to 20x20 bedrooms. A goblin underboss uses the north one and a goblin hexer (son of Maglubiyet) uses the southern. These two goblins hate each other and struggle against each other for dominance over the goblins in the Gutwound tribe, their hatred kept in check only by the stern warnings of their hobgoblin masters.

The incense in the room applies a -2 penalty to attacks (poison). It can be extinguished easily.

If the PCs enter this chamber before the first new moon, they will find Darmon the painter and his fiancee in the cage. They are to be sacrificed. If before the second, they will only find Darmon. Darmon painted the eyes on the door and is in the process of painting murals on the floor and walls. (One can only imagine what he uses as paints!)

Characters who search the room can notice a small crack underneath the altar with a DC 20 Peception check. If the altar is moved, PCs will find a set of blood-caked stairs leading to area 6.

Treasure: The goblin hexer has a mummified heart hanging on a tarnished silver chain (30gp) around his neck. The underboss wears small-sized black iron scale +1 (resist 5 fire, necrotic).​

6. Hidden chamber
The stairs lead down to a small room. An archway leads to a set of descending stairs. Carved into the archway are ancient runes. The ones in common read: "Take care, seeker, lest ye wake the doom of Sarnath."

DM's notes: The stairs lead to level 3 of the catacombs.​

7. Drake Warren (XP 725)
This chamber (40x40) has a high, vaulted ceiling (20') held up by pillars. Mounds of earth lie scattered around the room. A large chandelier, held up by sturdy iron chains, hangs from the middle of the ceiling.

This room is well-lit from torches on the chandelier.

DM's notes: 2 spiretop drakes roost on the chandelier. They, a guard drake, and two spitting drakes are looked after by a kobold skirmisher.

The chandelier covers 4 squares in the middle of the room. If the chain holding the chandelier is released, it will plummet to the ground. Make an attack: Dex v R, 3d8+3, ongoing fire 5 and restrained (sv). Miss: 1/2 dmg. The chain will launch anyone holding onto it 4 squares, which can be used as a move in any direction. Distance travelled horizontally equals distance travelled vertically, so falling damage is a consideration.

A secret door constructed by the kobolds (DC 20) is in the eastern wall. It leads to a corridor running east for 20', then turning north. This corridor connects (by secret door) to areas 9 and 8.​

8 a. Trapped Hallway (XP 200)
The 10' wide hallway runs in all directions, coming to a 20x20 foot intersection.

DM's notes: This area has been trapped by the kobolds.

A pit trap, triggered to go off when approximately 4 medium-sized creature step on it, covers the entire intersection. The pit is filled with oil.

There are springboard traps that line the areas bordering the pit. They arm when the pit is triggered.

The pit trap also sets off an alarm, a loud clanging bell in the ceiling. This alerts the kobolds in area 8 b.

If there is a fight in the hall, kobold minions will be commanded to trigger the pit (standard action).

Pit trap: lvl 1 lurker (XP 100)
Perception/Dungeoneering DC 15: The stones ahead are slightly discoloured.
DC 20 (search only): There is a pit trap here, covering the entire intersection.
DC 25 (search only): The pit will trigger if 4 people step onto it.
Trigger: When 4 medium-sized creatures enter the trapped spaces.
Attack: immediate reaction, +4 v R, the character falls in the pit and takes 1d10 damage. Miss: The target returns to the last square it occupied and ends its move action.
Effect: the false floor opens and the pit is no longer hidden.
Special: If the oil is lit on fire, it deals 5 fire damage to anyone standing in it.
Countermeasures: Disable Thievery DC 20. Trigger DC 10.

Springboard trap: lvl 1 minion (XP 25)
Perception/Dungeoneering DC 15: The stones ahead are slightly discoloured.
DC 20 (search only): There is a springboard trap here. It is not armed.
Trigger: After the pit is activated, any character who enters the square is attacked.
Attack: +4 v F, the character is pushed 1. The springboard is nearly flat to the wall; -5 penalty to save to avoid falling. Characters who fall take 1d10 damage.
Effect: The springboard creates a short wall, providing cover.
Countermeasures: Disable Thievery DC 20. Trigger DC 10.​

8 b. Kobold Lair (XP 650)
This chamber is some 50x50 feet in area. Sixteen straw, flea-ridden matresses line the first 20 feet of the room. Rats and other vermin are being cooked over a large, 10x10 firepit in the middle of the room.

