MerakSpielman
First Post
/eyes bug out
My goodness! Somebody find him a real job to do!
Wait... I'm an editor without current work, too....
Fall '03 Iron DM Tournament -- Wulf Ratbane is Iron DM!
- Thread starter Pielorinho
- Start date
My goodness! Somebody find him a real job to do!
Wait... I'm an editor without current work, too....
Pielorinho
Iron Fist of Pelor
'Course, I'm the one that just read it....MerakSpielman said:
Daniel
el-remmen
Moderator Emeritus
Nemm vs. Rune
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Ingredients
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Mountain Cabin (the home of Dzor the dwarven ranger - possible guide and translator)
Frost Worm (the great divine beat worshipped by the hobgoblins)
Lothario (the name of the womanizing knight-adventurer the party is sent to find)
Spiral Staircase (the site of a climactic fight on the sacred hill)
Heat Lightning (the name of two characters whose fates are entwined)
Heresy (the the divinity of the worm is rejected)
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Background
It was nearly 15 years ago that King Halfred of Neergaard ascended to the throne, taking for his queen the young daughter of the Earl of East Andovar. However, the girl who would be the beloved queen Ursula was known in some circles to already have a lover - the third son of a minor noble of Atuan who reputation for bravery and daring was only surpassed by his reputation as a lover of many different women, from the pretty but strong daughters of peasant farmers to the widowed Ladies of knights lost in the various campaigns fought in those days against the hobgoblin hordes still common in those days. However, Sir Lothario of Lithemoor, seemed to have fallen for the charms of the young noble woman, and instead of moving on to his next conquest whether it be another woman or another legendary monster or treasure to be hunted - the rumors began that he was actually going to lay claim to his right to marry Ursula.
However, before the messy situation could come to a head, Ursula intervened on her lover’s behalf and negotiated a compromise to save Lothario’s life. The king allowed the knight-adventurer to go into a form of self-imposed exile in the mountains of northeastern Thelgaard to run a small fortress in a mountain pass to keep an eye on the retreating hobgoblin hordes and give warning if they should ever begin to amass and return to be a danger.
Sir Lothario grudgingly accepted – but little did the king know that this was because the queen had figured out a way to meet her lover each year. The queen goes on a yearly pilgrimage to the Shrine of Light at the foot of the Froststone mountains at the end of the summer – and each year Sir Lothario would come down from the mountains in disguise for a secret night with the queen.
However, at the end of this past summer he did not arrive.
Desperate to know what happened to him (for these meetings, after 15 years of a loveless marriage for the sake of duty and the kingdom were truly all she lived for) she had her most trusted lady-in-waiting bring up the matter of the northern fort with one of king’s generals. It was soon realized that contact had been lost with the remote fort for some time – and had gone without notice for it was seldom regular. However, it was just long enough to send a small dispatch of troops to find out what happened. They did not return.
This is where the PCs come in. The Crown hires a moderately powerful adventuring party to investigate this disappearance of the troops and the loss of contact with the fort, while a more substantial force is drawn together, for everyone is certain that these events can only mean one thing: the hobgoblins have returned in force again and pose a danger to the whole kingdom.
However, the Queen has become somewhat myopic about the situation and is most worried that something has happened to Sir Lothario, or that these events will somehow conspire to keep them from ever being together again.
While this adventure is the typical epic quest into the northern wastes to investigate a danger to the kingdom, the GM can easily add a whole level of court intrigue both before, during and after the actual quest – by having another court official give special instructions to one or more members of the party that can be trusted to be discrete. And that is bringing a letter (from the queen – though the party would not know that unless they open the letter) to Sir Lothario (the letter will reveal her undying love for him (she’s afraid he is going to die) and hint that the young prince is really his), and failing that to retrieve his body (above and before anyone else’s) for proper burial. The official being more pragmatic and worried about the consequences of this being revealed will also want them to retrieve any indiscrete items he may have had on his person or in his quarters. The court official will be extremely vague about this, saying “you’ll know it if you see it”, but he of course means any letters, tokens or journal that might point to the knight’s on-going relationship with the Queen.
Hooks:
This adventure is designed to have a classic D&D quest feel with the secondary complexity of helping to cover up (or reveal – depending on the PCs moral inclinations) the Queen’s affair, and in as much has some “classic” story hooks found in any number of classic D&D modules.
