PHDungeons Nentir Vale homebrew

PHDungeon

First Post
We left the entry tower and stepped out into the cold black night of the Shadowfell.

Moil must have been a singularly impressive sight centuries ago when it was still a living and vibrant city. Even today, after centuries of neglect, it inspires a sense of awe. We looked upon series of dark, basalt and granite towers hundreds of feet high, rising out of mist and darkness, connected by a latticework of stone bridges wide enough for 2 carts to pass by. Although several of the bridges have completely or partially collapsed many still remain.

We set out along the one path currently open to us, a bridge stretching hundreds of feet to the next tower. There are, of course, no railings on the side of the bridge but it is wide enough to be fairly safe. It feels stable. We are so far above the ground that we cannot see what lies below us except for darkness and mist.

Without incident we arrive at another great tower. Inside is a circular chamber with one exit to another bridge. But it is the chamber itself that is the most interesting. At the centre of the chamber is a shattered plinth made of a red rock that is of quite a different sort than those making up the towers and bridges. On the shattered plinth are some engravings carved in an older form of the Common tongue, one used during the height of Bhal Turath.

At Harbek’s very wise suggestion we decided to take rubbings of the stone fragments and then put together those rubbings rather than trying to restore the fragments themselves. This took some considerable time but was eventually successful. Almost all of the work was done by Harbek and myself, as we seemed to be the only ones with the patience and intellect sufficient for such a task.

Once restored, the message turned out to be a long riddle written by the Demi Liche- Acererak. I will not place the riddle here but it is, of course, sufficiently cryptic that we will probably never realize what all of the clues refer to and will realize too late what some of them mean.

I have so many thoughts and vague recollections of Acererak, but I am able to recall only fragments. I don't even know where those fragments come from. Were they stories that I read in my youth or heard in my long years of adventuring? Or are they fragments of memory coming to me from Allaine?

Some, I believe, must be fragments of memory. I remember being in his tomb, in passing many traps. I remember the fixed sphere of annihilation masquerading as a mouth. But I also know that there are no such things as spheres of annihilation known to contemporary magicians.

Between Harbek’s magic that allowed others to tap into my skills and my own Aria of Revelation we managed to piece together much of the history of Acererak and Moil. He had come here on a quest to turn himself into a God. While here, he had created many wonderous items and many foul undead. Fortunately, at least according to the stories, he was slain before he could finish his quest. But I can't help but recollect that old, old saying "The stories of his death were much exaggerated". I am filled with a sense of foreboding that we will encounter either him or some vestige of himself that has been left behind.

We then proceeded out of the chamber along another bridge leading to yet another tower. At least our path was reasonably clear since only one exit from the tower led to an intact bridge, the steps to the ground having long since collapsed away. We probably could have gotten to the ground and to other towers by a variety of means should such have become necessary, but we chose to take the path of least resistance, at least at first.

As we neared yet another tower, we were suddenly attacked. Three incorporeal undead rose up out of the bridge at the rear of the party while two gargoyles attacked the front. I want to say that they were specters and gargoyles, but both were more powerful than previous versions that I have encountered.

The battle was a quite hard fight. Incorporeal creatures that can disappear into the walkway are hard to bring to task. Our common tactic of blowing or teleporting opponents away was far less effective than normal against opponents with the ability to fly and hover with ease. The specters were able to get into the heads of my companions and I. They assaulted us with waking nightmares that tore at our minds and souls, leaving us dazed while we tried to regain our composures.

At one point, Turak used his ability to call on the Earth spirits to shake the ground. Fortunately, the bridge managed to withstand the violence inflicted upon it, although several pieces of masonry fell loose and plummeted into the depths. I believe that he learned his lesson and will be more careful in the future.

Eventually, we prevailed over our foes, but the battle had sorely weakened us. We retreated off the catwalk back into the tower with the plinth, and there I cast a ritual to take us into a safe location within the Feywild where we could recover our strength. I couldn't help but notice and be concerned by the fact that we had managed such a short distance here in Moil before requiring rest.