In the middle of the southern wall is a small pool raised 2' off the ground. It is filled with a bubbling, gooey tar, heated by coals underneath. On the opposite side of the room is a large vat with a thick gluey substance. In the northeastern corner of the room, there is sealed cauldron over a low fire. This cauldron emits a horrid stench.

Scattered around the southeastern corner are all sorts of gears, widgets, serrated blades, spears, picks, and other trap making components.

DM's notes: A kobold spiker, 2 kobold slingers, and 8 kobold minions are here.

The trap gear can be used as an attack: if you push someone into it, make an attack as an immediate reaction, Str v R, 1d8 dmg.

The stinkpot brew, if tipped over, creates a horrid miasma: Str -2 v R, blast 3, 3d6+3 fire, effect: -2 atk until the end of the encounter. The firepot oven deals 5 fire ongoing fire damage to anyone who enters its space. Globs of burning pitch can be thrown, though the attacker takes 10 fire damage: ranged 5, Dex v R, 1d6+3 fire and ongoing 5 fire. The gluepot mix can be dumped (blast 2); until the end of the encounter, characters entering those squares are immobilized (sv).

Burning matresses creates concealment in a burst 1 area until the end of the encounter.

A secret door constructed by the kobolds (DC 20) is in the eastern wall. It leads to a corridor running east for 20', then turning north and south. This corridor connects (by secret door) to areas 7 and 9.

Treasure: The kobolds have 86 sp, 20 cp in various bags. The spiker has a moonstone (100 gp) on him.

Kobold Spiker: see Dragon 364​

9. Shaman's Room
This room (20x20) has two doors, one on the north wall and one on the south. A small font made of stone sits in the middle of the room. A gemstone can be seen in it.

DM's notes: Both doors are false, having been walled up by the kobolds. There is a secret door at the east end of the room. This leads to a corridor running 20' east, and from there the room to the north and the south can be accessed. The corridor turns north, and a small crack in the wall leads to a long tunnel that eventually exits in the Moon Hills. The north room belongs to Kobold Wyrmpriest, the south to a slyblade; both rooms are 20x20.

The kobolds have cut some arrow slits into the south wall (Perception DC 20 to notice, no search required). They are closed off.

The water in the font is poison. If someone grabs the gem, a trap triggers, and a spray of poison bursts up.

Poison trap: lvl 1 lurker (XP 25)
Perception:
DC 15: The gem seems to be attached to something.
DC 20 (search only): The gem is attached to a trigger.
Trigger: Someone grabs the gem.
Attack, close burst 1, +4 v R, 2d6+3 poison.
Effect: A large stone block collapses to the ground, cutting off the western exit. This noise alerts the slyblade and wyrmpriest.

Treasure: The slyblade has a medium-sized point-blank crossbow +1. The wyrmpriest has 87 gp, 34 sp, 80 cp. The gem in the font is worth 200 gp.​

10. Cursed Room (XP 25)
This room (30x30) is bare save for a single stone sarcophagus in the middle of the room. A corridor leads to the west through an archway carved to resemble a demon's face.

DM's notes: If a character approaches to within 5' of the demon archway, a magic mouth with an ancient accent intones: Lo, for Sarnath was great and his doom was mighty. A thousand souls were his, and serve him yet. Enter the well and your soul shall be his." Characters who succeed on a DC 22 Arcana/Perception check (no search required) will be aware that the demon mouth is slightly animate and has an Abyssal spirit of its own.

The sarcophagus is difficult to open, but if lifted by characters with Str scores totalling 36, it will open. Once opened, a trap set by the kobolds is sprung, a cloud of poison gas released. Burst 1, +6 v R, 2d6+3 damage. Perception DC 20 to notice the trap, thievery DC 25 to disable it (failure sets it off). XP 25.