-- The party could be veterans of past missions for the Crown and are the first to be called in this time of need. Alternately, they could be well-known strangers traveling through the kingdom chosen by an agent of court for the mission because they would be less likely to put two and two together and figure out about the Queen’s affair.
-- One of the PCs could be the illegitimate child of Sir Lothario and havingjust recently found out about the identity of his father, or where he was stationed (something that was generally not talked about) wants to seek him out anyway. (In this scenario the DM could introduce a second adventuring party seeking to fulfill the same quest. (for the Crown) or a whole other layer of complexity could be added if the PC in question found out from his or her own mother about the Queen’s past affair and the party could try to use this as leverage get her to use her influence to get the PCs hired for the mission. Alternately, they can simply try to contact her for information and get hired only to deal only with the affair elements of the mission – thus allowing the GM to incorporate the rival party scenario as well.
-- The PCs could owe the infamously merciful queen a favor for having intervened on their behalf in the past (this would obviously require some set up).
-- A wilderness oriented party of rangers, druid, barbarians, or similar types may have come across evidence of increased hobgoblin activity and brought it to the attention of the king.
The Mission
In case it wasn’t clear, the PCs’ mission (as far as the crown is concerned) is to investigate what if anything happened to the fortress and the men stationed there, give them what aid they can, and scout out any hobgoblin activity in the area, and if need be make pre-emptive strikes against any forward groups of hobgoblins in danger of invading the southerly lands. A larger group of soldiers will be following by the end of the coming winter to re-possess the fort (which everyone is convinced has been overrun – or use of divination will reveal that no living soldiers can be found in that place).
The mission, if the party is hired by the queen or her agents is to find specifically what happened to Sir Lothario –and to deliver him a letter if possible – or gather what evidence of any of the affair and bring it back to the queen – and make sure no one else finds it. If dead, his corpse is to be returned for proper burial.
The Journey to the Mountains
The journey to the Froststone mountains can be as eventful or not as the DM wants. However, as PCs first enter into the mountains they have a chance to come upon a mountain cabin, home to Dzor –the dwarven ranger. An exile from his people, this ranger know these mountains, the surrounding area, its peoples and its animals and monsters very well. It is possible that the DM may want Dzor to be a contact the party is pointed towards before they set out, especially if their skills and spell selection do not make them particularly fit for a winter mountain journey. Dzor traded regularly with both the soldiers in Fort White, and paid tithe to the hobgoblins in forms of furs, meat and worked goods to keep them from killing him. In fact, he even spoke irregularly with Rez-Naci (see below) and trading information – However, their “friendship” (if it can be called that) is a base and feral one of the wilderness and both know he may need to kill the other one day. When the party arrives, Dzor has just returned from his last trip hunting bears before winter really hits hardest. He knows nothing of the razing of the fort, but was planning on traveling there (a day’s march away) in a few days after he had cleaned his hides for trade. He can give directions, but will be reluctant to bring the party there unless paid. Money means little to him, but he will want any worked metal tools that are hard for him to get, like axe heads, hammers, nails, a shovel – that kind of thing. Or gems or jewelry of exceptional value that he feels he might be able to trade later.
One way the DM can introduce possibly crucial mountain-man type character, is to have the PCs seeking shelter from an early storm and happening upon a mountain cabin. Entering it is seems recently used but abandoned, soon after Dzor will hurry in chased from his hunting trip by the storm – creating a great opportunity for role-playing during a tense situation.
If in the above scenario the party searches the cabin they will find human-sized pilgrim’s road clothing packed away. For this is where Sir Lothario came to disguise himself on his way to the Shrine of Light each year- paying the dwarf well for his discretion and help.
Or if the PCs spend time gathering information among shepherds and other peoples in the foothills they may know of the dwarf (having traded with him) and send them in that direction - or some combination of both.
If the PCs stop by the Shrine of Light (having figured out some of the queen’s secret while undertaking the court intrigue portion of the adventure) they can find out that a hermit made a yearly pilgrimage to the shrine each year around the same time as the queen (though they were never seen together), and he claimed to live in a cabin in the mountains five days northeast of there.
