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
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Chronicles of Mesion: Considering Hiatus; Comments Needed.
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="LordVyreth" data-source="post: 3246976" data-attributes="member: 9626"><p><strong>Swarm's Hive: Surrendering Your Way to Victory</strong></p><p></p><p>Vel studied his contacts carefully, eagerly scanning their every move and emotion. This was where he must utilize all the skills he learned as an Operative. He knew that his so called underlings were hiding something, but now he had something of theirs, and he suspected that by now, many of them knew as well. He would have to discern the truth from the lies, filter out the facts, and even use them as pawns for his own plans, luring them into his machinations and tricking them into doing exactly what he wanted them to do. But there was one response even a master of analysis like Vel couldn’t expect…</p><p></p><p> “Very well,” Luke replied. “I’ll tell you everything.” And he did. He told Vel about the Infernal Egg and about Enrique’s uncle with the Hivekeepers. He even showed them the very letter that Guillermo wrote for the party! </p><p></p><p> If there was anything that Vel didn’t regular expect, it was complete capitulation. “Well, that’s, excellent work,” he muttered. “We arrested the curio shop owner at Ciudadbonita; now we’ll have to free her thanks to what you told us.” He tried another tactic, though. “So that Egg your letter mentioned is likely the one we discovered in the Silent Hill crypt?” he asked, almost hoping that he would actually react to this shock.</p><p></p><p> “That would be it,” Luke just as happily admitted. “You may have it. After that last trip, I don’t think it would be safe with us. You can protect it better than us.”</p><p></p><p> Vel gave up. Nobody ever willingly handed an obscenely powerful artifact over to him before. It just shouldn’t be this easy. “Very well then,” he accepted. “Given what you told me, I believe we have all we need to continue your investigation from here. I leave you to your own initiative for now. We will let you know if we could further use you to assist in then needs of the Fra Dane nation.”</p><p></p><p> A short time later, the party, free of almost all needs and responsibilities, prepared for their next move. “What should we do now?” Luke first asked.</p><p></p><p> “I vote we go back to the Gate of Madness!” Elvis offered. “That place is probably full of treasure, and this time, we don’t have to take anyone alive!”</p><p></p><p> Lorren and Enrique were similarly excited about this option, though Enrique wasn’t so sure about abandoning his uncle’s dying request. “What about that Effervo Vesica fortress the goblins gave us the location of?” he suggested. “Vel has to go back to Fra Dane before he could even start to plan an attack. If we leave first, we can beat him to it and find out their secrets much faster.”</p><p></p><p> Since they lacked any real destination or goal in the Gate and they realized it got notoriously worse and more chaotic at later levels, they eventually all agreed to head to the Effervo Vesica fortress instead, especially after they realized they could get there in as little as three days from Crimmor, if the map the goblins gave them was accurate. All that remained was to say goodbye to Chitka, who decided that since he knew little of the surface and the party seemed to attract trouble, he would prefer to set off on his own. Besides, he heard far too many unpleasant stories about how Fra Dane treated unusual creatures like him, and he didn’t want to be anywhere near such a place. After seeing him off and spending the rest of the day doing the usually shopping, the party rested and set off for adventure the next morning! A few hours later, they set off back for Crimmor when Enrique came down with a disease he got from something back in the Proto-Plane, and since he guessed he got it from the rat-sized demonic cockroaches, he decided to play it safe and get it healed magically.</p><p></p><p> And so, that afternoon, the party set off for adventure! Again! At least initially, things went more smoothly this time, but soon the signs of civilization vanished, and the party found itself isolated on a pathless, hilly wilderness. That first day of travel was uneventful, which is unsurprising given how little ground they could cover before nightfall, but by the second day, they were within the territory of the enemy, as soon realized. In mid-day, Elvis noticed a tiny pair of dots floating in the sky. As he feared, they were getting closer.</p><p></p><p> “We’re under attack!” he shouted as he drew his bow. Before the party could react, the two dots got close enough for Elvis and a few of the other more sharp-eyed members of the party to see who the threat was. They appeared to be strange creatures that were half wasp, half spider. Each one had a humanoid rider in black armor, but one was clearly more heavily armored than the other. Both were heading right for the party, though, and they didn’t seem friendly. Given the nature of the mounts, the party realized this was almost certainly a scouting party from Effervo Vesica’s fortress.</p><p></p><p> The lightly armored of the scouts took the air above the party and began to rain down arrows at them, selecting the weak and defenseless Lorren as his first target. Before the unfortunate wizard could even open his mouth to cast a spell, an arrow plunged deep into his chest, causing his to instantly collapse, dying!