hawaiianbrian
First Post
<If you play in a monthly game that meets at Guardian Games in Portland, you're probably one of my players, and you should get out now>
I goofed up during our last session and told the players the lost delegation took a detour to the Halls of the Hunting Axe, not Summit Hall, which I completely forgot about. Of course they wanted to head there to search for clues. Problem is, they're 3rd level and that area is slated for 11th level. Now, I have no problem downscaling on the fly and can make the place suitable if need be, but this error has complicated things a lot. They made it as far as the central ruin with the dwarven machinery beneath it and figure out how to turn it all on, opening the sealed tomb. I then had them bump into the trio of elves sent by the Harpers to guard the place after hearing some dwarves were headed this way to plunder the tomb and take Orcsplitter. Yeesh.
Anyway, down in the basement of that ruin where the machinery is, the four elemental symbols are carved in the ceiling, one by each exit. The adventure says nothing about how this weird coincidence came to pass, nor does the writer consider it out of the ordinary that four symbols of the evil elemental princes were carved into a machinery room in a dwarf city that did not worship said princes. I've been racking my brain between sessions for an explanation. Anyone have any insights?
This misunderstanding has also led me to make some pretty significant changes to the adventure. DeVir is present in the adventure and is the leader of the cult. There is only one cult, not four -- the different elements have their own sect of the greater organization and work together, not against each other. The delegation took a detour because it was being led by Grumink the Renegade, a plant at the great Archive in Mirabar, who was smuggling important old tomes to the elemental cults. The books contain the forgotten instructions for the Fourfold Rite which will bring forth the princes and the Elder Elemental Eye (the rest of the books were unimportant so were sold off after the expedition was killed). He convinced the expedition leader to head toward the Halls of the Hunting Axe so he could lure them into an ambush and deliver the tome to DeVir. The four keeps are being moved so they perfectly align with one another in a diamond pattern, and each is built over an elemental "rift," where ages ago the drow were preparing a massive ritual to open the rifts and free the princes who, in turn, would free their lord the Elder Elemental Eye (who would appear in the exact center right over the underground temple -- I'm going to put a thermal hotsprings there, like a miniature Yellowstone, mixing fire, air, earth, and water). The city near the Halls of the Hunting Axe will be there, as well, because the book mentions the Besilmer dwarven empire was an above-ground experiment, with an underground backup in case things went bad (which they did, naturally). Also, in part to prevent the characters from stumbling into the dungeon before they're ready, and in part to make more sense, I'm moving the entrances to the main elemental dungeons to that central location under the hot springs.
tl;dr The four elemental symbols appear in the dwarven ruins under the Halls of the Hunting Axe, but I have no idea why (and the adventure is mum about it). My own error has sent low-level characters there and has caused me to make some significant rewrites to the adventure. Advice needed.
I goofed up during our last session and told the players the lost delegation took a detour to the Halls of the Hunting Axe, not Summit Hall, which I completely forgot about. Of course they wanted to head there to search for clues. Problem is, they're 3rd level and that area is slated for 11th level. Now, I have no problem downscaling on the fly and can make the place suitable if need be, but this error has complicated things a lot. They made it as far as the central ruin with the dwarven machinery beneath it and figure out how to turn it all on, opening the sealed tomb. I then had them bump into the trio of elves sent by the Harpers to guard the place after hearing some dwarves were headed this way to plunder the tomb and take Orcsplitter. Yeesh.
Anyway, down in the basement of that ruin where the machinery is, the four elemental symbols are carved in the ceiling, one by each exit. The adventure says nothing about how this weird coincidence came to pass, nor does the writer consider it out of the ordinary that four symbols of the evil elemental princes were carved into a machinery room in a dwarf city that did not worship said princes. I've been racking my brain between sessions for an explanation. Anyone have any insights?
This misunderstanding has also led me to make some pretty significant changes to the adventure. DeVir is present in the adventure and is the leader of the cult. There is only one cult, not four -- the different elements have their own sect of the greater organization and work together, not against each other. The delegation took a detour because it was being led by Grumink the Renegade, a plant at the great Archive in Mirabar, who was smuggling important old tomes to the elemental cults. The books contain the forgotten instructions for the Fourfold Rite which will bring forth the princes and the Elder Elemental Eye (the rest of the books were unimportant so were sold off after the expedition was killed). He convinced the expedition leader to head toward the Halls of the Hunting Axe so he could lure them into an ambush and deliver the tome to DeVir. The four keeps are being moved so they perfectly align with one another in a diamond pattern, and each is built over an elemental "rift," where ages ago the drow were preparing a massive ritual to open the rifts and free the princes who, in turn, would free their lord the Elder Elemental Eye (who would appear in the exact center right over the underground temple -- I'm going to put a thermal hotsprings there, like a miniature Yellowstone, mixing fire, air, earth, and water). The city near the Halls of the Hunting Axe will be there, as well, because the book mentions the Besilmer dwarven empire was an above-ground experiment, with an underground backup in case things went bad (which they did, naturally). Also, in part to prevent the characters from stumbling into the dungeon before they're ready, and in part to make more sense, I'm moving the entrances to the main elemental dungeons to that central location under the hot springs.
tl;dr The four elemental symbols appear in the dwarven ruins under the Halls of the Hunting Axe, but I have no idea why (and the adventure is mum about it). My own error has sent low-level characters there and has caused me to make some significant rewrites to the adventure. Advice needed.
