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Holiday Iron DM!!!! {Final Judgment Posted!}
- Thread starter el-remmen
- Start date
el-remmen
Moderator Emeritus
Wicht vs. Quickbeam - Final Round
As usual, you will be given a list of six ingredients - in addition, you will be given 10 secondary ingredients - these ingredients will ONLY be counted in the case of a tie-breaker - so don't spend too much time on them and you are not required to use them all.
Main Ingredients
--------------------------------
Dwarven Logging Team
Beached Whale
Storm Giant
Magic Tea Cup
Bulette
Ju-Ju Zombies
Secondary Ingredients
------------------------------------------
Broom
Pixies
Mind-Flayer
Bath House
Awakened Dire Cricket
Diamond Ear-rings
Tone Deaf Bard
Scroll of Dispel Magic
A Guy Named Ralph
Yellow Brick Road
As usual, you will be given a list of six ingredients - in addition, you will be given 10 secondary ingredients - these ingredients will ONLY be counted in the case of a tie-breaker - so don't spend too much time on them and you are not required to use them all.
Main Ingredients
--------------------------------
Dwarven Logging Team
Beached Whale
Storm Giant
Magic Tea Cup
Bulette
Ju-Ju Zombies
Secondary Ingredients
------------------------------------------
Broom
Pixies
Mind-Flayer
Bath House
Awakened Dire Cricket
Diamond Ear-rings
Tone Deaf Bard
Scroll of Dispel Magic
A Guy Named Ralph
Yellow Brick Road
el-remmen
Moderator Emeritus
From the announcer's booth:
{announcer's Hushed Voice}: Well, it has now been seven hours and two minutes and no signs from our competitors - except for the initial exclamation of awe and wonder when the ingredients, for this, the final round of the ENboards Holiday '02 IRON DM Tournament. And now, for a brief overview of our two DMs, we turn to uh. . . well, we turn to me. . .
First, we have Quickbeam. This new-comer has an old school flavor that just cannot stop. He made quick work of Zappo in the first round using his toy cavalry, but just barely squeaked past a clever Arwink in the second. Will he have what it takes to beat, Wicht, who is heavily favored by book-makers all across the gaming world.
Wicht is a long time veteran of the Iron DM tourney circuit, and has won countless lower rounds easily, but always loses it in the final? Will the "Iron Horse" of Iron DM coke again? Or will he turn out another of his appropriately detailed cohesive entries that make the crowds cheer?
We'll check back in in a few hours. . .
{announcer's Hushed Voice}: Well, it has now been seven hours and two minutes and no signs from our competitors - except for the initial exclamation of awe and wonder when the ingredients, for this, the final round of the ENboards Holiday '02 IRON DM Tournament. And now, for a brief overview of our two DMs, we turn to uh. . . well, we turn to me. . .
First, we have Quickbeam. This new-comer has an old school flavor that just cannot stop. He made quick work of Zappo in the first round using his toy cavalry, but just barely squeaked past a clever Arwink in the second. Will he have what it takes to beat, Wicht, who is heavily favored by book-makers all across the gaming world.
Wicht is a long time veteran of the Iron DM tourney circuit, and has won countless lower rounds easily, but always loses it in the final? Will the "Iron Horse" of Iron DM coke again? Or will he turn out another of his appropriately detailed cohesive entries that make the crowds cheer?
We'll check back in in a few hours. . .
Wicht
Hero
Getting some of these ingredients to mesh was a little like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole - it required some hammering. I can only hope Quickbeam has an even worse time of brainstorming then I did 
Nevertheless let me present a little ditty I choose to call...
The Logging Fair Blues
The following is an adventure for approximately 9th level adventurers though doubtlessly, with only minor adjustments it could easily be made more difficult and dangerous. Both the Town of Brindy Creek and Whilton County can easily be altered to reflect any settlement built near both to the ocean and a great forest.
Introduction
The town of Brindy Creek lies between the shores of the ocean and the eaves of a great forest. It is a prosperous logging community and the site of this years Whilton County Logging Fair, an annual and generally festive event. This years logging fair is even more special than normal. The national logging championship will be held at the fair between two very capable teams. The pot for the competition is 10,000 golden coins. The first team is a Dwarven Logging Team comprised of twenty dwarves, the most allowed on one team. Despite their small stature, these hardy loggers have yet to fail at a competition and are in fact the current champions. The competition this year however is fierce. Rushdarl Cloudstrider is a Storm Giant in his first year of competition. He works with only one team-mate, a trained Bulette named Blue whom he uses to pull the logs. Despite their inexperience in competitive logging, the giant is also, like the dwarves, undefeated. His huge size and great strength (as well of that of his companion) allows him to work as hard as twenty men.