In the confined room of a great tree within the Feywild we rested. Smar amused and annoyed us with his antics as he constantly tried to stalk Turak within a space no larger than a small longhouse.

After our rest, we then returned to Moil and proceeded on our quest.

We entered another tower, a tower almost ruined by the ravages of time but still somehow surviving despite the numerous holes in the floor and in the walls. In the centre of the room there was a circular, raised platform of stone surrounded by numerous mystical wards. I could sense that the platform had magics on it that would take us elsewhere.

I don't know how long I spent slowly and carefully studying the wards and protections on the platform. It was one of the most fascinating puzzles I had ever been presented with. This was clearly the work of a master magician, a magician far more powerful than I am. I am absolutely certain that I would not have been able to defeat the wards if they were at full strength and were intended to completely keep me out. I cannot be certain, but it seems to me that the wards were deliberately crafted so that a magician of sufficient power could bypass them with enough time and effort. Clearly these were the work of Acererak. I am very afraid that he is somehow still alive and is just playing with us for his own amusement.

I had managed to disarm one of the wards and was near to removing the second when circumstances changed in a rather dramatic and dismal fashion. A great and powerful undead monstrosity attacked us. It was a gargantuan, incorporeal thing seemingly made out of the spirits of dozens or hundreds of screaming beings. It was though the entire cursed population of Moil had merged to form a single horrific entity.

It soon became exceedingly apparent that this being was beyond our ability to fight. In its first appearance it caused Smar to recoil in fear and fall through one of the many holes in the floor into the darkness below. Tentacles lashed out from it engulfing Turak and greatly damaging Harbek. Kanis used his primal magic to conjure a pit to the Feywild to keep the foul thing contained, but it continually escaped from the trap.

I was quite surprised to find that I apparently have a much greater degree of internal fortitude than do my companions. I'm not too surprised that the feral natures of both Kanis and Smar let the panic overcome them sufficiently that they literally lost control of their bladders, but I was amazed to learn that Harbek and Ardyn were similarly affected. Turak’s resistance to the fear was to be expected. As for myself, I don't think that my reaction was so much caused by massive bravery as by the fact that I no longer really fear death. It will come when it comes, and I will go to whatever fate awaits me. I have made my peace with that unpleasant fact and, while I hope that it will be delayed a long time, I am ready to die today.

I started to quickly and frantically try to remove the remaining wards. Clearly, opening up the platform and leaving by it was our only means of survival. I was probably imagining the chuckle that I heard as I did this.

While this consumed my full attentions, my companions did what they could to survive and slow the monstrosity down. The spirits summoned by Smar and Ardyn kept blowing it back into the small area of Fey space created by Kanis, but it kept managing to escape from that trap. The most crucial part of the spirits’ aid was that they moved the undead horror, but not whomever was engulfed at the time.

After what felt like hours, but was actually only perhaps thirty seconds, I managed to disarm the last of the wards with some assistance from Harbek, and we all frantically threw ourselves through the portal. Fortunately, at this crucial moment, the Fey Trap succeeded in keeping the monster within its bounds, if only for a few seconds, and we all managed to get through the portal.

We fell into a large circular chamber. Enscribed on the floor was a relief structure shaped in the form of a huge, green devil head with closed eyes, the symbol of Acererak- complete with a large black area representing its mouth. We fell onto this structure, Smar having the great misfortune to fall straight into the mouth. Of course the gaping maw was no mundane opening. Inside was what turned out to be a relic similar to a Sphere of Annihilation, but fortunately much less powerful, as it only weakened and injured Smar as opposed to destroying him outright. With some effort he managed to climb out of the mouth wounded by alive.