The cabin can act as a relatively safe place for the party to stage their forays into the frozen plain beyond the fortress (see below), or a place to re-supply and rest traveling to and from this quest.
Dzor knows that the hobgoblins have risen in numbers, but he also has been able to figure out from clues unwittingly dropped by Rez-Naci that some kind of internal problem in the tribe is threatening their success. He gathered this conclusion from Rez-Naci’s comment that his people slay those guilty of heresy, unless they flee like cowards. The way it was said, made the dwarf think the hobgoblin holy warrior meant someone in specific. The reason it even came up was because Dzor himself was sent into exile by his own people. He was accused of heresy for regarding the revering of stone above all other elements of nature as foolish and limiting – and he doesn’t care who knows it. However, Dzor is ever the canny tradesman – and he has not traded the information about the hobgoblin numbers to Sir Lothario and his men for two reasons, 1) the numbers of hobgoblins is still not sufficient to pose a threat to the human lands (not that he really cares about that), so 2) the longer he waits the more crucial this information will seem to the humans and the more he can make from sharing it. Dzor is unlikely to share this information with the PCs unless they directly ask him and are prepared to offer him a great deal for it.
Dzor has no qualms about leading the PCs to some dangerous place and then losing them if they try to intimidate or coerce him by force to lead them or aid them in some other way. He is a canny tracker and knows the area well. And will bring them to the lair of a hibernating dire bear, or some other place saying it is a “short cut” or some other ruse, and then try to get away and sell the information about the coming PCs to Rez-Naci. Dzor is not evil. He is simply self-serving and pragmatic on all things and suspicious of people with supposedly altruistic motives. He never forgets that his own people were supposedly good and altruistic, but still they drove him away for his beliefs.
Of course, the other heretic that Dzor discerned the existence of, is Nebbukanezzar (see below). Dzor is neutral in alignment and should be about a 9th level ranger.
Fort White
The fort is set at the mouth of a mountain pass that opens onto a huge frozen plain, with a tall hill covered in ice just off center. It will be clear that something is wrong at the fort as the PCs approach. Smoke is rising from within the fort, and two of the outer walls are collapsed. If one of the PCs thinks to climb up one of the cliff faces to get a better view they will see that the far collapsed wall was burst from the inside, and that while some rubble is smoldering, the smoke seems to be coming from a small fire lit within the courtyard.
Rez-Naci & His Warriors:
Rez-Naci, whose name means “Heat-Lightning” in the hobgoblin tongue is a holy warrior of the bizarre faith of this hobgoblin culture. It is important to note two things, 1) the word for “heat” or “burning” in hobgoblin is the same as for “cold” as touching something that is intensely cold feels as if it burns, and 2) it is also the name of the frost worm revered and worshipped by this tribe (for reasons that will become apparent soon). Rez-Naci is the leader of what is called “The Arm” of their faith, an elite squad of barbarian/clerics who serve to honor their great god in combat and lead the attempts to destroy the world of men every few generations and lay claim to the fertile and warm lands from the south they were driven from over a thousand years ago (when humans first came to this place) and the Kingdom of Neergaard’s first dynasty was founded.
Rez-Naci is here with 12 other of his warriors (13 is a lucky number for them) investigating the events at the fort. While he and his fellow hobgoblins hated the presence of humans so close to what has become over the generations holy ground to them – they limited their attacks on them to times when men actually entered the plain, or when an opportunity arose to raid the fort for supplies as when the yearly caravan that Sir Lothario led back in the middle of the fall. It had become so regular an event, that Lothario began bringing back two extra wagon loads of less expensive goods – and would allow them to be taken with minimal resistance rather than risk too much life. The hobgoblins, not wanting to reveal their growing number and power to the humans, never attacked in mass, fearing an army from the south arriving before things could be organized for another great push south in the next generation or so.
This should be a great scene as Rez-Naci has information that the PCs will find very useful about Nebbukanezzar and the frost worm he is named for – However, the PCs are likely to think that the hobgoblins are responsible for the razing of the fort, especially if they have a means to sneak past the elite warriors set up to watch for anyone coming from the south and can witness Rez-Naci and the others stripping the place bare of anything of any value – including slaughtering the remaining sled dogs and piling up the human corpses for freezing and later consumption by the tribe (though the reason they are being piled up might not be clear).