</p><p></p><p> Luke ran over to administer to his wounds while Elvis began to fire at the archer and his mount, but the rest of the party was more concerned with the second rider, who eschewed melee weapons and was slowly descending to fight in close combat. As soon as he neared the ground, however, Grim and Anastasia moved to block his path, forcing him to descend while surrounded by enemies, and Enrique leapt at him from behind, driving his blades into the scout’s back and killing him almost instantly. His mount struggled to fight back, but it could barely scratch the party before being brought down. Meanwhile, Elvis finally finished off the second mount, sending the already wounded archer plummeting to the ground, snapping his neck when he hit the ground. </p><p></p><p> “Well, if they are scouts, they’ll know something is up when they don’t return,” Grim commented while the rest of the party did the usual looting.</p><p></p><p> “Look at the bright side!” Ik countered. “We prevented them from warning the fortress that we’re coming!” she pointed out, a little too cheerfully.</p><p></p><p> “I’m more worried that they had scouts out in the first place,” Enrique added. “How would they know to look for us?”</p><p></p><p> Elvis, meanwhile, continued too search the terrain nervously. “What made you think they were looking for us? Maybe there’s something else out here…”</p><p></p><p> Despite Elvis’ concerns, the party otherwise had an uneventful day, and when night neared, they found shelter in a nearby valley. As they set up camp, though, something bothered Elvis about the rocks strewn across the valley. He quickly gathered Grim and Enrique before traveling to a nearby hill and look into the valley. It was already dark at this point, but he could see the lights of the party’s campfire illuminating the lights.</p><p></p><p> “It looks like the rocks are arranged in some pattern,” Enrique commented as he strained his eyes.</p><p></p><p> “It’s not just any pattern,” Grim added. “They look like…numbers. Why would anyone arrange rocks to look like seventy-nine from above?”</p><p></p><p> Their questioning ended abruptly, however, when Elvis raised his hand. “I heard footsteps,” he whispered.</p><p></p><p> The three quickly drew weapons and looked around anxiously, but the source of the noise identified itself without difficulty. It was a rider, but his mount was another Environ, one of the ever-shifting beasts that were so profitably used by Hensen and Children. </p><p></p><p> “Lower your weapons,” the rider spoke as he approached the three. “I mean no harm. I would simply like a place to rest for the evening. I have lived in this land for most of my life, but it has gotten increasingly hostile in recent years.”</p><p></p><p> Enrique shrugged with apathetic acceptance, but Grim was curious. “What has happened here? We’re approaching where we think a fortress of our enemy is located. Are they responsible for this place becoming hostile?”</p><p></p><p> The rider shook his head. “No, but they seem to be attracting their attention. There is a strange…cult of sort that has taken up residence here in recent years. They have been very unfriendly to me, presumably as a result of my mount.” The rider then explained about the cult, including their holy symbol. As soon as he described it as a triangle filled with the weapons of animals, the three remembered the werewolf cleric they saw in the earlier forest, and given what they heard about the Environs, they guessed what made the cult so hostile.</p><p></p><p> Suddenly, Grim got an idea. “Do you know why the rocks in this valley are arranged like numbers?”</p><p></p><p> The rider looked at the outcroppings and shook his head. “The cult possibly used this valley as a gathering place, but I can’t understand why they would make numbers out of the rocks.”</p><p></p><p> The three decided that the rider seemed trustworthy enough, so they led him into the valley when they returned. There, despite their suspicious guest, the night passed uneventfully, and the rider, lacking any specific destination, decided to follow the party and see more about the fortress for himself.</p><p></p><p> As the party neared the fortress, their suspicions about the cult became more accurate. They passed more valleys that were teeming with wolves and other ferocious animals of all sizes; exactly the kind of army werewolves and other lycanthropes would raise. Even worse, as the day continued, what appeared to be a pack of wolves was bearing down right on them! As the party watched them approach, though, they noticed a strange flickering of lights behind the wolves, and soon they realized that what they thought was an attack was something else entirely. The wolves, presumably part of some scouting party, were desperately fleeing from a small swarm of the wasps. Each one looked just like the one the goblin chief in the Gate of Madness was bragging about. Considering that he claimed they came from Effervo Vesica, these insects were likely more defenses from the fortress.</p><p></p><p> The party quickly dove for cover to evade the wolf stampede and ducked behind rocks whenever possible, hoping to stay out of the fight entirely. However, when the wolves passed by them, the wasps neared the party and, lacking any capacity for more complicated tactics, recognized them as the closest threat. Some, who had recently fired at the wolves, paused to gather energy, but the others fired orbs of magic at the party, striking with perfect accuracy. However, the six insects were small and fragile, and they easily were destroyed by some concentrated fire. The wolves, meanwhile, were too busy fleeing to even notice, or at least care about, the party, and they passed into the distance without incident. With a better idea of what to expect when they finally found the fortress, the party continued onwards.</p><p></p><p> OOC Notes: Vel’s surprise was based on my own in this adventure. Given how mistrustful and tight-lipped the party was to Vel before, I expected them to only share a little information this time, learn that Vel had imprisoned, and might torture or execute, an innocent woman as a result of their earlier evasiveness, and they would return to Fra Dane to free her and get the Egg back. Instead, they folded completely and gave away the world’s most powerful artifact. In other words, I had to improvise the entire first half of the adventure, basically everything up to this point, from scratch. Given that, I don’t think I did so badly.