The easiest way for the PCs to be drawn into the events of the competition is for them to be hired as guards. If they accept such duty, their responsibility is two-fold. One, they are responsible for the safe-keeping of the 10,000 golden coins. The coins will not be in their possession but they will need to make sure they are not stolen. This assumes of course that the PCs are honest and upright. As guards they will also be partially responsible for maintaining the peace during the fair.
Crooked and dishonest PCs might easily be lured into town by the promise of a large sum of coins, easily stolen. In this case the events of the three day competition provide a backdrop for the PCs activities and the DM should devise suitable security for the coins, preferably a group of NPCs of an equivalent level to the PCs.
Or perhaps the PCs are merely in town at the same time as the fair. In which case they are bystanders that are confronted with the troubles that will soon plague the logging fair.
A Whale in Need
On the first day of the competition, morning light reveals a beached blue whale just outside of town. The huge creature is in distress. DMs should appeal to any druid or nature loving PC with descriptions of the distressed animal. Townsfolks will let the PCs know that if the animal cannot be returned to the water, they will most likely kill it and harvest it.
The obvious solution is found in the two logging teams. If the PCs do not suggest it, one of the competition judges will suggest that the two teams work to move the whale back into the water. DMs should allow the PCs to make any suggestions or provide any assistance they wish. In this case, regardless of how the PCs help or do not help, the two teams, working together, will eventually manage to get the whale on rollers and then back into the water. This starts the competition off on a positive note of goodwill between both teams. The bulette, of whom many in town are naturally nervous, is also demonstrably tame and helpful, following the giant’s orders exactly. Any PCs nervous about such a ravenous creature near them should have their fears allayed by its behavior.
The rest of the first day goes off without a hitch, with little serious trouble as far as violence or security issues. However, that night, a bard by the name of Ralphinious Warsterhammer, Ralph to his friends, arrives in town bringing trouble with him.
An invasion of the Little People
DMs should somehow introduce this guy named Ralph to the PCs on the first night of the competition, just after he gets into town. Ralph has a problem and if he notices a magic-user amongst the PCs he will relay his problem and ask for help. Ralph should initially be played as a funny faced man with a long nose, little beady eyes and huge ears who feels he must shout to be heard. If allowed he will explain that due to a trifle misunderstanding with some Pixies he is suffering from a curse. They struck him with the hideous face the PCs see and gave him a ringing in his ears which greatly affects his hearing. Not only does he have problems hearing but he also cannot perform his songs correctly as he has become a Tone-Deaf Bard due to the ringing in his ears. PCs whom he convinces to put their ears next to his will indeed notice a faint ringing sound. Actually what the bard is suffering from is not a curse but only a permanent illusion the pixies attached to his face as he was fleeing from them. The illusion contains a small audible component, very soft but focused right in the bard’s ear in such a way as to be loud to him. Ralph has with him a Scroll of Dispel Magic which he will ask any available magic-user to use on him. He would try it himself, but due to the ringing he has been getting only about half of his spells to work right and is afraid of ruining the scroll for no gain. The Dispel Magic will return his face to normal and stop the ringing. If the PCs help him he will be grateful and depart, letting them know he plans on being in town for a few days.
The next day Pixies will invade the fair and the town. Numbering in the hundreds, they will cause mischief and plant illusions everywhere, including turning almost everything a uniform shade of sky blue through the use of illusion. They will do all they can to disrupt things as they hunt for the bard. It seems that the reason the Pixies are chasing Ralph is that he stole from their queen. He not only stole a Magic Tea Cup, one which will instantly fill with any desired brewed beverage (it was a favorite toy of the pixie queen), but he also stole a pair of very valuable diamond earrings, also enchanted. The pixies will reduce both the fair and the town to chaos until they recover their property. The Pixies will not fight the PC’s in melee, but if the PCs manage to question them, they will reveal what they are after. The PCs will have to hunt down Ralph (who is hiding in a Bath House) and force him to turn over what he has stolen. If the Pixies are given the stolen items, they will return things back to normal, all except for Ralph, which they will curse again with the face and the ringing noise.
