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The Adventures of the Endhome 6+1. Rebirth of Barakus! (9-27-06, 19 and 20 back up)
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<blockquote data-quote="Scorch" data-source="post: 3072646" data-attributes="member: 1502"><p><strong>Adventure 3: Mmmm… Were-rats!</strong></p><p></p><p>We had a long hiatus between the second and third adventure. During that time I was experimenting with foam boards and Hirst Arts blocks to create cavern like set pieces. I decided to create a piece that used the sewer pieces from before and made a two-part cavern for the were-rat lair adventure. </p><p></p><p>I had a full turnout for the third game and I was happy since I felt no guilt about throwing were-rats at the party. I still stacked the deck in their favor as the adventure progressed.</p><p></p><p>After claiming their reward at the Barracks the party attempted to get a meeting with Bragger Bondhome using the letter of introduction they had received. Bragger was not in since he was out checking on another report of a highway robbery by the Green Tree Bandits (mmm… plot hook). </p><p></p><p>Micca finally got permission to claim the abandoned temple of Hieronius as his own. I used Father Beamus’s temple for the floor design just so I did not have to draw something up for him. The other members of the party helped him clean up the temple and that night I had the cleric experience a vision showing him the hill above Barakus. He dove down through the first and second level and came to the room where Kabbal Sharn, the missing cleric, was currently living. </p><p></p><p>This was my method of moving the story towards where the party wanted to get to Barakus. I decided to put together a lost adventuring party made up of Sharn, Fenton Barmey (the lost sorcerer), and several other of the mad NPCs deep within Barakus. Micca had already begun collecting news and gossip at how Sharn and Fenton had done research on the lost city and had put together a group to go out to the hills to explore for it.</p><p></p><p>The next day the party wanted to sell their loot and pick up some master work items they had ordered from the day before. At this point the party split up to do separate business. I love it when the party splits since then I can do some mischief. News of what had happened in the sewers had spread from the night before and several interested parties now wanted to meet with the group. The first was Dagon Ziss and the evil adventuring party. Dagon wanted Micon’s notes from his lab. He offered to buy them for 25 GP from Ravenspur. Since Micca was not with the group Ravenspur was with at the moment the sorcerer readily agreed (after one alignment check). The transaction took place without a hitch. I had written up what would happen if Ravenspur had said no and it could have been messy. Micca was not happy when he heard of the deal. </p><p></p><p>The other person interested in meeting the party was Curley Barnes, the gnome bard. As per his description in the module I had him leech onto the party without giving them much choice. I knew how they would react, with suspicion, since a similar situation in “Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil” had almost ended in a PC death (MINE!) when the bard turned out to be an assassin. Curley was as he was written in the module, just a bard who wanted to join up with adventurers who seem to be going places so he could get good material out of them. He was also my way of adding someone who could help the party out in a tight situation. That he was yet another XP anchor was a plus. </p><p></p><p>On to the adventure hook! After regrouping and having dinner, the party was heading back to the Inn as night settled in. A distraught child ran into them claiming his father was kidnapped. The child was too upset to give details and just kept wailing to be taken to Father Beamus. Micca knew of where the priest of Pelor was and ten minutes later they were knocking on the door of the sun god’s temple. Beamus let them in and listened to their story. He eventually calmed the child down and got the details from him. When he described big walking rats who shrugged off a dagger blow dealt by the father while the child got away the party start getting nervous. The players all knew the signs of were-rats and wondered where they could get silver weapons at this time of day. They were under the belief that the clock was running out for the father before the were-rats ate him or turned him into one of their own.</p><p></p><p>Father Beamus then told the players of an infestation of were-rats from 10 years back that nearly brought Endhome to its knees. The temples worked with the local law enforcement to clear out the sewers but now it looks like some had survived and were laying low. Fortunately Beamus’s temple kept a cache of weapons. He would lend them out to the party if they went into the sewers to rescue the boy’s father. Micca was ready to do it for free but the more mercenary members of the party needed some more incentive. Beamus said that he would offer his healing services for free if they helped the boy out. That was all they needed to hear.