The sarcophagus is empty save for a note written by the kobolds that says, "Suckers." There are scratchings on the inside of the lid, however, insane ramblings scratched from the inside by tooth and nail. If characters who spend time reading the writings succeed at a DC 22 Religion/Arcana check, they can discover an important passage: "And woe unto me for I spoke the name of the Chained God in the tongue of power and with great will did I command the creations of Sarnath; but I dare not say his name again, for my mind cannot take the strain." A religion or arcana check (DC 15) indicates that PCs know that "tongues of power" probably refers to the Words of Power: Supernal and Abyssal.

Characters who know the name of the Chained God in Abyssal gain the following power:
Tharizdun
At-Will * Arcane, Fear, Psychic
Minor Action * Close burst 5
Target: One creature in burst
Attack: Charisma vs. Will
Hit: 1d4 + Charisma modifier psychic damage.
Effect: You are subject to a special attack roll: 1d20 + your level v W. If this attack hits, you fall unconcious for 6 hours in a catatonic coma as horrid nightmares and alien visions plague your fragile conciousness. Upon awakening you act as though you had just cast the ritual Consult Mystic Sages.
Special: If this power is used more than once in a one-month period, the character is stricken by insanity and is Helpless for a month.​

11. Well of Souls (XP 500)
The walls of this round room (30x30) are carved with disturbing images - of sacrifice, of dark alien gods, of a dark and evil man.

A 10x10 well is in the middle of the room.

DM's notes: Characters who make a DC 22 Perception check (no search required) notice that the mouth seems strange, almost as if it is alive. It detects as magic. When all characters have entered this room (the well determines this magically, with a Per check of +12), the demon-carved archway slams its mouth shut (+5 v R, 3d6+3, push 1 to anyone standing there).

Shortly thereafter, the images start to come to life in a moving-picture, swirling around the walls. Anyone in the room watches thousands sacrificed on a ziggurat by a man wearing ochre robes. Their souls disappear down a dark well, similar to the one in this room. Once this scene is played out, a great swirling eye appears over the well, and the eye speaks in Abyssal: "Come to me."

Characters in the room who are not blind or deaf are struck with an impulse to leap into the eye. This is a trap.

Well of Souls: lvl 6 elite blaster trap (XP 500)
Trigger: One round after the eye appears or the demon mouth is attacked.
Init: +8
Arcana/Religion:
DC 22: The well has an Abyssal spirit of its own.
Attack: burst 2, +9 v W, slide 3. Characters who fall down the well descend a 40', upon which they are teleported into level 6, area xx.
Countermeasures:
Athletics DC 35: The character breaks through the demon mouth.
HP 80/40; AC 4, F 12, R 4, W 19
Religion/Arcana DC 26: The demon mouth can be commanded to open, provided one uses the proper command! ("Tharizdun" spoken in Abyssal)
Characters who deafen and blind themselves are immune to the attack. Characters who do one of the two gain a +2 bonus to their defenses.

If the PCs are able to get out of the room, award them with 500 XP.​

 

[LostSoul]

This area is hard to understand without the map. It was designed to be tough to confront head-on but, with clever use of certain areas, excellent use of stealth, and discovery of some secret doors, PCs can manipulate the environment against the monsters. Hopefully I succeeded at that.

TOMBWOOD CRYPTS: LEVEL 3 (GUTWOUND LAIR)

Overview: During the last winter, a group of hobgoblins nd their goblin slaves, unhappy with the leadership in Daggersburg, moved into this area. Their leader, a powerful hobogoblin servant of Bane named Hargut, prowls the deeper areas - "the sunken city of Sarnath" - in search of lore and treasure that will make the Gutwound tribe powerful enough to sieze control of Daggersburg.

The present commander is a cowardly hobgoblin named Skarzgard. He has an idea of what lurks in the Moonstone Caverns:

• wererats in the cisterns;
• undead in the tombwood crypts;
• human bandits on the first level of the catacombs;
• kobolds in the second level of the catacombs;
• orcs, gnolls, spiders, ancient curses, and a dragon warped by chaos on the fourth level;
• many portals
• an inky-black fog that devours flesh and cannot be killed
• gnolls, troglodytes, and worse in "the sunken city of Sarnath" (5 and down);
• and rumours about some horrible creature in the lowest level.

Skarszgard is having his leadership challenged by Torguz, a hobgoblin warcaster.

