I have decided to work this small adventure into my player's campaign. The plan is to lead into "Red Hand of Doom" but I wanted to start them at level 1 and adventure into Elsir Vale. I modified the crap out of "A Dark and Stormy Knight", building a whole hidden underground temple/tomb where the party found a lot of treasure and was finally chased out by an ogre zombie with a giant axe.
The group is :
Dwarf Fighter (axe fighter who hates orcs and loves treasure)
Gnome Rogue/Wizard (charismatic and boisterous, self-identified treasure hunter who won't steal)
Half-elf Ranger/Cleric (chaotic, flips coins for decisions)
Human Bard (strange mix of courageous and cowardly)
Elf Sorceress (with magic missiles that look like flying vaginas)
Elf Druidess (wolf companion, spends most of her time rolling eyes at the non-elves)
Having been chased out but happy with their small horde, they set out on the road and happened upon a group of partying gnomes. These gnomes were heavy drinkers and guarded by a hill giant who got drinks for free. These particular gnomes (unknown to the party) make the best drinks in all the world and they travel the astral realm and come to the material only to make camp for the night, never in the same place twice. The two elves chose to camp away, but the rest of the party joined the gnomes. Well the bard tumbled in with a nat 20 and was offered a drink that made him pass out on the spot. Only gnomes, fey, dwarves and giants can drink their Moon Brew without passing out. The half-elf fared no better, but the gnome and dwarf drank for hours with the wild gnomes. I gave the two plenty of chances to quit drinking and leave, even drag their friends out and the gnomes wouldn't have stopped them. Instead, they kept drinking and eventually passed out. The gnomes robbed them of all coin and valuables (including all their new treasure). Good thing they had sort of made friends with them or these particular gnomes would have stolen everything including the clothes on their back.
They later made their way north towards Kingsholm and the site of the adventure. Having felt bad for stealing all their treasure (which was way more than a level 1 should have anyway), I had them save a dwarf from being attacked by goblinoid bandits. This dwarf is nephew to Gran Stoutbrace, owner of the general store of Kingsholm. The fallen dwarves were Grans sons. In reward, he offers the PCs each 50 gold worth of store credit. The goblin bandits were renegades from Army of the Red Hand just camped to the east of Kingsholm and stopping traffic there. They weren't happy sitting in the pass and aren't real loyal to Tiamat, so about half the force there broke off while Krootad (the necromancer) was busy finding the crypt.
That night, the group started into the graveyard after the missing family and guardsmen. In the wolf encounter, the worg spoke to one of them in the fight and they now think that there is a shapeshifter on the loose, as he got away. They only barely heard the girl crying for help in the coffer, and chose to let her out and bring her into town, thinking they had already solved the issue and wanting the full reward. I had them rewarded with part of it with promise of the rest if they could go back down and discover who is looting the place. The module doesn't really help with this hook, and PCs can be rather dense, so I helped them along here and let them know there is more to the issue, not to mention the little girl's testimony.
This is where we are now and about to play again tomorrow. The way I plan to spin the module towards "Red Hand of Doom" is that the grave-robbers are actually part of the Army of the Red Hand. Azarr Kul sent a force west beyond the Westdeep in order to prevent any trade coming in from that direction and blind the outside world to his happenings in the vale. Kingsholm I put not far from the west there, with a smaller mountain range between it and the Westdeep. The hobgoblin army set up in a pass there along with a red dragon wyrmling that helps them patrol the road and feeds on local livestock (the party has already heard rumors).
The hobgoblin cleric necromancer in the module will be one of the leaders of this force, who was instructed to work alongside Xeron to find the Heart of a Golden Wyrm, which was buried with the forgotten king, something I added in to make things interesting. A treasure that doesn't necessarily have value in itself except as a magical component for a dark ritual that Azarr Kul plans to perform for Tiamat. I want to set a time limit on the PCs rather than the joke in the module. If they win, great. If not, the Kulkor Zhul gets the heart and this will mean something bad later, maybe an undead dragon for the army or something.