A temporary alliance between Rez-Naci and the PCs might be possible, especially if Dzor is there to help negotiate it (the dwarf speaks the hobgoblin tongue). Rez-Naci knows that the frost worm is a great danger to him and his men and he has quietly always held the belief that his survival as a child was dumb luck not divine providence – He will see the PCs as a good distraction for the worm while he and his followers deal with Nebbukanezzar (see Rez-Naci & Nebbukanezzar below).
If the party searches the Fort they will find that some great burrowing creature destroyed it from below. There are few bodies as most of the men were swallowed whole, but those that are around (who fell off or were trapped beneath) collapsing walls have been gathered by the hobgoblins of the “the Arm”. In addition, most of any written records that might have been found in Sir Lotthario’s quarters have been burned by Rez-Naci and his warriors. However, in that chamber can be found a loose brick in the large fireplace, behind which are some personal effects (pick something of sufficient value – perhaps an heirloom) and a ton of love letters. Some are from the Queen, but others are from other women throughout northern Neergaard. It seems the Queen was not the only woman he was visiting on those trips. He has more than one illegitimate child, and there are even some half-written letters back. Hidden in here is also his journal which reveals a man who really did fall in love with Ursula – but who forced to give her up and come out to the mountain wilderness to save his own life – grew embittered and returned to his Lothario ways after a few years when it became evident that he would never get her unless the king were to die, and despite his many flaws, one thing Sir Lothario is not is a traitor who wishes ill on his king. If anything this post allowed him to hide his other affairs from the queen as she could not afford to keep tabs on him at any other time to keep from arousing suspicions. Any excerpts from the journal should reveal a torn and bitter man, wracked with guilt and writing alternating rants of love, self-hatred and jealousy. He even writes that he hopes the hobgoblins attack in force soon so that he may die in valiant battle befitting the hero he thought he would one day become.
This should create a great conflict for the party about what to do with this information and whether it should be revealed to the Queen – and whether the mothers of his other illegitimate children have a right to learn about what happened to him (of course, the PCs will probably assume Sir Lothario is dead – but he is not (see The Sacred Hill & Stair Below)
Rez-Naci & Nebbukanezzar
The Gergo-lahtchli hobgoblins live in caves in the mountains that form a ring around the great ice plain. The land beyond that ring is a maze of broken and razor sharp rocks, sudden step drops and sheets of ice. Any passage out of this area en masse would have to be through the pass where Fort White stands. The field itself and the hill at (about) its center is holy land to these hobgoblins and none may enter it except in specific times of prayer and when the armies are to march upon the humans of the south. It is also the territory of a fearsome aberration of nature that the Gergo-lahtchli revere – a half-blue dragon frost worm, called Rez-Naci – whose name means “Heat Lightning”.
At the top of the hill in the middle of the field was a powerful magical object called “The Bell of the Worm”. It was the role of the “Mysteries of the Faith” (as opposed to “the Arm”) branch of the religion to make their way there by means of a secret corridor of stones through the ice during holy times and ring the bell, summoning the worm for a sacrifice, and allowing the ceremonies on the edge of the great field to take place, or for their great armies to pass by safely to the glory of the wars in the south. The corridor of stones is such that there are still broken areas exposed to the ice and snow (and thus to the worm) requiring those traveling this path to sprint across the open spaces. Otherwise the stone here are too large and thick for even the Frost worm hybrid to smash or burrow through, or for its lightning breath to burst.
Rez-Naci (the leader of the "The Arm") as a babe accidentally wandered into the holy land and no one from his tribe was allowed to go after him. He was written off as dead, especially since it was during a time period that the frost worm was particularly active and had even killed a few hobgoblin hunters who were near the field of frost. However, the young child by some miracle emerged from the sacred land, and was named for the worm and entered into the sacred training for his place in the Arm of Faith. It was considered a sign from their great worm god that Rez-Naci would be a great leader and lead them to victory over the humans of the south.