Wandering Monsters: Monsters rarely wander into this lair, but the hobogoblins do patrol. If the PCs are in the hobgoblin area, roll 1d4; otherwise, roll 1d6.

Roll
1 Gobbos heading out with supplies (2 sharpshooters, 2 warriors, 1 skullcleaver). XP 600
2 Hobgob patrol (2 soldiers, 2 archers, 4 grunts). XP 752
3 Hobgobs returning from assault (subcommander, 4 grunts, 1 soldier, 2 archers). XP 750
4 Bugbears strangler, lurking about (Per DC 24). XP 250
5 Undead (lvl 4)
6 Undead (lvl 5)



1. Grand Hall
This area is a large, vaulted hall, some 40' wide north-south and 100' long east-west. The ceiling rises 50' on large, chipped pillars carved into the likeness of men. Three of the eight pillars hold a lantern from an outstretched arm, each with a small gem that provides a dim, arcane light. The centre avenue of the hall, 20' wide, is sunken 10' into the floor, and along its length are old, cracked mosaics. A 5' wide ledge runs around the room, 40' off the ground.

A cold wind, eerily steady, comes from the west. Dim light is visible to the east.

Mounds of stone lay at the base of the pillars without arms. Bones can be seen protruding from one of the stacks.

The room has two exits: corridors running east and west.

DM's notes: This room is empty. The western corridor leads to the second level of the catacombs, and the east to area 2.

There is a doorway in the northern wall up on the ledge; spotting this requires a DC 20 Perception check or at least 10' of elevation. The doorway opens into a corridor that leads to area xx.

Characters who wish to take the gems must make a DC 15 Climb check. The pillars are weak and could break at any time; if a character pries the gem out of its socket, it collapses and crumbles, crashing to the ground. Make an attack: +6 v R, fall 30' and the gem crashes to the ground and shatters. Secondary attack, :burst: burst 1 at the base of the pillar, +5 v R, 3d6+3 and restrained. Miss: 1/2 dmg. The arms can be brought down with a successful attack dealing 5 damage or an Athletics check (DC 10). Reward a PC who claims a gem with 38 XP if he manages to escape harm.

Falling stone will alert the hobgoblins at their watch area (area 5.) and provoke a wandering monster roll.

Treasure: The gems act as floating lanterns.​

2. Burial Chamber (XP 175)
-stairs in the north-eastern area, leading to a small raised area (10') and a corridor heading east
-corridor heading south
-many niches in walls
-half-eaten hobgoblins, lightning-burned corpses, bones, skeletons on floor
-corridor in southern wall heading south, dim light visible
-terrible cold in the room

DM's notes: A specter flits in and out of the niches, hiding there (Per DC 21). If it is not seen, it will lurk after the PCs, attacking from behind when the opportunity is best.​

3. Gallery & Stage
-main gallery is 10' down
-10' stage to the east
-balconies 10' to the west
-north and southern exits both have stairs
-concealed door just after exits, DC 15, locked DC 20
-balcony leads to 4 via corridor with portcullis

3 a. Storeroom
-door
-dry goods of little importance
-door leads to back of stage and 3 b.

3 b. Guardroom (XP 750)
-cots
-firepit, stew
-door leads to 3 a. and corridor behind stage
-clean

DM's notes: Hobgoblins watch this point closely. 2 hobgoblin archers stand guard in the balconies. 2 soldiers and 4 grunts take 3 shifts, watching the gallery. On a 1-2 on 1d6 2 grunts stand just east of the stage in the corridor linking 3 a. & b.; otherwise, 1 soldier and 1 grunt are on duty. Their job is to hold off any attack until the rest of the complex is alerted (one of the off-duty guards will alert the rest; roll 1d4 to determine who).​

4 a. Torguz the Warcaster's Room (XP 150)
-locked door (DC 20)
-table, chest, desk, bed

DM's notes: The hobgoblin warcaster Torguz lives here.

A lever lowers the portcullis that leads to the balconies in area 3.