We were then attacked by yet more incorporeal undead. I am detecting a theme here. Three of them swept down from the ceiling and assaulted us. Since we were already weakened by the fight with the undead horror only moments ago this fight was harder than it might otherwise have been. The mouth affected the wraiths as well as ourselves, so a great deal of the fight revolved around trying to shove the sword wraiths into the sculpture’s mouth. At any rate, after some rather intense violence we managed to succeed in destroying our undead enemies.

We then took stock of the room and our surroundings. The room had ten archways filled with cool, gray mist spread around its circumference, each one was very clearly a portal of some sort.

What was probably most alarming was that I was able to determine that we couldn’t contact other Planes from this area. That means that our rituals of Solace Bole and Planar Portal will not work here. Some of our other abilities are also likely affected although the exact details are not completely clear. I suspect that the Fey Trap spell will not function, but I believe that my Arcane Gate may.

Despite spending considerable time studying one of the gates, I was unable to discern anything about where it led or whether it would have unfortunate side effects.

Smar, at that point, grew impatient and walked through one of the gates at random, instantly reappearing inside the mouth of “near annihilation”. He was obviously far more upset by the fact that his armour did not reappear with him than he was by the damage the mouth inflicted on him.

I then did what I should have done before and would have done if Smar had not precipitated things- I cast a Hand of Fate Ritual, asking what door we should proceed through and which door would lead us to Smar’s armour.

Smar stepped through the indicated door but reappeared in the mouth, this time with all of his items still present. I then did what I should have done long before. My only excuse for this second lapse was that the encounter a few minutes before had rattled me more than I had realized. I studied the relief on the floor and scavenged through my memories and realized that the version here was wrong. Both eyes were closed, whereas the true insignia of Acererak has both eyes open.

After the rest of us stepped back to a safe distance, Turak smashed the eyes. A great wave of energy slightly bruised him but didn't reach the walls where we stood. The mouth of the green devil became an empty pit, a pit with a portal in the bottom of it.

At least for the moment we seem to have disarmed the magical sphere. We now have little choice but to proceed through the portal. I am filled with a great sense of dread. The words of Odin are echoing through my mind. And I feel that Acererak wants us to proceed, at least if we are sufficiently powerful to pass his initial tests. I am very much afraid that we are dancing on the threads of Fate and are doomed to both succeed and fail at the same time. Our very success may be a key factor in the coming of Ragnarok.

But it cannot be that simple. In the stories Acerak DID fail. The champions of Rao destroyed him and his Fortress of Conclusion. Odin DID send us here. Perhaps if we are very careful we can succeed. Or perhaps in our failure we will gain knowledge or powers crucial to our final success. Maybe only certain death awaits us (GM note: prophetic words, as will be seen soon). I am sure that Acererak would have it so.
 

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PHDungeon

First Post
Wherein the heroes find themselves in Acererak's Shadow Tomb and continue their explorations.

Melek's journal:

Smar has been incredibly despondent for the last couple of days. The encounter with that undead monstrosity has obviously come close to unhinging his mind. Or perhaps something happened to him in the pit that he fell into, something that we don't know about. He seems to be getting a little better and even showed some signs of life in the room with the tapestries. I'm a little bit hopeful that he'll soon snap out of it.

We stepped out of the gateway and found ourselves in a small chamber with a single exit. The chamber itself was some 25 feet by 25 feet in size, with 4 columns of exceedingly hot magical fire about 5 feet from each corner. We ourselves were either in the columns of fire or between them. The fire was hot enough that even I felt a small amount of pain, my companions found it exceedingly discomforting.

Beyond the small chamber was a bubbling pit of acid some 15 feet across leading into a larger chamber. At the end of that chamber was a throne and sitting upon that throne was a skeletal figure with crown and scepter starting to stir.

It brought flashbacks to mind of my earlier experience so many years ago. Or, perhaps, fevered hallucinations caused by my madness.

