Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
Meta - Forums About Forums
Archive-threads
Ceramic DM autumn '03(final judegment: new ceramic dm champ!)
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="mythago" data-source="post: 1166172" data-attributes="member: 3019"><p><strong>A Frog in the Throat</strong></p><p></p><p>The village of Anvil huddles in the cold shadow of the Iron Mountains; it is the last stop on the trade road from the mighty capital city of Deinby, as it winds up into Farrier's Pass. The ore that once made the town famous for the plentifulness and quality of its metalwork has become rarer, but items made by the smiths of Anvil--though rare now--are still prized, and the town makes a small living catering to travellers going through Farrier's Pass. </p><p></p><p>Oddly for a human town, the villagers' patron deity is Moradin, god of dwarves. (Some say that this is because the people of Anvil have dwarven blood in them, but that's impossible. Isn't it?) They celebrate the usual festivals, such as the King's Birthday, but also those that honor Moradin. Every winter equinox, the villagers travel to a nearby cave known as the Mouth of Moradin. Within the cave is a sacred pool, surrounded by ancient, huge statues carved by the dwarves centuries ago, before they left this part of the Iron Mountains--no one knows why. Anvil's priest, who is literate, writes the villager's prayers and praise to Moradin on scraps of parchment. Then the people tie the prayers to small stones and throw them into the pool. These prayers are followed by offerings of gold, jewels, valuable stone carvings, and finely-made ornaments and weapons, to honor Moradin.</p><p></p><p>Word of this ceremony eventually got back to a Deinby wizard named Misigrem. Never one to make an honest copper when a dishonest gold would do, Misigrem conceived the idea of cleaning out the pool after the midwinter ritual. Obtaining a spell of water breathing, he crept into the caves, removed gold and the lighter items from the pool, and took them back to Deinby to sell.</p><p></p><p>After several years of this, rumors of black-market (and low-price) Anvil goods made its way back to the village. The townsfolk appealed to their most capable native son: Whistling Jemmy[1], the notorious highwayman, scourge of the trade road, whose name comes from the noise his deadly sling stones make as they hail down upon his victims. From the villager's point of view, though, Whistling Jemmy is a folk hero. He never bothers the townsfolk, or lone travellers, preferring to prey on tax collectors and wealthy caravans. He tracked the rumors down and examined the disturbances at the cave. This year, the villagers left the cave after the offering, and lay in wait to catch their thief.</p><p></p><p>Misigrem would have been caught except that his toad familiar Wart, scouting ahead, alerted him to trap. Desperate, he used his most precious magic item--a charm that, when crushed, summoned a creature that could be set to do a single task (a modified Summon Monster III). He told the Fiendish Condor[2] that appeared to "guard the cave and don't let anyone but me pass." It flew out and drove off the watchers, and has been lurking around the entrance to the sacred cave ever since.</p><p></p><p>Misigrem spent the battle concealing himself inside one of the old dwarven statutes, which is hollow; unfortunately, the lid that was so easy to tip open from the outside is nearly impossible to open from within. He was able to push out one of the teeth mortared into the rest of the statute, so his familiar was able to squeeze out. He directed Wart to get food, water and possibly assistance--unfortunately for him, his directions to the guardian had not included Wart, and the toad stopped trying to get out after the second time the condor swooped down on him. The toad has been fetching small blind cave fish from pools, and bringing mouthfuls of water, which keep Misigrem alive if not exactly well. It's starting to dawn on him that the condor is keeping potential rescuers out, but he has no way of dismissing it.</p><p></p><p>Introducting the Players: the PCs will have to head through Farrier's Pass about a week after midwinter. Ideally it will be an errand of urgency; if nothing else, weather-wizards in Deinby should be able to tell them that they have only a short time before the pass is completely closed from snows, making them impassable until spring melt.</p><p></p><p>They will arrive in Anvil and be warned that the pass is dangerous. Unless your players are unusual this won't stop them, so they'll press on a ways only to encounter dangerous snow, threatening avalanches, and shrieking winds that drown out conversation. Just as they are about to turn back or fail their last roll to endure the cold, Whistling Jemmy and his band will appear to lead the shivering group to their camp. Normally they would see outsiders such as these as easy prey, but Anvil needs help--and besides, underneath that rugged exterior Whistling Jemmy has a heart of gold.