Treasure: Torguz has 158 gp, 16 sp, 40 cp + 1 amethyst (100 gp) locked in the chest (DC 20).​

4 b. Archer's Room (XP 300)
-two beds
-table
-longbows, arrows

DM's notes: 2 archers sleep here and must be woken before they can enter combat. They will hear combat in the hall and wake, ready to fight in 1d6 rounds.​

5. Barracks (XP 750)
-vaulted ceiling, 30', held up by pillars
-16 beds
-sand pit for fighting
-large room, old temple
-cooking area in the south wing
-storeroom blocked by curtain in the north wing
-steps 10' to altar, blocked by curtain
-torture area by altar behind curtain
-door in north wall at far eastern end of altar area leads to 6

DM's notes: The bulk of the hobgoblins live here. There are 2 archers, 2 soldiers, and 4 grunts in the main area. A bugbear strangler is checking the torture equipment behind the curtain. None of them are wearing armour, but they can be ready to fight in 1d6 rounds.

Treasure: All together, the hobgoblins have 225 gp, 54 sp, 80 cp.​

5 a. Skarzgard the Commander's Room (XP 200)
-bed, desk, table chest
-door leads to 6 and another to a walled-off corridor

DM's notes: Skarzgard, a hobgoblin commander, lives here. He has a suit of lifegiving plate armour +1.​

6. Training Area (XP 450)
-ring for sparring
-wooden weapons
-archery targets
-combat dummies

DM's notes: 2 soldiers and 4 grunts are here, sparring.

Just north of here a set of stairs lead down to the second level of the catacombs.​

7. Hargut's Room
-table, desk, bed
-Prayer book to Bane
-Locked chest

DM's notes: This is Hargut's room.

Treasure: In the chest (DC 23) are 98 gp, 97 sp, 30 cp + 3 jade gems (100 gp each).

The prayer book has the rituals Hand of Fate, Discern Lies, and Speak With Dead.​

8. Unholy Shrine (XP 875+)
-50x80
-Well in middle drops 30' to 20x30 area
-Pillars hold up vaulted room
-Altar raised 10' in 20x30 area
-exits lead to 9, 10, and 7 (walled by hobgoblins)

DM's notes: A deathlock wight preaches madly at the shrine, babbling insanities to a group of 8 decrepit skeletons and 4 zombies. The shrine provides a +4 bonus to attack rolls to all undead in the area, but it can be destroyed with a successful religion check (minor action, DC 21, on a failure the character loses a healing surge and one undead within 5 gains 1/4 hp, or rises if a minion). Award the PCs with a level 4 minor quest reward if they destroy the shrine.

There is a chance that creatures from area 9. will hear any combat. Each round roll 1d6; on a 1, an undead creature from area 9. will shamble in.

This area is dark.

The well area is packed with zombie rotters (16). Any character who falls down the well suffers 3d10 damage and living creatures will be attacked by the zombies. The zombie rotters do not leave the well area. Characters can make attacks down the well, though it is dark. Each 2 squares targetted has 1 zombie in it; only the square directly beneath the well can be targetted.

There is a secret door in the shrine area (DC 20, search only) that leads to area 12.​

9. Steps of the Damned (XP 751+)
-stairs rising to two 10' wide ledges, one above the other
-corridor to the well area (see area 8.)
-walls inscribed with insane writings and reliefs meant to lend "enlightenment" to those who climb
-leads to areas 2 and 8

DM's notes: Two corruption corpses and a rotwing zombie mill about on the top ledge. A gravehound and 2 zombie rotters are on the lower ledge.

After the first round of combat, the 16 zombie rotters in the well area will begin to shamble out. 4 will appear at the end of the second round, 4 at the end of the third, and 8 at the end of the fourth.

Treasure: There are 4 moonstone gems embedded into the wall inscriptions (100 gp each); anyone who pries one loose is attacked by a curse: +7 v W, -2 atk vs undead until the next short rest.​

10. Chasm (XP 875)
-Two areas, 20x50, split by 20' wide chasm in middle of room
-Two statues flank each entrance
-20x30 chamber to the north of the western area
-Writings on the floor and a magic circle, one on both sides: "Embrace your end and submit."

DM's notes: The magic circle is a permanent portal, teleporting characters within from one side to the other if they submit to the will of the cirlce (no special prayer needed, just actual submission). Characters can recall this if they succeed at a DC 15 Arcana or Religion check.