Kanis was the first to recover from the shock of arrival and he bounded forward, easily leaping the pit. I admit to being a bit surprised that the floor immediately beyond the pit was actually solid and not a trap. But as he moved forward the trap became apparent as the floor just beyond the acid fell away revealing a great hole. We heard crackling sounds and saw the discharge of lightning, followed by a sickening thud and cries of pain from far below.

Harbek then ran forward, ignoring the fact that he was aflame. He leaped onto the small platform between the acid and the pit and looked down, calling out that Kanis was alive but surrounded by a multitude of undead. And there was a lightning trap only a few feet below the lip of the pit.

The magics of this place made it fairly difficult to open an Arcane Gate to the ground beyond the pit but I managed to successfully open it and stepped into the liches chamber. I was followed immediately by Ardyn who managed to open a similar kind of gate called a Root Gate down to nearly the floor of the pit. Next time we have to plan things a little better since my gate has more range and would have reached the bottom. Ardyn also tossed his rope of climbing over to Harbek

For once even Turak chose to be a little discrete and used the Arcane Gate to pass the dangers and then charged the Liche.

Fortunately Kanis managed to escape the undead before they could do much damage to him by first extracting himself from the spikes and then leaping into the air and through the Root Gate up into the main chamber.

During the fight with the liche we managed to immerse him in the acid several times. I managed to teleport him in once with my Flitting Shadows and controlled his mind another time to get him to throw himself back in.

Although his magics were strong and he even had the ability to teleport we managed to prevail fairly quickly although all of us were quite damaged in the process.

His Sceptre turns out to be the equivalent of a Rod of Corruption, an item highly prized by warlocks. His crown, from all appearances, is just a highly valuable piece of jewelry.

During a reasonably short rest filled with many Runes of Mending we searched the room and the throne. The throne could be pushed aside. Underneath the throne we found what is obviously an Iron Flask, complete with what is presumably the command word engraved on it. Both Harbek and myself believe that the flask is probably full but neither of us knows of any means of determining what is inside except to open it. Not being quite that foolish or desperate we decided to not open it except under the most dire circumstances. Harbek has been carrying the flask ever since.

Our search for the Liches phylactery was unsuccessful. Unfortunately he was not so stupid as to leave it in the throne room. Pity, really.

Behind the throne was a very low passageway cursed with some apparently moderately weak necrotic energy. Kanis went through the tunnel as he is small enough to be able to move unimpeded. Beyond he found a chamber with no obvious exits and above him he saw a great gelatinous mass where the ceiling should be. In the short instants that he stayed there a few fragments of the ceiling fell to the ground, bubbling away acidically. Although there are likely ways to remove the danger we decided that now was not the time to go there.

After some discussion we decided that we should rest in the throne room for a day despite the fact that it was only a couple of hours since we had rested in the Bole. But this place has already convinced us to be very, very cautious.

I spent the time mastering yet another ritual from Belladonna's book. Kanis and Smar spent a lot of time talking together. While there was some snarling from time to time they didn't kill each other so all must be at least reasonably well.

Eventually we all managed to get some sleep although while I was on guard I noticed that everybody seemed to be twitching and moaning in their sleep.

That night, my dreams were even more vivid and disturbed than usual. I kept running the procedure to get by those wards in my head. I kept seeing that foul undead monster in my dreams. But in my dreams it talked to me, or some of the spirits that composed it talked to me. They told me much of the wonders of Moil when it was alive, much of the time before my people were cursed to become Tieflings. I have only vague recollections, but I believe that I was on the cusp of some great epiphany when I was jolted awake by Smar screaming in his sleep.

Somewhat refreshed, or at least no longer able to pretend to sleep, we decided that the time to press on had arrived. I again cast the Endure Elements and Sustenance rituals before we started out.

I cast Arcane Gate to allow us to reach the bottom of the pit trap. There we found a chamber, a level, and a trap door . After some discussion everybody returned back to the top. I then used a mage hand to pull down the lever while jumping through the gate. This caused a great stone block to fall in the place where the lever had stood. It would have been near certain death for anybody there.