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="LordVyreth, post: 3246976, member: 9626"] [b]Swarm's Hive: Surrendering Your Way to Victory[/b] Vel studied his contacts carefully, eagerly scanning their every move and emotion. This was where he must utilize all the skills he learned as an Operative. He knew that his so called underlings were hiding something, but now he had something of theirs, and he suspected that by now, many of them knew as well. He would have to discern the truth from the lies, filter out the facts, and even use them as pawns for his own plans, luring them into his machinations and tricking them into doing exactly what he wanted them to do. But there was one response even a master of analysis like Vel couldn’t expect… “Very well,” Luke replied. “I’ll tell you everything.” And he did. He told Vel about the Infernal Egg and about Enrique’s uncle with the Hivekeepers. He even showed them the very letter that Guillermo wrote for the party! If there was anything that Vel didn’t regular expect, it was complete capitulation. “Well, that’s, excellent work,” he muttered. “We arrested the curio shop owner at Ciudadbonita; now we’ll have to free her thanks to what you told us.” He tried another tactic, though. “So that Egg your letter mentioned is likely the one we discovered in the Silent Hill crypt?” he asked, almost hoping that he would actually react to this shock. “That would be it,” Luke just as happily admitted. “You may have it. After that last trip, I don’t think it would be safe with us. You can protect it better than us.” Vel gave up. Nobody ever willingly handed an obscenely powerful artifact over to him before. It just shouldn’t be this easy. “Very well then,” he accepted. “Given what you told me, I believe we have all we need to continue your investigation from here. I leave you to your own initiative for now. We will let you know if we could further use you to assist in then needs of the Fra Dane nation.” A short time later, the party, free of almost all needs and responsibilities, prepared for their next move. “What should we do now?” Luke first asked. “I vote we go back to the Gate of Madness!” Elvis offered. “That place is probably full of treasure, and this time, we don’t have to take anyone alive!” Lorren and Enrique were similarly excited about this option, though Enrique wasn’t so sure about abandoning his uncle’s dying request. “What about that Effervo Vesica fortress the goblins gave us the location of?” he suggested. “Vel has to go back to Fra Dane before he could even start to plan an attack. If we leave first, we can beat him to it and find out their secrets much faster.” Since they lacked any real destination or goal in the Gate and they realized it got notoriously worse and more chaotic at later levels, they eventually all agreed to head to the Effervo Vesica fortress instead, especially after they realized they could get there in as little as three days from Crimmor, if the map the goblins gave them was accurate. All that remained was to say goodbye to Chitka, who decided that since he knew little of the surface and the party seemed to attract trouble, he would prefer to set off on his own. Besides, he heard far too many unpleasant stories about how Fra Dane treated unusual creatures like him, and he didn’t want to be anywhere near such a place. After seeing him off and spending the rest of the day doing the usually shopping, the party rested and set off for adventure the next morning! A few hours later, they set off back for Crimmor when Enrique came down with a disease he got from something back in the Proto-Plane, and since he guessed he got it from the rat-sized demonic cockroaches, he decided to play it safe and get it healed magically. And so, that afternoon, the party set off for adventure! Again! At least initially, things went more smoothly this time, but soon the signs of civilization vanished, and the party found itself isolated on a pathless, hilly wilderness. That first day of travel was uneventful, which is unsurprising given how little ground they could cover before nightfall, but by the second day, they were within the territory of the enemy, as soon realized. In mid-day, Elvis noticed a tiny pair of dots floating in the sky. As he feared, they were getting closer. “We’re under attack!” he shouted as he drew his bow. Before the party could react, the two dots got close enough for Elvis and a few of the other more sharp-eyed members of the party to see who the threat was. They appeared to be strange creatures that were half wasp, half spider. Each one had a humanoid rider in black armor, but one was clearly more heavily armored than the other. Both were heading right for the party, though, and they didn’t seem friendly. Given the nature of the mounts, the party realized this was almost certainly a scouting party from Effervo Vesica’s fortress. The lightly armored of the scouts took the air above the party and began to rain down arrows at them, selecting the weak and defenseless Lorren as his first target. Before the unfortunate wizard could even open his mouth to cast a spell, an arrow plunged deep into his chest, causing his to instantly collapse, dying! Luke ran over to administer to his wounds while Elvis began to fire at the archer and his mount, but the rest of the party was more concerned with the second rider, who eschewed melee weapons and was slowly descending to fight in close combat. As soon as he neared the ground, however, Grim and Anastasia moved to block his path, forcing him to descend while surrounded by enemies, and Enrique leapt at him from behind, driving his blades into the scout’s