I have chosen to drop the beholder room, it seems a bit much. I like puzzles, but this one doesn't seem particular fun or challenging. I prefer riddles and I think my players do too. I also don't like the knock thing, but I had to think about how to hide this part of the tomb structure from the local townsfolk to keep them out for hundreds of years. I decided that it was a bricked up part of the wall, made to look like much of the rest, but the PCs will stumble in upon it already having been broken down by the robbers from the other side. The guard captain Mia will accompany them in the morning for the first couple rooms and will let them know this is new and she knows nothing of it. My concern over this is the really hard ogre zombie in the next encounter after. I don't want to drain them too much. My first thought was a skeleton wyvern, but that could be rather hard. I also thought about a shadow. I'll figure it out by morning.
I changed the runehound to be a Barghest, which makes more sense for the army of the Red Hand. I also changed a bit of the gear to be found to both reflect interest of the group and also the larger number of PCs. For example, I buried each of the 4 heroes in the Hall of the Honored with a +1 weapon or 2 in addition to the loot found in the special crypt. That loot I also modified a little.
Not sure what to do yet about the maze. I kind of like the idea of letting them feel helpless for half an hour or so, but the dungeon is already very combat heavy. I might just make it a bit more linear and throw in one or two encounters that seem fun. The magic aspect of the maze seems cool though and on the way out, they could pass through a single corridor, really freaking them out. idk! I know it was suggested to skip it and I can see why, but part of the point of it is also to explain why the PCs had enough time to try and catch the robbers and without it, it makes less sense. This is especially true if I include a few bodies with treasure.
I haven't planned much of the rest just yet. This will be enough for tomorrow's session, though I did decide I was going to make the king a half-dwarf who had united the land around here, including Elsir Vale and fought a war against the dark forces of Tiamat's followers, the first Army of the Red Hand. This will again tie it to the later campaign. Anyway, while this doesn't seem like the most exciting adventure at first glance, I think that combined with the larger campaign with select modifications, it can be a really good asset. Who knows, maybe come the morning, my party will decide they want nothing more to do with the crypt and will go on their way.
The group is :
Dwarf Fighter (axe fighter who hates orcs and loves treasure)
Gnome Rogue/Wizard (charismatic and boisterous, self-identified treasure hunter who won't steal)
Half-elf Ranger/Cleric (chaotic, flips coins for decisions)
Human Bard (strange mix of courageous and cowardly)
Elf Sorceress (with magic missiles that look like flying vaginas)
Elf Druidess (wolf companion, spends most of her time rolling eyes at the non-elves)
Having been chased out but happy with their small horde, they set out on the road and happened upon a group of partying gnomes. These gnomes were heavy drinkers and guarded by a hill giant who got drinks for free. These particular gnomes (unknown to the party) make the best drinks in all the world and they travel the astral realm and come to the material only to make camp for the night, never in the same place twice. The two elves chose to camp away, but the rest of the party joined the gnomes. Well the bard tumbled in with a nat 20 and was offered a drink that made him pass out on the spot. Only gnomes, fey, dwarves and giants can drink their Moon Brew without passing out. The half-elf fared no better, but the gnome and dwarf drank for hours with the wild gnomes. I gave the two plenty of chances to quit drinking and leave, even drag their friends out and the gnomes wouldn't have stopped them. Instead, they kept drinking and eventually passed out. The gnomes robbed them of all coin and valuables (including all their new treasure). Good thing they had sort of made friends with them or these particular gnomes would have stolen everything including the clothes on their back.
They later made their way north towards Kingsholm and the site of the adventure. Having felt bad for stealing all their treasure (which was way more than a level 1 should have anyway), I had them save a dwarf from being attacked by goblinoid bandits. This dwarf is nephew to Gran Stoutbrace, owner of the general store of Kingsholm. The fallen dwarves were Grans sons. In reward, he offers the PCs each 50 gold worth of store credit. The goblin bandits were renegades from Army of the Red Hand just camped to the east of Kingsholm and stopping traffic there. They weren't happy sitting in the pass and aren't real loyal to Tiamat, so about half the force there broke off while Krootad (the necromancer) was busy finding the crypt.