However, for Nebbukanezzar, the leader of the “Mysteries of the Faith” the mystic branch of the hobgoblin’s religion (a group of monk/sorcerers) – this was a sign not of a miracle of special favor for the child, but of what he had come to expect long before – that the frost beast was not a divine being, but just a powerful monster and that it might be used in his people’s desire for more power. After years of research into the worm and the Bell of the Worm and surreptitious journeys out to the hill to experiment he discovered that the sacred object had more powers. However, one of his own underlings having discovered Nebbukanezzar’s heresy in regards to the divine worm the tribe worshipped crossed the religio-political lines of the faith and reported it to the leader of “the Arm” – after a confrontation Nebbukanezzar slew both his underling and the leader of the Arm (thus causing Rez-Naci to be promoted into the position of leader) and then fled with 12 of his monk/sorcerers to the hill.
Among the tribe this was considered a great sign, for Rez-Naci was now leading the Arm of the Faith and his first real mission would be to deal with the heretic of the worm he was named for.
However, before a plan of action could be made to deal with the heretic he returned possessing Rez-Naci worm (see The Bell of Worm below). This was greater than heresy in the eyes of the tribe and especially the Arm of the Faith – it was blasphemy. They rejected Nebbukanezzar’s offer of using his new found power to help lead an invasion against the men of the south. Angered at their short-sightedness, Nebbukanezzar went ahead and attacked Fort White – knowing that such an attack would lead to men from the south coming en force and forcing his people to rely on his powers to defeat the attacking humans.
Rez-Naci and his followers watched the attack on the fort from the ice cliff above – for Rez-Naci has a tactical mind and if forced to battle his namesake he wanted to see what weaknesses it had. He saw none, but he did see the other members of the Mysteries of the Faith come into the fort soon after the worm and grab Sir Lothario and take him (ostensibly back to the hill).
Rez-Naci will be careful about what information if any he reveals to the PCs. Being rather intelligent and diplomatic for one of his kind and talents (remember he is a barbarian as well and can fly into a murderous rage in combat) he will suggest that the PCs have a chance to do something about the danger to their own people by taking care of Nebbukanezzar now – except that the worm cannot be killed. Some PCs might be tempted to wait for the army to arrive to deal with the problem – but quick-thinking Rez-Naci will explain that an approaching army will be easy to notice and that as they march through the pass it would be an easy thing for Nebbukanezzar to use the worm to collapse the sides of the pass killing most if not all the soldiers in one fell swoop – while he might not be aware of the PCs presence as of yet. If this does not work as a means of getting the PCs to “help” (i.e. act as a distraction) – he will tell them that the leader of the humans was taken and might still be alive. He also will tell them that the secret to stopping Nebbukanezzar and getting him to relinquish power over the worm can be found in the Sacred Hill (but will pretend not to know what it is – however, he has a pretty good idea that it is some additional power of the Bell).
The DM should really play up the uneasy alliance between these hobgoblins and the PCs. While they will likely be surprised by Rez-Naci’s demeanor and intelligence the rest of his 12 followers will act more like hobgoblins would be expected to act – quick to anger and resentful of human (or non-hobgoblin) presence. Rez-Naci will have to stop them from reacting violently to the PCs – and may even allow one of his men to challenge one of the PCs to a fight to the death as a means of both testing the PCs’ power and prove to the others that he knows what he is doing in being cautious in these dealings. A PC that knows the hobgoblin tongue but does not reveal this will learn a lot about the Gergo-lahtchli – for Rez-Naci will have to remind his men that their people are not yet ready to face the men of the south and still have much power to gain before doing so. The afore-mentioned duel could be used to reinforce that. The 12 other hobgoblins in this group should be about ½ to 2/3 the level of the individual PCs (depending on the number of PCs), but Rez-Naci himself should be three or four levels higher than the highest level PC.
The Journey to the Sacred Hill & Stair
It is an eight hour march to where the safe stone passage to the hill can be found. While this passage was only supposed to be known to the “Mysteries of the Faith” – most of the Arm knew of it (the two groups were ever competing for power) – and even Dzor has been able to figure out where it likely is. So, even if the party did not ally themselves with Rez-Naci they should be able to find it with some effort (though the danger of wandering around looking should be apparent to them). If the party has a means for all of them to fly they will find the powerful winds of this area make flying very very difficult.
