Dungeon #100: Beast of Burden

[Silver Moon]

Thank you both for the advice. They players have discussed several different plans to break the straps, but based upon the above extra detail, I can now see why each of these plans won't work. My players actually do have one PC who has the right combination of abilities and magic to actually pull it off (invisibility, illusions, a broom of flying and a magical saw) but thankfully that particular player brought another of his PC's into this module instead.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Disclaimer: I haven't DM'd "Beast of Burden." That said...

If the PCs sever the harness, they may have a bigger problem than otherwise. Certainly the flying NPCs should survive the fall and harrass the PCs (the H'Jyord would be pissed). And the Katadnatch would be ramapaging around the countryside loose - which might be worse than it being controlled.

This is an adventure in which it would behoove the PCs to do some fairly lengthy scouting and information gathering before putting into motion any plans. If they go off half-cocked, they're likely to make things worse, or get a bunch of people killed.

 

[Gundark]

what my group did

This is an adventure in which it would behoove the PCs to do some fairly lengthy scouting and information gathering before putting into motion any plans. If they go off half-cocked, they're likely to make things worse, or get a bunch of people killed.

Yeah, i have run this adventure...scouting and making proper hits will serve the PCs well. Frontal attacks are suicide.

 

[Silver Moon]

This is an adventure in which it would behoove the PCs to do some fairly lengthy scouting and information gathering before putting into motion any plans.

So far that is what most of the first two games have been comripised of, and they've been told by the first group who tried how suicidal a direct assault would be. At the end of the last game they got their first actual look at the creature (with me showing them the full page illustration) and the party leader exclaimed "Holy Crap!" Based on that reaction I think they will proceed cautiously. I should have another chapter in the Story Hour up by tomorrow for those of you who are following along.

 

[Silver Moon]

After a five-week delay (due to both a family medical emergency and the Boston Red Sox being in the playoffs, which several of my players would not miss) we are finally getting back to the "Beast of Burden" module, with Game #3 tomorrow night.

Looking over the scaling options again, I am increasing the gargoyle count to three. As stated in the module, they will be scanning the upper cliffs of the pass, which should complicate the player's plans a bit.

The scaling options also suggest adding some clerical support. I decided to do this, and to make these foes of a race that the party doesn't normally encounter. I was wracking my brain to figure out what race, and the answer was right on the cover of that magazine - Githyanki! Reading through that section of the magazine I've decided to go with a male 7th level Githyanki Ghustil (their clerical class), a 4th level female Githyanki Ghustil apprentice of his, three Duthka'gith warrior bodyguards, and a Spectral Hound. Those six should liven things up a bit more. The backstory is that they were recruited by H'Jyord to help protect the Kadtanach. Their story is that they agreed to come as "advanced scouts" for the future planned Githyanki invasion of the world. They also wouldn't mind acquiring the Kadtanach to assist with the invasion.

One other addition I've tossed in is a 2nd level Gnoll Druid who is an apprentice of the other Gnoll Druid. This non-evil low-level type could be a potential ally to the party (if they don't kill him first) as he is dissatisfied with the current arrangement and the way that H'Jyord and Sylkess threat his master.

 

[Silver Moon]

A very fun game. I'll have the first Story Hour chapter up by tomorrow, but the short version is:

They spent the first half of the game figuring out different ways to get on board before finally decided on the same plan they came up with during the last game. They managed to get onto the archer deck of Howdad #8 undetected. Rather than killing the four gnoll archers they quietly made their way down the ladder to the prisoner deck. A party member then lost his grip on the ladder and fell, making a loud thud which alerted the archers. The cleric tossed up a Silence spell, which held off the alarm being sounded for several minutes. A number of gnolls were slain, but the alarm was eventually sounded.

The party barely escaped, along with the three prisoners, as gnoll reinforcements arrived. The prisoners included the apprentice gnoll druid, who has already started giving them some information, part of it inaccurate but truthful as far as he knows it. Meanwhile, they have now positioned themselves by one of the straps atop the creature, beside Howdad #10 and are tentatively planning to wait until the alert is over (which could be a very long wait, especially once the gargoyles and wyvern air patrol begin looking over the creature top-to-bottom). The next game should be a fast paced one.

 

[Silver Moon]

An interesting game - major battles at both the Yoke and Head Howdads. H'Jyord was attacked but managed to teleport out with the helm. I'll have another Story Hour chapter up tonight and the rest up during the week.

Okay, here's what I need an opinion on before next week: After pulling the helm off the pilot and before teleporting away a character with both exceptional strength and a magical hammer of throwing tossed the hammer directly into the helm. H'Jyord and the helm were gone before the character could see the results of the throw. According to the module the helm is made of bone and then magically enhanced - my question is, how many plusses should be added to the item's saving throw due to the magic? I ask because when I rolled the item save against crushing blow for bone it failed by four. So I need to see if the helm it is now broken, damaged but still usable, or fully functional.

H'Jyord teleported to Sylkess's Howdad and will have her check it before attempting to use it again - she's also might even be able to fix it if it is broken. Of couse, he still has to go find himself another pilot as she appears to be too smart to put the thing on herself. She may also have other ideas about how to proceed. Opinons?