</p><p></p><p>I had provided the silver weapons since they would not have a fighting chance against the were-rats at their current first level. I was also setting up some resources they could draw upon later.</p><p></p><p>The now calmed down boy was able to give a description of the alley the were-rats had carried his father into. The party returned to the scene of the crime as a heavy rain began to set in. The ranger, Keldin, easily tracked the were-rats and the dragged body of the father to a nearby sewer grate. Now I could have figured out how hard the DC of tracking the were-rats were but I decided that Tousice, the leader, was getting a little careless with his body snatching and this time they did not bother to hide their tracks. </p><p></p><p>“Into the sewers again!” bemoaned Absinthe.</p><p></p><p>Marching order was established with the ranger and the rogue leading the way. One rolled encounter had the party coming up against a wandering beggar who had sought refuge from the heavy rain underground. He didn’t want any trouble but he did point the players in the right direction saying he had seen the were-rats in the past. With a silver piece for his troubles he headed in the opposite direction of the players.</p><p></p><p>I made note to the players that the heavy rains were beginning to fill up the canal between the walkways in the sewer tunnels and the current was swift.</p><p></p><p>The ranger and the rogue soon found the secret door leading into the were-rat lair. Here was where I had to start keeping track of the location of the were-rats versus the party due to their scent ability. Since the tunnel in the lair was not straight line I had to decide if the 30’ scent range worked by line of sight or by straight line. I decided line of sight.</p><p></p><p><img src="http://pics.livejournal.com/gm_scorch/pic/00054b2r" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /> </p><p></p><p>Absinthe managed to disable the trap and alarm on the secret door and gained entrance to the lair. The party believed they had gained undetected entry to the lair but the light from the sorcerer’s lantern alerted the swarm of rats in the first cave area. They swarmed forward but a sleep spell from Ravenspur knocks them all out cold. The activity does not go unnoticed further into the cave as the first group of were-rats come to investigate. </p><p></p><p>As soon as the first adventurer entered the cave, the scent ability of the were-rats detected them and the first fight is on. The frontline bricks in the party formed a wall to block off the were-rats and blows are exchanged. Another sleep spell goes off from Ravenspur and the majority of the creatures go down. The one left standing was quickly dispatched. Those left sleeping on the ground are disposed of as well. All this noise has alerted Tousice who is preparing his followers to charge out and engage the party.</p><p></p><p><img src="http://pics.livejournal.com/gm_scorch/pic/0005542q" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /> </p><p></p><p>The final group of were-rats led by Tousice were rogues so if they got behind the party with tumble checks then they could get some nasty sneak attacks in. TPK still loomed in my head and this was both a test for myself as well as them. Tousice and the others formed up as the party came within sight of them in the main cave. Init was rolled with no surprise round since both parties knew what was coming.</p><p></p><p>Tousice rolled the best init and led off with a thunderstone attack against Adson who happened to be closest. The monk failed his save and was deafened. The other were-rats moved in and started stabbing away at the front line fighters of the party. </p><p></p><p>Two rounds in and neither group made much headway with missed rolls or very low damage. The were-rats were beginning to get the upper hand and the party retreated back down the corridor. A sleep spell set off by Ravenspur failed miserably while Absinthe, fearing that she would get killed in one hit retreated out of the cave complex entirely. Keldin could not use his bow to good affect in such tight quarters. On the plus side, the were-rats could not tumble through with the way the corridor was configured.</p><p></p><p><img src="http://pics.livejournal.com/gm_scorch/pic/00056f87" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /> </p><p></p><p>Things did not look good and talk was made of retreating but then the tide turned on a single spell. Ravenspur set off another sleep spell and this time two of the were-rats went down. They were quickly dispatched before the others could react and attempt to wake them. The group then rallied and it became a slaughter. </p><p></p><p>Tousice watched as his minions were cut to pieces. Fortunately for him all the were-rats going down cleared room enough for him to tumble through and escape. He dodged and weaved between players but he still got cut and nicked from AOOs. He was low on hit points when he finally burst out into the sewer tunnels startling Absinthe.