Adapting "Ghost Tower of Inverness" for 13th level PCs

[Quickleaf]

I've let Allen know that there have been further developments, to see if he has any additional thoughts. Fingers crossed!

Thanks Mark! I know it can be delicate when someone comes along and wants to alter a piece of work you put a lot of effort into, so Allen's feedback is much appreciated.

I wrote up the "angel in a circle" encounter, the twist being that the Tower is frozen in time in the middle of a dragon attack, so in this encounter ethereal dragon fire is pouring thru the windows, making a sense of urgency (and an immediate reason to release angel for his help). I followed your ideas [MENTION=27160]Balesir[/MENTION] about structuring it as a skill challenge that the PCs can learn thru clues that they probably don't want to complete. Btw I made it an Angel of Vengeance (19th level elite) with a vendetta against Fastilbras for imprisoning it; obviously, it doesn't want the PCs to resurrect Fastilbras & will be a very scary opponent if released.

Just three more Tower levels to write up, and then the final Soul Gem encounter...

 

[Balesir]

Btw I made it an Angel of Vengeance (19th level elite) with a vendetta against Fastilbras for imprisoning it; obviously, it doesn't want the PCs to resurrect Fastilbras & will be a very scary opponent if released.

Oooh - that is a lovely monster! The characters in our game had an encounter with an Angel of Vengeance and it was an encounter they still talk about. They have some very nice focussed and scary powers.

Sounds like it's coming along - I'm looking forward to seeing the 4E encounters and changed elements, if you wouldn't mind making them available when you're done?

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=27160]Balesir[/MENTION]
Cool! Yeah, typically what I do with my 4e adventures/conversions is write them up as PDFs which I then upload to the ENWorld thread for that adventure.

Obviously with C-2 I can only share my own stuff and nothing from the original module, so that means just the redone Tower & Soul Gem.

 

[Mark CMG]

Thanks Mark!

You're welcome. I'll keep you posted.

 

[Balesir]

Obviously with C-2 I can only share my own stuff and nothing from the original module, so that means just the redone Tower & Soul Gem.

Sure - and no problem since I have an old copy of that adventure here somewhere!

 

[Quickleaf]

I will start running the Ghost Tower thursday. I've got my conversion notes for the dungeon level, which should take up the entire session gathering the 4 keys and entering the tower proper.

Mostly I am running the dungeon as is, but here is a quick summary of changes I made...

The monster squares summon hell hounds and are hinted at by a mural.

The rubble room has hidden wights instead of a manticore, and a pit that ties into the illusory ball.

The crystal pendant is an RP encounter with various devil offers.

The bead curtain is totally changed into a teleportation puzzle/trap.

And there are four journal scraps the PCs can discover by exploring the dungeon, hinting that one of the mage's apprentices was a traitor. This sets the stage for the 4 Tests & Soul Gem encounter in the Ghost Tower, which we'll probably get to in the new year.

 

[Mark CMG]

Looks like you're all ready to go. Have fun!


Allen only commented that the further touches you added looked interesting and that it is very cool how D&D can be so expansive and lead to so many cool ideas.


Keep posting from time to time and the game rolls on so we know how your work has paid off (though creation is its own reward, of course!).

 

[Neil1889]

Wow, this was the first official D&D scenario I ever played back in the 1980's. The DM of that game plays a dwarf Fighter in the 4e game I run now.

Happy gaming, Quickleaf.

 

[Quickleaf]

Looks like you're all ready to go. Have fun!


Allen only commented that the further touches you added looked interesting and that it is very cool how D&D can be so expansive and lead to so many cool ideas.


Keep posting from time to time and the game rolls on so we know how your work has paid off (though creation is its own reward, of course!).

Wow, this was the first official D&D scenario I ever played back in the 1980's. The DM of that game plays a dwarf Fighter in the 4e game I run now.

Happy gaming, Quickleaf.

Cheers, thanks gents!

We started the Ghost Tower last night, with the party entering the dungeon thru the NE tower. They encountered my remake of the "curtain of beads" (which was a combined teleporting / hellhound summoning puzzle that one of the players harkened to the D&D Danger Room). They bypassed it with an improvised dispel magic at first, but would return to it later. They also discovered a journal scrap of the Mage which had a cryptic clue and also warned that one of his apprentice's consulted the Dark Grimoire... This is relevant especially because the party is traveling with one of the apprentice NPCs.

When they came to the human indentation cubicles, the party was creeped out. I forgot how much they tend to ping-pong around dungeons to find some imaginary path of least resistance! They went back to the "curtain of beads" and the bard dove thru, solving the puzzle but summoning a pack of Hellhounds in the process which caught up with the PCs and proved very taxing.

My Hellhounds are homebrew so they're invisible to everyone but their quarry - in this case, the bard. There were a few tricks around this, but he party chose to brute force the fight.

Seeing their only option was to retreat and try entering thru a different tower or use the human indentation cubicles, they opted for the cubicles. This spilled them onto the trapped chessboard, which the dwarf fighter readily deduced though there was some human err involved with him guiding one of the PCs across the room safely.

They found the key in the statue's chest, and then proceeded to think of every dirty use for it imaginable. I think it began with the dwarf player saying: "OK, so I reach around the statue and manipulate the hand holding its staff..."

...to be continued...

 

[Quickleaf]

Ok, so last session the players ended by entering the actual Ghost Tower. Now I've got work to do!

As I mentioned, I'm redoing most of the Ghost Tower itself to a virtue/vice/temptation theme rather than the elemental themes of the original. There are 4 trials before the Soul Gem climax.

I could use some help designing the Soul Gem encounter.

What I have so far is the "Soul Gem" solo hazard from the DMG down-leveled but still very dangerous, with the added caveat that anyone reduced to 0 HP by it has their body disintegrated and their soul sucked into the gem.

Meanwhile the PCs will be trying to free the wizard Fastilbras' soul from the Gem, and find some way to store it or create a new body for him or something... and here's where I draw a blank I know I want the lessons from the previous 4 trials to be applied in rescuing the wizard...