You may have noticed that I didn't post up anything from last Tuesday. We had a few people sick, so we instead ran a 5th Edition one-shot. Over the course of two weeks, I've been planning my next session. In the interest of getting some pre-session thoughts, I'm going to post a few things up here.
New Characters
Meriele's player has rolled up a monk. Her order sent her to Fortune previously to retrieve a lost scroll from the dungeon, which she did successfully (earning two bracelets). Her order has just finished decoding the scroll, which tells of an enlightened hero who ventured deep beneath the earth in the dungeon. Giving her a scroll of 'Speak With Dead' and a few important prophecy-related questions, they've sent her back to Fortune to look for the corpse in the dungeon.
Our fifth has returned as well (the fellow who played Mork and Mink). He's rolled up a rogue (with some pretty good stats, I might add). I haven't had a chance to talk with him about character back story, but it'll be good to get back to five players. It'll also be good to see a rogue in action!
As for the next session, there will be a funeral for Pohtep (the NPC rival), then a funeral for Meriele (since she paid for one). She also paid for a special religious ceremony called the "Ceremony of Fading Light", which will be presided over by Brother Averyn, her previous aide. I still have to come up with some ideas for a special cleric ceremony for a cleric of Pelor, so if anyone's got ideas, I'm all ears. Mostly fluff and flavor stuff, but I'm open to suggestions. I want it to feel grand and special, since she put out extra money for it.
Back To The Dungeon!
Brelf's plan is to clear out the goblins on level one (since Meriele will no longer be around to object). Then to plunder the treasure vault of the Hall of Bells. Then he wants to kill the lake monster he was taming. There hasn't been a discussion in character just yet, but it seems likely they'll be tying up loose ends.
I expect the goblins to be easy fodder, but it'll be fun for the PCs to feel the benefits of being higher level. Letting them mow through a whole cave of goblins should be fun. Then the treasure vault will allow them to claim some actual magical weapons, a moment I've been anticipating for some time.
As for the lake monster, the beast was previously in an area cleared by other adventurers. I'm going to give it some new inhabitants; a drow, her five troglodytes, and their pet rust monster. It should be a speed bump encounter for them, but I want to give the impression that the dungeon isn't always sitting quiet and waiting for them; some places get re-inhabited! The lake monster itself I'm modelling off of the hydra, and it'll function similarly. It likely won't be much of a challenge either, but I think it'll be fun for the PCs to get in some easy killing.
The Adventure
My buddy has volunteered to run a short 3-4 session game in February, so I'd like to put this campaign through a short climactic arc before we put things on hold for a bit. My campaign thus far has revolved around the PCs controlling their own destiny, where they can make educated choices and retreat is always an option. Well, I want to change that.
I'm going to collapse the floor beneath them, and sent them plummeting several hundred feet into an underground lake.
The way back up is not an option; they can't scale the walls of the cavern. All they can do is swim to shore. The PCs will then have to find their way back up through the caverns and tunnels, fighting what they can beat, avoiding what they can't. I want to make provisions matter here (I plan to have one of their NPCs ask about provisions before they leave town, just to make sure they have some). I want them to seek out food, to cook what they can catch, to have to ask the question, "Can I eat troglodyte?". I really want the long rest rules to come into play, too; I'm probably going to adopt one of the slower-heal rules for the campaign. Till now, it hasn't mattered. But for this arc, it definitely will come up.
There are risks, of course. PCs may die in the course of the adventure, and it will be difficult to just add in a replacement PC. They have some NPC mercenaries, so that's a possibility, but I'd prefer to keep them from becoming full PCs; they have obligations to their mercenary company in town, which would be tough for a PC to work with. That said, I may have the PCs encounter some other survivors deep down; prisoners, perhaps? I may offer the chance to roll up and play a second PC, though I'm really not sure if my players would enjoy that or not. I may just have said prisoners lurking in the wings, waiting to be rescued whenever a new PC needs to turn up.
I'm going to try and come up with some interesting exploration scenarios, in addition to the combat hooks. If anyone has some particularly good ideas for challenging terrain features (like a natural chimney, or a tight crevasse, things like that), I'm all ears.
The floor collapse will be the work of the Exarch's agents, which means that she'll consider the PCs dead. The PCs will know this. The big dramatic payoff will be when they stroll back into town, even after they were presumed dead, putting her on shaky footing. Which I think is a good way to end before a break.
Thoughts?