</p><p></p><p>Once the PCs have warmed up at the fire and drunk a little tea, he will make them a deal: if they will help him with a little problem down in Anvil, he will escort them through a secret network of old Dwarf tunnels that emerge on the other side of the mountain. The tunnels are a twistly little maze of passages, but Whistling Jemmy knows them all, "and 'tis better'n your ghosts joining all the others up in the winter snows! The pass is already paved wi' the bones of fools, y'ought not to add to 'em!"</p><p></p><p>If they agree, he will leave Kaith and Hajel to guard the shelter while he shows the party to the Mouth of Moradin. (Lichen grows around the cave, making it look more than a bit like a bearded, open mouth.) The condor is perched in a dead spruce near the cave mouth. It watches the approaching group with unnaturally bright eyes. When they are within 30' it will open its ragged, stinking wings and swoop down to attack. Whistling Jemmy will assist the group, but they should be doing most of the work; he is more accustomed to attacking with surprise and from above.</p><p></p><p>Once the guardian is defeated, Whistling Jemmy will lead the group into the cave. He doesn't know where the thief is, but he guesses that the thief is either hiding among the old statutes, or has gone past them somewhere into the tunnels and gotten lost, in which case they will be looking for bones. Privately, this is what he believes happened, but he wants to at least find the body so that he can let the villagers know the cave is safe. </p><p></p><p>Getting to the statutes requires punting along a shallow natural river in the caves. [3] There are punts beached along the entrance, with poles. Since Whistling Jemmy can't see in the dark, he'll either light a lantern or rely on magical light produced by a PC. The river feeds into a large underground pool, pure and startlingly blue. The water tastes wonderful, if anyone tastes it. However, it's a good 100' to the bottom, so jumping in is not suggested.</p><p></p><p>As soon as they get in line of sight, Misigrem will spot the light, guess that he has rescuers, and figure that he'd better talk fast or he's not going to make it out of the caves in one piece. He will quickly cast Water Breating on himself, cast Ventriloquism on Wart[3] and speak in his deepest, boomingest voice. "I AM THE THE ENVOY OF MORADIN, GOD OF DWARVES!" (Wart will croak menacingly.) "I ORDER YOU TO SEIZE THIS HUMAN WHO HAS DEFILED MY CAVE AND THROW HIM INTO THIS POOL AS A SACRIFICE!" His plan is that they will get him out of the statue, fling him into the pool, and he will stay underwater until they leave. Then he and Wart will sneak out of the village and escape to Deinby.</p><p></p><p>Whether the PCs fall for this or not is up in the air. Misigrem naturally thinks everyone else is stupider than he, so he is confident that the unlettered, superstitious yokels will be awed and obedient. Of course, your players may be a little cleverer than that. The statue's lid is carefully balanced and counterweighted so that it can be opened from the outside by anyone with STR 10, but from the inside it must be forced open with STR 16 or better, or a Knock spell, which the wizard lacks. (Misigrem is not the first thief whom the original Dwarf sculptors had encountered.)</p><p></p><p>If the PCs show any signs of killing Misigrem or taking him captive, he will fight desperately to escape. He doesn't want to kill anyone, just to get past them and get out of the caves; he is a mediocre punter but can certainly manage to make his way to the cave mouth. Wart will hop into people's faces and attempt to disrupt spells and attacks, but Misigrem will call him off if it seems he is in any danger. If the fight goes badly or he is told to surender or die, he will surrender immediately.</p><p></p><p>Dead or alive, Whistling Jemmy will insist that the group take Misigrem back to the village, to be put in the stocks or buried, depending on his condition. In gratitude, the stout villagers will offer the PCs a reward: dwarf-made masterwork weapons or rings of protection +1, depending on the classes and inclinations of your party.</p><p></p><p>And, as promised, Whistling Jemmy will lead them through the passageways to the other side of the Iron Mountains. Whether they pass through the rocky underground without incident is another matter... </p><p></p><p>Misigrem</p><p>NE, Half-elf, Wizard (6), STR 8 INT 16 WIS 10 DEX 13 CON 15 CHA 9</p><p>Spells: Resistance (0), Light (0), Mage Hand (0), Mage Armor (1), Spider Climb (1), Tenser's Floating Disk (1), Feather Fall (1), Ventriloquism (1),Protection from Arrows (2), Continual Flame (2), Nondetection (3), Suggestion (3), Fly (3), Water Breathing (3)</p><p></p><p>Whistling Jemmy</p><p>CG, Human, Ranger (3)/Rogue (1), STR 12 INT 11 WIS 10 DEX 15 CON 12 CHA 15</p><p></p><p>Fiendish Condor</p><p>NE, Fiendish, 10' wingspan</p><p>AC 10, Attacks: Peck, d6, HD 2-4, Cold and fire resistance 5/10, damage reduction -/5, Smite Good once per day</p><p></p><p>[1] sling.jpg</p><p>[2] bird.jpg</p><p>[3] boat.jpg </p><p>[4] facefrog.jpg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="mythago, post: 1166172, member: 3019"] [b]A Frog in the Throat[/b] The village of Anvil huddles in the cold shadow of the Iron Mountains; it is the last stop on the trade road from the mighty capital city of Deinby, as it winds up into Farrier's Pass. The ore that once made the town famous for the plentifulness and quality of its metalwork has become rarer, but items made by the smiths of Anvil--though rare now--are still prized, and the town makes a small living catering to travellers going through Farrier's Pass. Oddly for a human town, the villagers' patron deity is Moradin, god of dwarves. (Some say that this is because the people of Anvil have dwarven blood in them, but that's impossible. Isn't it?) They celebrate the usual festivals, such as the King's Birthday, but also those that honor Moradin. Every winter equinox, the villagers travel to a nearby cave known as the Mouth of Moradin. Within the cave is a sacred pool, surrounded by ancient, huge statues carved by the dwarves centuries ago, before they left this part of the Iron Mountains--no one knows why. Anvil's priest, who is literate, writes the villager's prayers and praise to Moradin on scraps of parchment. Then the people tie the prayers to small stones and throw them into the pool. These prayers are followed by offerings of gold, jewels, valuable stone carvings, and finely-made ornaments and weapons, to honor Moradin. Word of this ceremony eventually got back to a Deinby wizard named Misigrem. Never one to make an honest copper when a dishonest gold would do, Misigrem conceived the idea of cleaning out the pool after the midwinter ritual. Obtaining a spell of water breathing, he crept into the caves, removed gold and the lighter items from the pool, and took them back to Deinby to sell. After several years of this, rumors of black-market (and low-price) Anvil goods made its way back to the village. The townsfolk appealed to their most capable native son: Whistling Jemmy[1], the notorious highwayman, scourge of the trade road, whose name comes from the noise his deadly sling stones make as they hail down upon his victims. From the villager's point of view, though, Whistling Jemmy is a folk hero. He never bothers the townsfolk, or lone travellers, preferring to prey on tax collectors and wealthy caravans. He tracked the rumors down and examined the disturbances at the cave. This year, the villagers left the cave after the offering, and lay in wait to catch their thief. Misigrem would have been caught except that his toad familiar Wart, scouting ahead, alerted him to trap. Desperate, he used his most precious magic item--a charm that, when crushed, summoned a creature that could be set to do a single task (a modified Summon Monster III). He told the Fiendish Condor[2] that appeared to "guard the cave and don't let anyone but me pass." It flew out and drove off the watchers, and has been lurking around the entrance to the sacred cave ever since. Misigrem spent the battle concealing himself inside one of the old dwarven statutes, which is hollow; unfortunately, the lid that was so easy to tip open from the outside is nearly impossible to open from within. He was able to push out one of the teeth mortared into the rest of the statute, so his familiar was able to squeeze out. He directed Wart to get food, water and possibly assistance--unfortunately for him, his directions to the guardian had not included Wart, and the toad stopped trying to get out after the second time the condor swooped down on him. The toad has been fetching small blind cave fish from pools, and bringing mouthfuls of water, which keep Misigrem alive if not exactly well. It's starting to dawn on him that the condor is keeping potential rescuers out, but he has no way of dismissing it. Introducting the Players: the PCs will have to head through Farrier's Pass about a week after midwinter. Ideally it will be an errand of urgency; if nothing else, weather-wizards in Deinby should be able to tell them that they have only a short time before the pass is completely closed from snows, making them impassable until spring melt. They will arrive in Anvil and be warned that the pass is dangerous. Unless your players are unusual this won't stop them, so they'll press on a ways only to encounter dangerous snow, threatening avalanches, and shrieking winds that drown out conversation. Just as they are about to turn back or fail their last roll to endure the cold, Whistling Jemmy and his band will appear to lead the shivering group to their camp. Normally they would see outsiders such as these as easy prey, but Anvil needs help--and besides, underneath that rugged exterior Whistling Jemmy has a heart of gold. Once the PCs have warmed up at the fire and drunk a little tea, he