Depending on the party’s level, the DM may want to throw in a battle with the Rez-Naci worm while the group marches across the plain to the Hill. If the party is not high enough level to really challenge the worm at all, then the encounter should be limited to happening on the stone path and at the hill – otherwise, when it attacks, Rez-Naci the hobgoblin will do his best to break away from the group with his own followers and leave the PCs to deal with the worm (and hopefully be killed).
However, in this case, Nebbukanezzar will note Rez-Naci’s absence and after a few rounds try to take off after him to stop him before he reaches the corridor of broken stones. He will fail, but then hurry back to the hill to prepare for his arrival, ignoring the PCs for now.
This is also an opportunity to thin the number of NPC barbarian/cleric NPCs the DM has to worry about by having some killed by the worm.
The party should be able to track Rez-Naci to the stones from there fairly easily. If Dzor is with them (though it will take an offer of great payment to get him to come this far) he will certainly be able to do it.
Alternately, the DM can add a great deal of tension to the journey through the corridor of stones, by having the worm be visible just beyond it, trying to reach the PCs and/or Rez-Naci and his hobgoblins from above in areas where it can reach down to get them from behind the stones, or using one of its two breath weapons to get past gaps in the stone. Or most evilly using the trill ability to freeze people in place as they run across the gaps.
The addition of some other “random” encounters in this area will help to give the environment a sense of verisimilitude. This might include a colony of taers or tribe of yeti that live among the safety of the rocks – and perhaps non-combat encounters with caribou or other similar animals.
The Sacred Hill & Stair
The Sacred Hill was long ago the home of a wizard who loved experimenting with the combining and re-combining of monsters. It was his work that led to the aberration that is that Rez-Naci worm. The hill itself is hollowed out, but can only be entered from the top. A spiral staircase winds ups the outside of the hill. It is covered in ice and very treacherous. Anyone climbing these steps must move at half speed or be required to make a balance check (DC 20) or lose their footing and then must make a Reflex check (DC 16) or slide painfully back down the steps (assume to as far as where their movement started). Others on the steps that someone slipping down passes adjacent to are allowed a Reflex save against DC 10 to allow the sliding person another save at +2 to stop sliding. If someone slides into a box where somewhere else is standing, the standing person must automatically save or fall and start sliding. (Use size modifiers for grappling to the saving throw in this case – i.e. a small character sliding into a large character is less likely to knock him over than vice versa). Those who slide have a 50% chance of sliding in a straight line and thus right off the side of the spiral stair taking appropriate falling damage. The hill is 80 feet high.
The icy spiral staircase is meant to be the site for a dramatic and dynamic combat. As the PCs and/or Rez-Naci try to hurry up the steps they will have to deal with Nebbukanezzar’s Mysteries of the Faith monk/sorcerers (six of which will be met on the steps using spells and missile weapons to fight from above and afar. Anyone struck while on the icy steps needs to make a balance check against 10 + the damage dealt or fall (with rules as above). The other six can be found guarding the entrance to the chamber of mysteries.
In addition, the worm itself will be a danger to those on the exposed steps, using its breath weapons, trill and slamming into the hillside to try to stop anyone from getting to the top. However, even at full height, the worm cannot reach past 40’ up the side of the hill – so if the entire party and allies get past it – Nebbukanezzar will abandon the worm’s body and will have to be dealt with in the Chamber of Mysteries. However, it might be possible to distract Nebbukanezzar on the steps (if someone wants to sacrifice himself) allowing others some time to get to the Chamber of Mysteries and figure out what to do.
The hobgoblin monk/sorcerers should be about equivalent level to the Arms of Faith with Rez-Naci.
The Chamber of Mysteries
The chamber of mysteries is a round domed structure of permanent walls of ice atop the hill. This was once the workroom of the wizard who had made this his stronghold in ancient days passed. The place should be large bright room of ice (think the inside of the Fortress of Solitude in the Superman movies) with various platforms and levels and strange ice structures and sculptures. At the center of the chamber is a great bell made of a translucent ice-like metal hanging above a raised block of ice.
If Nebbukanezzar is still possessing the Frost Worm – then he will be standing on the block of ice beneath the bell (see “The Bell of the Worm” below) and his body will be defended by his imp familiar, Bloodicle (who will try to alert is master).