A daring attempt at Robbery
On the third day of the competition, things get even worse. A mind-flayer master-thief has decided the gold is too tempting a target to pass up. But instead of just stealing the gold, he first provides some distractions so that the theft will be easier.
First of all he will set some Ju-Ju zombies lose in town. He releases them in such a way that he will not be around when they first start attacking people. Then, whilst the PCs and the town are focused on the Ju-Ju Zombies, he uses his mental powers to charm the Storm Giant’s Bulette and cause it to go on a rampage through the fair and the town. The Storm Giant will be unable to control Blue the bulette but as he chases it around the town (causing damage of his own in the process) and tries to stop it from burrowing into buildings and wrecking property he will also plead with any who are trying to stop it not to actually hurt it. Blue is well fed and will not actually try and eat anybody but it will be a chore to stop it. If Blue attacked it will defend itself and violence will only confuse it worse.
In the meantime the Mindflayer will be working to steal the gold. If the PCs have set up no protection for the gold other than what it already had, the mindflayer will likely quickly succeed and make off with the gold. If the PCs have set up any clever traps or protections then, depending on how good their tricks are, the Mindflayer might still be in the midst of stealing the gold when Blue is finally stopped. And if the PCs are smart enough, or dumb enough, to ignore the rampaging bulette, they may be able to catch the mindflayer in the act in which case the thief will flee rather than fight.
Conclusion
Whether there is still a prize to be won or not, the competition will continue and be finished. The winner will likely depend on whether or not the storm giant still has his beast of burden to help him through the final stages of the contest or not. If the PCs have been hired as guards, they will only have been considered successful by their employers if they managed to handle both the pixies and the attempted burglary.
Nevertheless let me present a little ditty I choose to call...The Logging Fair Blues
The following is an adventure for approximately 9th level adventurers though doubtlessly, with only minor adjustments it could easily be made more difficult and dangerous. Both the Town of Brindy Creek and Whilton County can easily be altered to reflect any settlement built near both to the ocean and a great forest.
Introduction
The town of Brindy Creek lies between the shores of the ocean and the eaves of a great forest. It is a prosperous logging community and the site of this years Whilton County Logging Fair, an annual and generally festive event. This years logging fair is even more special than normal. The national logging championship will be held at the fair between two very capable teams. The pot for the competition is 10,000 golden coins. The first team is a Dwarven Logging Team comprised of twenty dwarves, the most allowed on one team. Despite their small stature, these hardy loggers have yet to fail at a competition and are in fact the current champions. The competition this year however is fierce. Rushdarl Cloudstrider is a Storm Giant in his first year of competition. He works with only one team-mate, a trained Bulette named Blue whom he uses to pull the logs. Despite their inexperience in competitive logging, the giant is also, like the dwarves, undefeated. His huge size and great strength (as well of that of his companion) allows him to work as hard as twenty men.
The easiest way for the PCs to be drawn into the events of the competition is for them to be hired as guards. If they accept such duty, their responsibility is two-fold. One, they are responsible for the safe-keeping of the 10,000 golden coins. The coins will not be in their possession but they will need to make sure they are not stolen. This assumes of course that the PCs are honest and upright. As guards they will also be partially responsible for maintaining the peace during the fair.
Crooked and dishonest PCs might easily be lured into town by the promise of a large sum of coins, easily stolen. In this case the events of the three day competition provide a backdrop for the PCs activities and the DM should devise suitable security for the coins, preferably a group of NPCs of an equivalent level to the PCs.
Or perhaps the PCs are merely in town at the same time as the fair. In which case they are bystanders that are confronted with the troubles that will soon plague the logging fair.
A Whale in Need
On the first day of the competition, morning light reveals a beached blue whale just outside of town. The huge creature is in distress. DMs should appeal to any druid or nature loving PC with descriptions of the distressed animal. Townsfolks will let the PCs know that if the animal cannot be returned to the water, they will most likely kill it and harvest it.
The obvious solution is found in the two logging teams. If the PCs do not suggest it, one of the competition judges will suggest that the two teams work to move the whale back into the water. DMs should allow the PCs to make any suggestions or provide any assistance they wish. In this case, regardless of how the PCs help or do not help, the two teams, working together, will eventually manage to get the whale on rollers and then back into the water. This starts the competition off on a positive note of goodwill between both teams. The bulette, of whom many in town are naturally nervous, is also demonstrably tame and helpful, following the giant’s orders exactly. Any PCs nervous about such a ravenous creature near them should have their fears allayed by its behavior.