The statues are traps; they activate when characters pass beyond the magic circle or attack the statues.

A deathlock wight rests uneasily in the northern chamber.

Statue: lvl 4 blaster
Trigger: When attacked or a character passes beyond the magic circle
Attack: ranged 8; +8 v W, slide 4; a character who falls into the chasm falls 40' and suffers 4d10 damage. This attack does not draw OAs. Characters in the chasm are unable to target the statues.
Countermeasures: HP 48; AC 16, F 17, R 4
Religion DC 21: Standard action, stuns statue until end of next turn.​

11. Ruined Shrine (XP )
-battlemap from KotS

DM's notes: A mad wraith babbles at the shrine, the old priest who sacrificed himself to the Chained God. Two gravehounds flank him. Two corruption corpses moan in the back rooms.

The wraith can draw on the energies of the shrine and...?​

 

[aco175]

This is realy great stuff. You wouldn't happen to have it in a Word doc. would you? This is mostly what I like to play, areas small enough to take a night or two of gaming and large enough to be interesting without being outlandish.

 

[LostSoul]

This is realy great stuff. You wouldn't happen to have it in a Word doc. would you? This is mostly what I like to play, areas small enough to take a night or two of gaming and large enough to be interesting without being outlandish.

I do, actually. I think a .pdf might be better, so I'll attach it here.

 

[aco175]

very cool, thanks.

 

[LostSoul]

This is the King's Road just south of Harkenwold. It's about 150 miles of road through uncivilized lands to the Gate.

THE SOUTHERN ROAD - BORDERLANDS (level 5)

Background:

After the Bloodspear War ended, the orc tribes the victors, they streamed like an arrow straight for the town of Port Khreth where they could build ships and raid up and down the coast. They were stopped at the ancient Gate of Forlorn Hope in a massive battle with armies gathered from towns along the sea. Their leader, the "Tiger of Slaughter", was killed and the humanoid bands fell upon each other in tribal warfare. Now remnants of that once-great army raid and pillage the King's Road along the Nentir River Valley and the homesteads and villages eking out a desperate life.

The two orc tribes, the Bloody Moon and the Bloody Chains, are at war with each other.

The Bloody Moon: A tribe of orcs recently formed, led by a weretiger. This weretiger has heard the legends of "The Tiger of Slaughter", who will one day return, and is trying to take up the mantle. He is bringing together an army to lead into the Ogrefest Hills and take control of the tribes.

They have taken up residence in a network of limestone caves to the east side of the King's Road.

The champions of the Bloody Moon are infected with Moon Rage. Their shaman has worked out a ritual to keep the disease from progressing.

Bloody Moon Champions are Level 5 Orc Berserkers with the following alterations:
HP 78/39
+1 all defenses
vulnerable silver 5
claw, +9 vs. AC, 1d6+5 damage and the target contracts moon rage.
bloody claws, the bloody claw champion makes two claw attacks.
Bloody Rage, free, encounter, when first bloodied, +5 damage until the end of the encounter (+10 to bloodied opponents!).
Blessed by the Moon, +1 to atk when fighting under a full moon.

184 orcs:
92 drudges
31 raiders
15 berserkers
6 shamans
10 artillery
13 champions
17 bloodragers
1 orc chieftan
1 orc eye of gruumsh (out of favour)
1 weretiger

The Bloody Chains: A tribe of orcs under the control of a Kyton (chain devil) who has been in the world since before the fall of Bael Turath. He is gathering souls to give himself more and more power, hoping to open a portal to the Nine Hells. These orcs are ritually scarred and capture prisoners rather than killing them. They are much more restrained and disciplined than normal orcs. He has an Unnerving Gaze - his face can take on the features of a lost loved one.

The Bloody Chain orcs live in an old fortress, half-ruined, with a series of jails, cells, and dungeons beneath it, carved out of the rock by tortured slaves labouring for over a thousand years. The fortress lies about two day's journey to the west, over thickly-wooded hills and rough terrain.

Bloody Chain Champions are Level 5 Orc Skirmishers with the following alterations:
HP 66/33
+2 all def
spiked chain, reach 2, +10 v AC, 2d4+4.
scourge of chains, encounter, reach 2, +10 v AC, 3d6+4, prone and -2 to atk (sv).
Dance of Battle, minor, shift 1.
Soul Talisman, ??