 

[Joshua Randall]

I'd say the helm is along the lines of a minor artifact, so I'd probably give it a +5 modifier to saves.

As a temporary fix, Sylkess (or the gnoll druid?) could summon a humanoid monster and order it to wear the helm. Or, the H'Jyord could awe a gnoll into doing so. Or one of the two could magically compel a gnoll (or a PC!) to wear the helm, with dominate monster or suggestion or similar.

 

[Blasphemonkey]

That's a pretty neat idea, Joshua...controlling someone into controlling something else. I wonder if it would turn into into a sort of telephone game?

Silver Moon, I find your experiences running the module to be very interesting. I have yet to check out your story hour though. Here are my notes...

The first thing they tried to do in the adventure is to kill the Kadtanach in a pretty inventive way (I knew they would do something that I could not foresee, and I was right). One of the PC's has wings, so he flew into the beast's mouth after drinking a Potion of Reduce. He quickly flew down it's throat, and then dropped a Quaal's Feather Token: Tree into it. He then drank a Potion of Gaseous Form and flew out again. Now, anyone familiar with this token knows that when dropped, a 60-foot-tall oak tree springs to life. So now the Kadtanach has a 60-foot oak growing in it's belly (or lungs?). Being the creature is 100 feet tall, this is pretty significant. I had no idea how to adjudicate this (and I didn't want the adventure destroyed), so I just told them that the creature stopped walking, and it seemed to be trembling and spasming. They figured it would take awhile for a creature this size to die (internal bleeding and all that), and that was fine with me. I'm worried about them using this tactic in the future though. If all you have to do to kill a Tarrasque is drop a crapload of Tree Tokens down it's throat, that's pretty damn cheesy. I welcome all opinions/solutions on this one (because they have more Tree Tokens)!

Well, the end result of that tactic caused the Kadtanach to be pretty much motionless the rest of the adventure. So they were rewarded somewhat for their ingenuity (no balance checks). Next they had the flying PC take them on board to fight the hoards of gnolls. Since they had a party member that could fly them from tower to tower, this really made things much easier for them. They were doing pretty well until one PC decided to go it alone (and no, he can't fly). He was climbing along the system of wires and pulleys that were set up. He made it from one tower to another pretty okay, but he pushed his luck. In trying to make it to tower 8 (from 6), he failed his climb check. Woahhh...3d6 damage in falling onto the beast's bare back. He then failed his 2nd climb check to grab onto the beast's scaly hide. AAAAAHHHH...10d6 damage... very dead PC. Favorite quote: "Can't I make a saving throw or something to negate or halve the damage?" DM: "How can you avoid hitting the ground?"

The battle with the female wizard went pretty quickly, but she teleported away before being killed, to hang out with the Hound Archon. When they finally found said wizard and said Archon, the wizard was killed in the first round. The Archon grabbed Davnak's Helm and teleported up top to grab the remaining gnolls into one all-out assault. The group decided to take their time searching the Archon's tower and casting Detect Magic on the items found. When they popped their heads out of the tower...oops! Archon was standing with 11 gnolls at Area 11 (that bridge/balcony type area), and there were 2 gnolls each at the pods (Areas 14 & 15). This fight lasted 13 rounds and took almost 2 hours real time to conduct! I was exhausted by the time it was over. The druid got the initiative and launched a Sleet Storm, covering all of area 11. The party then focused on the gnolls on areas 14 & 15. Meanwhile, all the gnolls (and the Archon) were trying to make it to the protection of the nearby tower. 6 gnolls fell to their doom, slipping on the ice, but the rest made it inside, climbed the ladder, and then proceeded to shoot at the party from the top of the tower. The flying PC went over to engage the Archon in melee, and the druid wildshaped into a bird to help out. The others attacked with range weapons, having no way to get over there. The druid's wolf companions could not help in the battle at all, and neither could the cleric's Rod of the Viper (which is almost never in staff form). That really hurt the party. But in the end, they were triumphant.

All in all, it was a fun module, but it really took a lot out of everyone. I think we'll all be glad to get onto other things.

 

[Silver Moon]

Thank you both for the advice. I think I'll have it that the helm is still fully functional, but there is a hairline crack where the hammer hit that will make it more easily susceptible to damage if a second opportunity appears. The first Story Hour chapter from last week is now up, I'll try to get another one written this weekend. Last week's battle was primarily with the Githyanki who I tossed in, that are now out of the module, so it will ineresting to see where things go from here.

As to your Tree Token question, a game I was running over 20 years ago came to an abrupt end when the party used this same item while in a basement of an enemy temple, causing the building to collapse. In your case I would have allowed it to grow in the Kadtanach's stomache, but would have also had the creature's stomach enzimes begin to break it down. It would have stopped and reacted as you did, but unless the stomach walls were actually punctured, I would have had it on the move again in another 2d4 hours.

And if you read the story hour you'll see that the players are NOT doing well with traveling on the creature as it is moving. Last week a player lost her temper over the 5th level monk slipping, stating that I wasn't giving the players a chance (In reality, there was only a 1 in 20 chance of that character slipping, but that is what he rolled.) They have now gotten smarter and are better using a Rope of Climbing to get around more safely. Things are about to shake up a bit more until the Hound Archon gets the helm onto somebody again.