The rest of the first day goes off without a hitch, with little serious trouble as far as violence or security issues. However, that night, a bard by the name of Ralphinious Warsterhammer, Ralph to his friends, arrives in town bringing trouble with him.
An invasion of the Little People
DMs should somehow introduce this guy named Ralph to the PCs on the first night of the competition, just after he gets into town. Ralph has a problem and if he notices a magic-user amongst the PCs he will relay his problem and ask for help. Ralph should initially be played as a funny faced man with a long nose, little beady eyes and huge ears who feels he must shout to be heard. If allowed he will explain that due to a trifle misunderstanding with some Pixies he is suffering from a curse. They struck him with the hideous face the PCs see and gave him a ringing in his ears which greatly affects his hearing. Not only does he have problems hearing but he also cannot perform his songs correctly as he has become a Tone-Deaf Bard due to the ringing in his ears. PCs whom he convinces to put their ears next to his will indeed notice a faint ringing sound. Actually what the bard is suffering from is not a curse but only a permanent illusion the pixies attached to his face as he was fleeing from them. The illusion contains a small audible component, very soft but focused right in the bard’s ear in such a way as to be loud to him. Ralph has with him a Scroll of Dispel Magic which he will ask any available magic-user to use on him. He would try it himself, but due to the ringing he has been getting only about half of his spells to work right and is afraid of ruining the scroll for no gain. The Dispel Magic will return his face to normal and stop the ringing. If the PCs help him he will be grateful and depart, letting them know he plans on being in town for a few days.
The next day Pixies will invade the fair and the town. Numbering in the hundreds, they will cause mischief and plant illusions everywhere, including turning almost everything a uniform shade of sky blue through the use of illusion. They will do all they can to disrupt things as they hunt for the bard. It seems that the reason the Pixies are chasing Ralph is that he stole from their queen. He not only stole a Magic Tea Cup, one which will instantly fill with any desired brewed beverage (it was a favorite toy of the pixie queen), but he also stole a pair of very valuable diamond earrings, also enchanted. The pixies will reduce both the fair and the town to chaos until they recover their property. The Pixies will not fight the PC’s in melee, but if the PCs manage to question them, they will reveal what they are after. The PCs will have to hunt down Ralph (who is hiding in a Bath House) and force him to turn over what he has stolen. If the Pixies are given the stolen items, they will return things back to normal, all except for Ralph, which they will curse again with the face and the ringing noise.
A daring attempt at Robbery
On the third day of the competition, things get even worse. A mind-flayer master-thief has decided the gold is too tempting a target to pass up. But instead of just stealing the gold, he first provides some distractions so that the theft will be easier.
First of all he will set some Ju-Ju zombies lose in town. He releases them in such a way that he will not be around when they first start attacking people. Then, whilst the PCs and the town are focused on the Ju-Ju Zombies, he uses his mental powers to charm the Storm Giant’s Bulette and cause it to go on a rampage through the fair and the town. The Storm Giant will be unable to control Blue the bulette but as he chases it around the town (causing damage of his own in the process) and tries to stop it from burrowing into buildings and wrecking property he will also plead with any who are trying to stop it not to actually hurt it. Blue is well fed and will not actually try and eat anybody but it will be a chore to stop it. If Blue attacked it will defend itself and violence will only confuse it worse.
In the meantime the Mindflayer will be working to steal the gold. If the PCs have set up no protection for the gold other than what it already had, the mindflayer will likely quickly succeed and make off with the gold. If the PCs have set up any clever traps or protections then, depending on how good their tricks are, the Mindflayer might still be in the midst of stealing the gold when Blue is finally stopped. And if the PCs are smart enough, or dumb enough, to ignore the rampaging bulette, they may be able to catch the mindflayer in the act in which case the thief will flee rather than fight.
Conclusion
Whether there is still a prize to be won or not, the competition will continue and be finished. The winner will likely depend on whether or not the storm giant still has his beast of burden to help him through the final stages of the contest or not. If the PCs have been hired as guards, they will only have been considered successful by their employers if they managed to handle both the pixies and the attempted burglary.