Where the block had been there was now a tunnel. We proceeded along that tunnel and soon found ourselves looking into a long room with perhaps 20 or so human skulls on pedestals. Some of the skulls had gems for eyes or teeth, some were just skulls. The one directly opposite the doorway was the only one that had both eye sockets and teeth engemmed. All very reminiscent of the final confrontation with Acerak so many years ago.

We proceeded moderately cautiously and systematically but it turned out the entire room was comparatively harmless if reasonable precautions were taken. There were some spear traps at either end of the long hall, triggered when the main skull was lifted. But we had already noticed the trap and, at any rate, were lifting all the skulls via mage hand prior to smashing them to pieces.

Although we searched high and low we were unable to find any other exits from the chamber and so returned back to the bottom of the pit and the trap door.

Raising that door, we descended into a corridor leading into a large room with tapestries lining the walls and many tapestries hanging from frames within the room blocking most of our line of sight. What smelled like good, wholesome food was waiting for us atop many tables. I hastened to point out the obvious to my companions that the food should not be touched or sampled in any way but I believe that even the more feral of the group had already come to that conclusion.

The tapestries showed scenes of life and battle from long ago including fights between Bael Turath and the Empire of Nerath,

As we examined the tapestries we noticed that there was a figure in one of the tapestries close to the door, an anachronistic figure of a paladin of Rao stared out from a tapestry showing a scene centuries before Rao was even known.

As we entered the room, 2 ghostly figures appeared and transformed into beautiful women dressed in the garb of noble women of Bael Turath. Kanis called out to one of them in Skanzi that she should stay away and then shot her when she approached . I called out to her in the language of Bael Turath that we were not necessarily enemies but she replied that she was so hungry, so hungry. I perhaps imagined the very sad look in her eyes as she said this and the despair in her voice.

A third spectral undead then appeared and a general battle was joined. I wish that there had been some means of dealing with this problem more peacefully.

It wasn't a complete surprise when the tapestries also joined in, trying to engulf any living being that got too close to them. Although they managed to strike one or two of us during the battle they had little effect.

The battle was another hard fought battle with incorporeal undead. I don't mean to sound jaded when I say that, from a tactical point of view, it wasn't particularly different from the other battles we have faced here. The most significant thing by far from my point of view was that the Maiden extended her boon to me and dazed one of the ghosts when it struck me from surprise.

Eventually we prevailed over the ghosts. I was the one who put in the final blow against the woman that I had been talking to. I will swear by both the Maiden and by Odin that, as my eldritch blast of flame blew her apart, that a smile came to her lips and she mouthed a quiet thank you.

We then proceeded to examine the room, especially the tapestries, in great detail from a safe distance. In only 2 of them did we say anything that seemed out of place. There was the Paladin and a female figure that would appear to be some form of sorceress in another. I then proceeded to burn all of the other tapestries from a safe distance with my eldritch blast. Behind one of the tapestries a corridor was revealed.

Neither Harbek or myself were able to come to any conclusion as to whether or not a Remove Affliction ritual might be able to restore these people to life from their tapestries. When we have more time we should return here and see if my Aria of Revelation combined with his magics will allow us to come to a better understanding of the situation. I am fairly sure that a Remove Affliction will, at worst, accomplish nothing. While destroying the tapestry may free them it is at least as likely to slay them.

[ This has not yet happened. It describes the next extended rest. All is flavour to describe his retraining and new feats ]

After awhile I managed to fall asleep and my dreams returned.

In some of them I was present in the scenes shown in the tapestries that I had burned, participating in the life of my ancestors. As can happen in dreams time passed slowly. It was as if I managed to spend days or even weeks in a single night.