While Nebbukanezzar is within the bell and controlling the worm he can be coup de graced. Otherwise, whether he flees, fights or bargains depends on the threat placed before him. If it comes to it he will try to bargain Sir Lothario’s life for his own.
While Nebbukanezzar was still obeying the laws and taboos of his order – none of the other items in the chamber aside from the bell could be touched – but once he decided to abandon the faith of his people – he began to figure out what other things in here did.
Around the Chamber of Mysteries is a thick inner-wall in 12 long segments. – 9 of the wall segments seem to have different things frozen in the center of them, but only the vague shadowy outline of the thing can be determined without True-Seeing or some other similar ability. These wall segments function as a type of mirror of life trapping. Nebbukanezzar knows the command words for 7 of the segments (they are different for each) two of which are empty. If things are going against him in a fight, he might release something nasty from one of the segments. And if it turns out to be too nasty he will try to use Charm Monster to get it to obey him. Sir Lothario is “frozen” in one of these wall segments (Nebbukanezzar planned to use him in a back-up plan to gain power and cause havoc among the human forces in the south by means of magic jar or domination.
Nebbukanezzar should have at least 10 levels of sorcerer, and be around 15th to 18th level – so that he presents a danger consummate with the worm itself.
The other creatures in the wall segments should be other experiments of the wizard that created this place. Including other half-draconic things (like blue dragon/artic owlbears) and/or things with the cold elemental creature template from the Manual of the Planes. One of the chambers should also hold three preserved blue dragon eggs and one of the ones Nebbukanezzar has not figured out how to open yet has a gelugon fiend trapped within.
The DM should populate this chamber with a variety of mysterious and dangerous things. Perhaps magical notes carves into sheets of ice that can only be read in certain light, other magical items, trapped items or boxes, etc…
Conclusions
There are a great number of possible conclusions and consequences for this adventure.
- Rez-Naci will want to slay Nebbukanezzar himself, however, he does not know the effect of killing the villain while beneath the bell. In addition, if the bell is free, he will feel an overwhelming urge to ring it and step beneath it and take control of the worm himself – if he does so – a great unknown prophecy of his people will be fulfilled and he will permanently become the worm, his body melting away. Ironically, fulfilling what Nebbukanezzar wanted, but in the rightful way. If this happens, the other warriors of the Arm of Faith will go into a religious fervor, trying to kill any and everyone.
- The party may or may not succeed in freeing Lothario from the wall of ice – but regardless he poses a tricky political problem the PCs may not know how to solve. He will be very resentful of any involvement on their part – esp. if they destroyed the letters and other effects they might have found in the ruined fortress.
- The possible threat of the hobgoblins will still have to be dealt with – as the leaders of the coming army will want to have any information the PCs have gathered about them – and they will be very upset if they discover the PCs worked with the hobgoblins and did not take a prisoner. Depending on how things develop with Rez-Naci, the PCs may even feel reluctant to reveal to much about them if they feel the hobgoblins pose no real threat as of yet (though if he becomes the worm those feelings are unlikely to last).
- The PCs are likely to have a long wait before the army arrives. The Sacred Hill is honey-combed with chambers from the ancient days – perhaps they will spend time exploring those and seeing what else there is to be found in this place. The adventure could have whole second part involving any kind of classic dungeon-delving elements the DM wants to incorporate. Perhaps the command words for the other ice walls of life-trapping can be found, releasing some of the other captives or horrors within those chambers.
- If the DM wants to explore a war theme or play out large battles, he can have the hobgoblins decide to face the coming army and the PCs may become involved as elite troops or scouts – especially if Rez-Naci has become the Frost Worm and is leading the troops in that form.
Some Final Notes
Rez-Naci (the blue dragon / frost worm) – Rez-Nazi is the result of magical experimentation upon blue dragon eggs fertilizing them with the essence of frost worm. The thing should have about 21 HD and is over 60’ long. Much like a rhemoraz, it has small vestigal wings on the front portion of its body that collapse cleanly against the body for burrowing, but are used to raise the heavy front-end of the beast when it rears up to attack. In addition to the Frost Worm’s usual breath weapon, it can also breath a stroke of lightning – thus its name (which can be translated as “Heat Lightning”; remember the detail of the hobgoblin word for “heat/cold”). The worm on its own is more intelligent than a typical frost worm, but not nearly as intelligent as a blue dragon (Int 9). It hates being summoned/possessed and if by some chance Nebbukanezzar is near it while it is not possessed it will attack him. It will not attack Rez-Naci under any circumstances.