168 orcs
84 drudges
30 raiders
15 berserkers
10 artillery (warlocks!)
5 shamans
10 champions
14 bloodragers
1 orc chieftan
1 level 5 orc warlock
1 chain devil


Port Khreth: An old Bael Turothian port city, it was destroyed in fire near the end of their war with Arkhosia. For years the natural port was claimed by demonic pirates until Nerath rose to power. A powerful wizard named Edo the Ever-Watching led a small army and took Port Khreth. Over the years, Edo was seen less and less until he was given the name "the Unseen". With Nerath's fall and the town's leader having disappeared, Port Khrest was claimed by pirates, smugglers, and devil-worshipping cults. A vicious self-styled pirate king named Vengaul now rules the town with an iron fist.


Gatetown, The Gate of Forlorn Hope, The Gate of Forsaken Kings: This ancient structure was built in the early days of the Bael Turothian empire (when it was known simply as Turoth), when the first sorcerer-kings were making infernal bargains. The 9 kings pictured here (known collectively as "The 9 Proud Men" or "The 9 of Ancient Folly" or "The Fools of Bael") were the rulers of the 9 Turothian city-states, each having won their crowns in bloody coups adided by infernal agents. It was they who introduced devil worship to Turoth and ruled it for near 1000 years until Baelzebub claimed their souls. (History DC 25.)

During the Bloodspear War, the orcish armies took it from an unprepared garrison. The Last Army of Nerath struck back, breaching the wall with powerful magics, and a thousand soldiers poured through the gap - and perished. (Hence "Forlorn Hope".) The battle served as a potent diversion and the Tiger of Slaughter was assassinted, throwing the Bloodspear army into disarry. The Last Army was able to rout the orcs, though at great cost.

In the years since, settlers have moved into the Gate and profited from its remaining defenses, still formidable, and the trade that runs along the King's Road. Recently they have been put under stress by wars with Vengaul and pirates from Port Khreth, as well as increased orcish activity in the nearby hills. The Bloody Moon orcs are planning to take the Gate.

About a 150 people live in Gatetown itself, with another thousand relying on it for protection. It is led by Hudders Alzar, a worshipper of Tiamat (level 7 controller). There are about 30 full-time soldiers, led by the dwarven veteran Par Gahan (level 8 soldier), and an elven ranger named Adira Swiftwater (level 7 skirmisher) commands about 10 rangers. Par Gahan and Adira Swiftwater are both veterans of the Bloodspear Wars and fast friends. They know the dwarven guard Murgeddin in Fallcrest.

 

[LostSoul]

For a long time in the campaign I've been referencing "down south" as a place of civilization. I decided to put a name to some of the places down there. This is what I came up with:

Stormwatch. The only Nerathian city to withstand the gnoll's savage advance; located on an island, surrounded by ruins. It is *the* hub of trade in the World; very cosmopolitan, controlled by money, with a large and rough underclass. Home to a powerful and secretive Wizard's Guild and the largest Temple of Erathis in the World.

The Forsaken Expanse The Plains of Nerath, The Wild Steppes, The Bloody Fields of Yeenoghu. Once the center of the Empire of Nerath, the expanse is now scattered with the ruins of their cities. Gnolls hunt the plains in packs. Those they do not sacrifice to the Demon Prince Yeenoghu are enslaved for the rest of their short, brutal lives. The River Nerath cuts across the expanse, flowing north from old Arkhosia to the sea at Stormwatch harbour.

The Sea of Storms. This sea forms a great bay. The Nentir River flows south towards it. No one save the very foolish or very brave cross it; the violent storms that spring up without warning are the least of a mariner's worries. Merchants never sail out of sight of land. Pirates have been known to plague the coast, but no one knows who or what these pirates are as they never leave any survivors - they even take the bodies of the dead. Legend has it that a powerful sorcerer-king controls the storms from an island in the center of the sea.

 

[Shades of Green]

I just read this thread from the beginning to the end and it is full of interesting ideas and very creative material. It has convinced me that a sandbox could be played in a relatively small area, and it might even lead to me buying into 4E in the future.