</p><p></p><p>The adventurers did not want to let him go and what followed next was a chase down the sewer tunnels with balance checks being made on the slippery ledges bordering the rapidly rising water. Tousice made it to a ladder leading out but was delayed a round while he failed his initial strength check to move the grate open. Aislenn got below him and climbed up high enough to take a swipe at him knocking the were-rat down to one hit point. The leader of the kidnappers missed his balance and fell off the ladder hitting Aislenn and they both tumbled into the flowing water. Tousice made his swim check but not Aislenn. I gave the players who caught up to the ladder a decision: go after Tousice who had disappeared underneath the water or rescue the rapidly sinking Aislenn in her heavy armor. They went with rescuing their comrade while casting furtive glances up and down the sewer tunnels.</p><p></p><p>The were-rat lair was ransacked and they found the missing father, beaten into unconsciousness but with no signs of bites or scratches which would indicate they wanted to turn him into a fellow were-rat. One interesting thing they found was a letter from Tousice’s client who had hired him to kidnap fresh victims. It was signed TP. This is, of course, a story hook for another adventure involving the vampires at the Pulanti estate.</p><p></p><p>The party then high-tailed it back to Father Beamus’s temple, convinced that Tousice was going to show up with a war band of were-rats, ready to slaughter them all. I found it amusing they were so paranoid when in reality poor Tousice was currently fighting for survival with only one hit point left to him. He had survived his ordeal and was very slowly making his way back to the Pulanti estate where he would report to the vampires of his failure. The party had just gained an enemy who I would use later.</p><p></p><p>The party was healed up by Father Beamus and thanked for their efforts. He had no idea who the letter was from but recommended they report what had occurred to the city garrison first thing next morning. He offered them to stay the night at his temple but the group, still paranoid that they were about to be attacked again, did not want to involve him in the fight and they barricaded themselves into Micca’s temple for the night.</p><p></p><p>At this point I was coming down with a cold and my throat was killing me. We called it a night and I doled out XP. Everyone said they had a great time and that the fight had their adrenaline pumping. I knew then that I should stop worrying about killing them since they were all very experienced players and knew how to evaluate threats and deal with them accordingly. </p><p></p><p>Next adventure: Back into the wilderness!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Scorch, post: 3072646, member: 1502"] [b]Adventure 3: Mmmm… Were-rats![/b] We had a long hiatus between the second and third adventure. During that time I was experimenting with foam boards and Hirst Arts blocks to create cavern like set pieces. I decided to create a piece that used the sewer pieces from before and made a two-part cavern for the were-rat lair adventure. I had a full turnout for the third game and I was happy since I felt no guilt about throwing were-rats at the party. I still stacked the deck in their favor as the adventure progressed. After claiming their reward at the Barracks the party attempted to get a meeting with Bragger Bondhome using the letter of introduction they had received. Bragger was not in since he was out checking on another report of a highway robbery by the Green Tree Bandits (mmm… plot hook). Micca finally got permission to claim the abandoned temple of Hieronius as his own. I used Father Beamus’s temple for the floor design just so I did not have to draw something up for him. The other members of the party helped him clean up the temple and that night I had the cleric experience a vision showing him the hill above Barakus. He dove down through the first and second level and came to the room where Kabbal Sharn, the missing cleric, was currently living. This was my method of moving the story towards where the party wanted to get to Barakus. I decided to put together a lost adventuring party made up of Sharn, Fenton Barmey (the lost sorcerer), and several other of the mad NPCs deep within Barakus. Micca had already begun collecting news and gossip at how Sharn and Fenton had done research on the lost city and had put together a group to go out to the hills to explore for it. The next day the party wanted to sell their loot and pick up some master work items they had ordered from the day before. At this point the party split up to do separate business. I love it when the party splits since then I can do some mischief. News of what had happened in the sewers had spread from the night before and several interested parties now wanted to meet with the