I also clearly recall having a long discussion with the shade of the woman who I had talked to in the tapestry room and then had put to rest, a woman called Phelaia. She told me that we had done her a great favour. She was a seer in life. She was able to fortell that it was possible for me to redeem the Tieflings, or at least some of them. That I had to continue by proceeding along the path along which I had taken the first faltering steps. I had to put all my infernal heritage behind me, I had to control the bloodlust and anger. I had to give up any and all abilities granted by the devils so long ago. Only then would I be able to again become human and only then would I be able to redeem my people.

I also had a long conversation with Perrinne. I was right, she was a female. I saw her as a young woman in her late 20's but I don't know if that is what she looked like when she died or if it just how she thought of herself. During the conversation she pointed out that it was often possible to use a little of ones own power when casting Rituals and use far less components and cast the ritual far more skillfully to boot. To do so is a somewhat dangerous and quite tasking undertaking and should only be undertaken on Rituals that are quite basic and straightforward and it should never, ever be done more than once in a single day regardless of the circumstances.

When I woke up and again cast Endure Elements I could see what she had meant. Although I did not actually do so due to the fact that I might need it for a far more important ritual I was absolutely certain that I can now take advantage of this new technique.

It seems more and more likely to me that my dreams are true. But it is definitely still a possibility that they are just a construct of my own insanity and I am only remembering long lost fragments of knowledge from my days at the Academy.

But whether the dreams are true or not I am going to act upon them. The Tieflings deserve better than they currently have. And, longshot though it may be, I am going to strive to give them that chance.

Listen to me. It is almost as if I've forgotten that I am currently in some dark, cursed place of incredible danger and am quite likely to perish here. Its almost as if I've actually got some hope in my heart.
 

PHDungeon

First Post
Unfortunately, I have no journal's to post for what turned out to be the final session of the campaign.

In this final session the heroes continued their exploration of the Shadow Tomb and dealt with some more nasty traps and obstacles. However, they had the misfortune of stumbling into the lair of a dracolich. The creature was a level 19 solo. I thought given that the party was level 17 that they could take the thing, though I figured it might be a bit of tough fight since they were already a little battered up from the nasty traps they had dealt with. They were also missing Ardyn's player for the session, so Ardyn wasn't doing anything useful. Still it was 5 PCs vs a solo.

Unfortunately the result was a TPK. The dracolich was taken from the Monster Vault and it had a couple of abilities that were particularly nasty. One was that it could attempt to dominate a PC about twice per round at will. Second it had an aura that prevented anyone in it from regaining hit points. Finally, the Shadow Tomb itself caused all healing to heal 10 less hp than normal.

Several PCs spent much of the time dominated and unable to do much other than attack their allies. Turak and some of the other melee fighters spent a great deal of time caught in the thing's aura and were unable to do receive the healing they needed, while taking nasty attacks from the dracolich. To make matters worse for the party Melek missed close to ten saving throws in a row against the dominate through bad die rolling.

Anyhow they got the thing down to about 70 hp before it was finished them off, so it was a close fight.

Of course, as a dm I could have cut them some slack and had the creature drop a little earlier or done other things to ensure they didn't take a TPK, but when running D&D I like to let the chips fall where they may. It wasn't an unreasonable encounter and the players were very experienced with optimized character builds. Furthermore, I was getting really tired of dming 4E, so when I realized I might have an out I decided to take it, even though it wasn't the ideal way to end the campaign.

We have since begin a new mini 30s Pulp campaign. We are currently using Savage Worlds rules, but I'm going to have the players convert the characters to FATE (Spirit of the Century) for the second adventure. I'm really looking forward to running that system since it's so much different than 4E. So far, the players have been having a blast, and I think they are finding it a really refreshing change from D&D. I'm also playing in a 3E Warhammer game run by one of my players every other Sunday, and I'm starting to really dig that system.

I don't have any plans to run D&D again anytime soon. I'm looking forward to trying out a bunch of other games that I either haven't played in a long time or haven't played at all. I may try to run start another fantasy campaign sometime in the next few months, but ideally I'd like to use some system other than D&D (FATE or maybe DragonAge are highest on my list).
 

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