will make them a deal: if they will help him with a little problem down in Anvil, he will escort them through a secret network of old Dwarf tunnels that emerge on the other side of the mountain. The tunnels are a twistly little maze of passages, but Whistling Jemmy knows them all, "and 'tis better'n your ghosts joining all the others up in the winter snows! The pass is already paved wi' the bones of fools, y'ought not to add to 'em!" If they agree, he will leave Kaith and Hajel to guard the shelter while he shows the party to the Mouth of Moradin. (Lichen grows around the cave, making it look more than a bit like a bearded, open mouth.) The condor is perched in a dead spruce near the cave mouth. It watches the approaching group with unnaturally bright eyes. When they are within 30' it will open its ragged, stinking wings and swoop down to attack. Whistling Jemmy will assist the group, but they should be doing most of the work; he is more accustomed to attacking with surprise and from above. Once the guardian is defeated, Whistling Jemmy will lead the group into the cave. He doesn't know where the thief is, but he guesses that the thief is either hiding among the old statutes, or has gone past them somewhere into the tunnels and gotten lost, in which case they will be looking for bones. Privately, this is what he believes happened, but he wants to at least find the body so that he can let the villagers know the cave is safe. Getting to the statutes requires punting along a shallow natural river in the caves. [3] There are punts beached along the entrance, with poles. Since Whistling Jemmy can't see in the dark, he'll either light a lantern or rely on magical light produced by a PC. The river feeds into a large underground pool, pure and startlingly blue. The water tastes wonderful, if anyone tastes it. However, it's a good 100' to the bottom, so jumping in is not suggested. As soon as they get in line of sight, Misigrem will spot the light, guess that he has rescuers, and figure that he'd better talk fast or he's not going to make it out of the caves in one piece. He will quickly cast Water Breating on himself, cast Ventriloquism on Wart[3] and speak in his deepest, boomingest voice. "I AM THE THE ENVOY OF MORADIN, GOD OF DWARVES!" (Wart will croak menacingly.) "I ORDER YOU TO SEIZE THIS HUMAN WHO HAS DEFILED MY CAVE AND THROW HIM INTO THIS POOL AS A SACRIFICE!" His plan is that they will get him out of the statue, fling him into the pool, and he will stay underwater until they leave. Then he and Wart will sneak out of the village and escape to Deinby. Whether the PCs fall for this or not is up in the air. Misigrem naturally thinks everyone else is stupider than he, so he is confident that the unlettered, superstitious yokels will be awed and obedient. Of course, your players may be a little cleverer than that. The statue's lid is carefully balanced and counterweighted so that it can be opened from the outside by anyone with STR 10, but from the inside it must be forced open with STR 16 or better, or a Knock spell, which the wizard lacks. (Misigrem is not the first thief whom the original Dwarf sculptors had encountered.) If the PCs show any signs of killing Misigrem or taking him captive, he will fight desperately to escape. He doesn't want to kill anyone, just to get past them and get out of the caves; he is a mediocre punter but can certainly manage to make his way to the cave mouth. Wart will hop into people's faces and attempt to disrupt spells and attacks, but Misigrem will call him off if it seems he is in any danger. If the fight goes badly or he is told to surender or die, he will surrender immediately. Dead or alive, Whistling Jemmy will insist that the group take Misigrem back to the village, to be put in the stocks or buried, depending on his condition. In gratitude, the stout villagers will offer the PCs a reward: dwarf-made masterwork weapons or rings of protection +1, depending on the classes and inclinations of your party. And, as promised, Whistling Jemmy will lead them through the passageways to the other side of the Iron Mountains. Whether they pass through the rocky underground without incident is another matter... Misigrem NE, Half-elf, Wizard (6), STR 8 INT 16 WIS 10 DEX 13 CON 15 CHA 9 Spells: Resistance (0), Light (0), Mage Hand (0), Mage Armor (1), Spider Climb (1), Tenser's Floating Disk (1), Feather Fall (1), Ventriloquism (1),Protection from Arrows (2), Continual Flame (2), Nondetection (3), Suggestion (3), Fly (3), Water Breathing (3) Whistling Jemmy CG, Human, Ranger (3)/Rogue (1), STR 12 INT 11 WIS 10 DEX 15 CON 12 CHA 15 Fiendish Condor NE, Fiendish, 10' wingspan AC 10, Attacks: Peck, d6, HD 2-4, Cold and fire resistance 5/10, damage reduction -/5, Smite Good once per day [1] sling.jpg [2] bird.jpg [3] boat.jpg [4] facefrog.jpg [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Meta - Forums About Forums
Archive-threads
Ceramic DM autumn '03(final judegment: new ceramic dm champ!)
Top