group. The first was Dagon Ziss and the evil adventuring party. Dagon wanted Micon’s notes from his lab. He offered to buy them for 25 GP from Ravenspur. Since Micca was not with the group Ravenspur was with at the moment the sorcerer readily agreed (after one alignment check). The transaction took place without a hitch. I had written up what would happen if Ravenspur had said no and it could have been messy. Micca was not happy when he heard of the deal. The other person interested in meeting the party was Curley Barnes, the gnome bard. As per his description in the module I had him leech onto the party without giving them much choice. I knew how they would react, with suspicion, since a similar situation in “Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil” had almost ended in a PC death (MINE!) when the bard turned out to be an assassin. Curley was as he was written in the module, just a bard who wanted to join up with adventurers who seem to be going places so he could get good material out of them. He was also my way of adding someone who could help the party out in a tight situation. That he was yet another XP anchor was a plus. On to the adventure hook! After regrouping and having dinner, the party was heading back to the Inn as night settled in. A distraught child ran into them claiming his father was kidnapped. The child was too upset to give details and just kept wailing to be taken to Father Beamus. Micca knew of where the priest of Pelor was and ten minutes later they were knocking on the door of the sun god’s temple. Beamus let them in and listened to their story. He eventually calmed the child down and got the details from him. When he described big walking rats who shrugged off a dagger blow dealt by the father while the child got away the party start getting nervous. The players all knew the signs of were-rats and wondered where they could get silver weapons at this time of day. They were under the belief that the clock was running out for the father before the were-rats ate him or turned him into one of their own. Father Beamus then told the players of an infestation of were-rats from 10 years back that nearly brought Endhome to its knees. The temples worked with the local law enforcement to clear out the sewers but now it looks like some had survived and were laying low. Fortunately Beamus’s temple kept a cache of weapons. He would lend them out to the party if they went into the sewers to rescue the boy’s father. Micca was ready to do it for free but the more mercenary members of the party needed some more incentive. Beamus said that he would offer his healing services for free if they helped the boy out. That was all they needed to hear. I had provided the silver weapons since they would not have a fighting chance against the were-rats at their current first level. I was also setting up some resources they could draw upon later. The now calmed down boy was able to give a description of the alley the were-rats had carried his father into. The party returned to the scene of the crime as a heavy rain began to set in. The ranger, Keldin, easily tracked the were-rats and the dragged body of the father to a nearby sewer grate. Now I could have figured out how hard the DC of tracking the were-rats were but I decided that Tousice, the leader, was getting a little careless with his body snatching and this time they did not bother to hide their tracks. “Into the sewers again!” bemoaned Absinthe. Marching order was established with the ranger and the rogue leading the way. One rolled encounter had the party coming up against a wandering beggar who had sought refuge from the heavy rain underground. He didn’t want any trouble but he did point the players in the right direction saying he had seen the were-rats in the past. With a silver piece for his troubles he headed in the opposite direction of the players. I made note to the players that the heavy rains were beginning to fill up the canal between the walkways in the sewer tunnels and the current was swift. The ranger and the rogue soon found the secret door leading into the were-rat lair. Here was where I had to start keeping track of the location of the were-rats versus the party due to their scent ability. Since the tunnel in the lair was not straight line I had to decide if the 30’ scent range worked by line of sight or by straight line. I decided line of sight. [IMG]http://pics.livejournal.com/gm_scorch/pic/00054b2r[/IMG] Absinthe managed to disable the trap and alarm on the secret door and gained entrance to the lair. The party believed they had gained undetected entry to the lair but the light from the sorcerer’s lantern alerted the swarm of rats in the first cave area. They swarmed forward but a sleep spell from Ravenspur knocks them all out cold. The activity does not go unnoticed further into the cave as the first group of were-rats come to investigate. As soon as the first adventurer entered the cave, the scent ability of the were-rats detected them and the first fight is on. The frontline