That night, the group started into the graveyard after the missing family and guardsmen. In the wolf encounter, the worg spoke to one of them in the fight and they now think that there is a shapeshifter on the loose, as he got away. They only barely heard the girl crying for help in the coffer, and chose to let her out and bring her into town, thinking they had already solved the issue and wanting the full reward. I had them rewarded with part of it with promise of the rest if they could go back down and discover who is looting the place. The module doesn't really help with this hook, and PCs can be rather dense, so I helped them along here and let them know there is more to the issue, not to mention the little girl's testimony.
This is where we are now and about to play again tomorrow. The way I plan to spin the module towards "Red Hand of Doom" is that the grave-robbers are actually part of the Army of the Red Hand. Azarr Kul sent a force west beyond the Westdeep in order to prevent any trade coming in from that direction and blind the outside world to his happenings in the vale. Kingsholm I put not far from the west there, with a smaller mountain range between it and the Westdeep. The hobgoblin army set up in a pass there along with a red dragon wyrmling that helps them patrol the road and feeds on local livestock (the party has already heard rumors).
The hobgoblin cleric necromancer in the module will be one of the leaders of this force, who was instructed to work alongside Xeron to find the Heart of a Golden Wyrm, which was buried with the forgotten king, something I added in to make things interesting. A treasure that doesn't necessarily have value in itself except as a magical component for a dark ritual that Azarr Kul plans to perform for Tiamat. I want to set a time limit on the PCs rather than the joke in the module. If they win, great. If not, the Kulkor Zhul gets the heart and this will mean something bad later, maybe an undead dragon for the army or something.
I have chosen to drop the beholder room, it seems a bit much. I like puzzles, but this one doesn't seem particular fun or challenging. I prefer riddles and I think my players do too. I also don't like the knock thing, but I had to think about how to hide this part of the tomb structure from the local townsfolk to keep them out for hundreds of years. I decided that it was a bricked up part of the wall, made to look like much of the rest, but the PCs will stumble in upon it already having been broken down by the robbers from the other side. The guard captain Mia will accompany them in the morning for the first couple rooms and will let them know this is new and she knows nothing of it. My concern over this is the really hard ogre zombie in the next encounter after. I don't want to drain them too much. My first thought was a skeleton wyvern, but that could be rather hard. I also thought about a shadow. I'll figure it out by morning.
I changed the runehound to be a Barghest, which makes more sense for the army of the Red Hand. I also changed a bit of the gear to be found to both reflect interest of the group and also the larger number of PCs. For example, I buried each of the 4 heroes in the Hall of the Honored with a +1 weapon or 2 in addition to the loot found in the special crypt. That loot I also modified a little.
Not sure what to do yet about the maze. I kind of like the idea of letting them feel helpless for half an hour or so, but the dungeon is already very combat heavy. I might just make it a bit more linear and throw in one or two encounters that seem fun. The magic aspect of the maze seems cool though and on the way out, they could pass through a single corridor, really freaking them out. idk! I know it was suggested to skip it and I can see why, but part of the point of it is also to explain why the PCs had enough time to try and catch the robbers and without it, it makes less sense. This is especially true if I include a few bodies with treasure.
I haven't planned much of the rest just yet. This will be enough for tomorrow's session, though I did decide I was going to make the king a half-dwarf who had united the land around here, including Elsir Vale and fought a war against the dark forces of Tiamat's followers, the first Army of the Red Hand. This will again tie it to the later campaign. Anyway, while this doesn't seem like the most exciting adventure at first glance, I think that combined with the larger campaign with select modifications, it can be a really good asset. Who knows, maybe come the morning, my party will decide they want nothing more to do with the crypt and will go on their way.