back and killing him almost instantly. His mount struggled to fight back, but it could barely scratch the party before being brought down. Meanwhile, Elvis finally finished off the second mount, sending the already wounded archer plummeting to the ground, snapping his neck when he hit the ground. “Well, if they are scouts, they’ll know something is up when they don’t return,” Grim commented while the rest of the party did the usual looting. “Look at the bright side!” Ik countered. “We prevented them from warning the fortress that we’re coming!” she pointed out, a little too cheerfully. “I’m more worried that they had scouts out in the first place,” Enrique added. “How would they know to look for us?” Elvis, meanwhile, continued too search the terrain nervously. “What made you think they were looking for us? Maybe there’s something else out here…” Despite Elvis’ concerns, the party otherwise had an uneventful day, and when night neared, they found shelter in a nearby valley. As they set up camp, though, something bothered Elvis about the rocks strewn across the valley. He quickly gathered Grim and Enrique before traveling to a nearby hill and look into the valley. It was already dark at this point, but he could see the lights of the party’s campfire illuminating the lights. “It looks like the rocks are arranged in some pattern,” Enrique commented as he strained his eyes. “It’s not just any pattern,” Grim added. “They look like…numbers. Why would anyone arrange rocks to look like seventy-nine from above?” Their questioning ended abruptly, however, when Elvis raised his hand. “I heard footsteps,” he whispered. The three quickly drew weapons and looked around anxiously, but the source of the noise identified itself without difficulty. It was a rider, but his mount was another Environ, one of the ever-shifting beasts that were so profitably used by Hensen and Children. “Lower your weapons,” the rider spoke as he approached the three. “I mean no harm. I would simply like a place to rest for the evening. I have lived in this land for most of my life, but it has gotten increasingly hostile in recent years.” Enrique shrugged with apathetic acceptance, but Grim was curious. “What has happened here? We’re approaching where we think a fortress of our enemy is located. Are they responsible for this place becoming hostile?” The rider shook his head. “No, but they seem to be attracting their attention. There is a strange…cult of sort that has taken up residence here in recent years. They have been very unfriendly to me, presumably as a result of my mount.” The rider then explained about the cult, including their holy symbol. As soon as he described it as a triangle filled with the weapons of animals, the three remembered the werewolf cleric they saw in the earlier forest, and given what they heard about the Environs, they guessed what made the cult so hostile. Suddenly, Grim got an idea. “Do you know why the rocks in this valley are arranged like numbers?” The rider looked at the outcroppings and shook his head. “The cult possibly used this valley as a gathering place, but I can’t understand why they would make numbers out of the rocks.” The three decided that the rider seemed trustworthy enough, so they led him into the valley when they returned. There, despite their suspicious guest, the night passed uneventfully, and the rider, lacking any specific destination, decided to follow the party and see more about the fortress for himself. As the party neared the fortress, their suspicions about the cult became more accurate. They passed more valleys that were teeming with wolves and other ferocious animals of all sizes; exactly the kind of army werewolves and other lycanthropes would raise. Even worse, as the day continued, what appeared to be a pack of wolves was bearing down right on them! As the party watched them approach, though, they noticed a strange flickering of lights behind the wolves, and soon they realized that what they thought was an attack was something else entirely. The wolves, presumably part of some scouting party, were desperately fleeing from a small swarm of the wasps. Each one looked just like the one the goblin chief in the Gate of Madness was bragging about. Considering that he claimed they came from Effervo Vesica, these insects were likely more defenses from the fortress. The party quickly dove for cover to evade the wolf stampede and ducked behind rocks whenever possible, hoping to stay out of the fight entirely. However, when the wolves passed by them, the wasps neared the party and, lacking any capacity for more complicated tactics, recognized them as the closest threat. Some, who had recently fired at the wolves, paused to gather energy, but the others fired orbs of magic at the party, striking with perfect accuracy. However, the six insects were small and fragile, and they easily were destroyed by some concentrated fire. The wolves, meanwhile, were too busy fleeing to even notice, or at least care about, the party, and they passed into the distance without incident. With a better idea of what to expect when they finally found the fortress, the party continued onwards. OOC Notes: Vel’s surprise was based on my own in this adventure. Given how mistrustful and tight-lipped the party was to Vel before, I expected them to only share a little information this time, learn that Vel had imprisoned, and might torture or execute, an innocent woman as a result of their earlier evasiveness, and they would return to Fra Dane to free her and get the Egg back. Instead, they folded completely and gave away the world’s most powerful artifact. In other words, I had to improvise the entire first half of the adventure, basically everything up to this point, from scratch. Given that, I don’t think I did so badly. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Chronicles of Mesion: Considering Hiatus; Comments Needed.
Top