bricks in the party formed a wall to block off the were-rats and blows are exchanged. Another sleep spell goes off from Ravenspur and the majority of the creatures go down. The one left standing was quickly dispatched. Those left sleeping on the ground are disposed of as well. All this noise has alerted Tousice who is preparing his followers to charge out and engage the party. [IMG]http://pics.livejournal.com/gm_scorch/pic/0005542q[/IMG] The final group of were-rats led by Tousice were rogues so if they got behind the party with tumble checks then they could get some nasty sneak attacks in. TPK still loomed in my head and this was both a test for myself as well as them. Tousice and the others formed up as the party came within sight of them in the main cave. Init was rolled with no surprise round since both parties knew what was coming. Tousice rolled the best init and led off with a thunderstone attack against Adson who happened to be closest. The monk failed his save and was deafened. The other were-rats moved in and started stabbing away at the front line fighters of the party. Two rounds in and neither group made much headway with missed rolls or very low damage. The were-rats were beginning to get the upper hand and the party retreated back down the corridor. A sleep spell set off by Ravenspur failed miserably while Absinthe, fearing that she would get killed in one hit retreated out of the cave complex entirely. Keldin could not use his bow to good affect in such tight quarters. On the plus side, the were-rats could not tumble through with the way the corridor was configured. [IMG]http://pics.livejournal.com/gm_scorch/pic/00056f87[/IMG] Things did not look good and talk was made of retreating but then the tide turned on a single spell. Ravenspur set off another sleep spell and this time two of the were-rats went down. They were quickly dispatched before the others could react and attempt to wake them. The group then rallied and it became a slaughter. Tousice watched as his minions were cut to pieces. Fortunately for him all the were-rats going down cleared room enough for him to tumble through and escape. He dodged and weaved between players but he still got cut and nicked from AOOs. He was low on hit points when he finally burst out into the sewer tunnels startling Absinthe. The adventurers did not want to let him go and what followed next was a chase down the sewer tunnels with balance checks being made on the slippery ledges bordering the rapidly rising water. Tousice made it to a ladder leading out but was delayed a round while he failed his initial strength check to move the grate open. Aislenn got below him and climbed up high enough to take a swipe at him knocking the were-rat down to one hit point. The leader of the kidnappers missed his balance and fell off the ladder hitting Aislenn and they both tumbled into the flowing water. Tousice made his swim check but not Aislenn. I gave the players who caught up to the ladder a decision: go after Tousice who had disappeared underneath the water or rescue the rapidly sinking Aislenn in her heavy armor. They went with rescuing their comrade while casting furtive glances up and down the sewer tunnels. The were-rat lair was ransacked and they found the missing father, beaten into unconsciousness but with no signs of bites or scratches which would indicate they wanted to turn him into a fellow were-rat. One interesting thing they found was a letter from Tousice’s client who had hired him to kidnap fresh victims. It was signed TP. This is, of course, a story hook for another adventure involving the vampires at the Pulanti estate. The party then high-tailed it back to Father Beamus’s temple, convinced that Tousice was going to show up with a war band of were-rats, ready to slaughter them all. I found it amusing they were so paranoid when in reality poor Tousice was currently fighting for survival with only one hit point left to him. He had survived his ordeal and was very slowly making his way back to the Pulanti estate where he would report to the vampires of his failure. The party had just gained an enemy who I would use later. The party was healed up by Father Beamus and thanked for their efforts. He had no idea who the letter was from but recommended they report what had occurred to the city garrison first thing next morning. He offered them to stay the night at his temple but the group, still paranoid that they were about to be attacked again, did not want to involve him in the fight and they barricaded themselves into Micca’s temple for the night. At this point I was coming down with a cold and my throat was killing me. We called it a night and I doled out XP. Everyone said they had a great time and that the fight had their adrenaline pumping. I knew then that I should stop worrying about killing them since they were all very experienced players and knew how to evaluate threats and deal with them accordingly. Next adventure: Back into the wilderness! [/QUOTE]
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