The Bell of the Worm – Developed by the wizard who created the Rez-Naci worm, if simply rung it summons any worm-like magical beast within a 50 mile radius to it. This included frost worms, purple worms, rhemoraz and similar creatures. Once a creature comes within 100’ of the bell, whoever steps under it may possess the worm (similar to a magic jar spell). The worms remain in the area as long as the bell is rung and up to 5 minutes afterward. Thus the importance of the bell being out of reach of the worm, or else it would likely destroy everything around while you sought to get under and control it (or if more than one worm answered the call). Worms gain a Will save (DC 20) to resist the effect, but another attempt can be tried once per minute. While possessing the worm, the possessor also gains the ability to communicate telepathically with any sentient creature within 100 feet of the worm. If a possessor is killed while controlling the worm, his consciousness is permanently stuck in the worm. If the worm is killed the possessor is stunned for one round, but after that is fine.
Someone beneath the bell can relinquish control as a free action, but taking control is a full round action. While beneath the bell the possessor is in kind a daze and all listen checks are made at –10 and spot checks at –20 (it is possible to see, but the bell itself is translucent). This daze does allow for a coup de grace on the possessor – but if he survives a concentration check must be made to maintain possession. The only range limit for possession is that the worm (and possessor) must remain on the same plane. The possession lasts for up to 12 hours modified by the possessor’s charisma.
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Ingredients
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Mountain Cabin (the home of Dzor the dwarven ranger - possible guide and translator)
Frost Worm (the great divine beat worshipped by the hobgoblins)
Lothario (the name of the womanizing knight-adventurer the party is sent to find)
Spiral Staircase (the site of a climactic fight on the sacred hill)
Heat Lightning (the name of two characters whose fates are entwined)
Heresy (the the divinity of the worm is rejected)
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Background
It was nearly 15 years ago that King Halfred of Neergaard ascended to the throne, taking for his queen the young daughter of the Earl of East Andovar. However, the girl who would be the beloved queen Ursula was known in some circles to already have a lover - the third son of a minor noble of Atuan who reputation for bravery and daring was only surpassed by his reputation as a lover of many different women, from the pretty but strong daughters of peasant farmers to the widowed Ladies of knights lost in the various campaigns fought in those days against the hobgoblin hordes still common in those days. However, Sir Lothario of Lithemoor, seemed to have fallen for the charms of the young noble woman, and instead of moving on to his next conquest whether it be another woman or another legendary monster or treasure to be hunted - the rumors began that he was actually going to lay claim to his right to marry Ursula.
However, before the messy situation could come to a head, Ursula intervened on her lover’s behalf and negotiated a compromise to save Lothario’s life. The king allowed the knight-adventurer to go into a form of self-imposed exile in the mountains of northeastern Thelgaard to run a small fortress in a mountain pass to keep an eye on the retreating hobgoblin hordes and give warning if they should ever begin to amass and return to be a danger.
Sir Lothario grudgingly accepted – but little did the king know that this was because the queen had figured out a way to meet her lover each year. The queen goes on a yearly pilgrimage to the Shrine of Light at the foot of the Froststone mountains at the end of the summer – and each year Sir Lothario would come down from the mountains in disguise for a secret night with the queen.
However, at the end of this past summer he did not arrive.
Desperate to know what happened to him (for these meetings, after 15 years of a loveless marriage for the sake of duty and the kingdom were truly all she lived for) she had her most trusted lady-in-waiting bring up the matter of the northern fort with one of king’s generals. It was soon realized that contact had been lost with the remote fort for some time – and had gone without notice for it was seldom regular. However, it was just long enough to send a small dispatch of troops to find out what happened. They did not return.
This is where the PCs come in. The Crown hires a moderately powerful adventuring party to investigate this disappearance of the troops and the loss of contact with the fort, while a more substantial force is drawn together, for everyone is certain that these events can only mean one thing: the hobgoblins have returned in force again and pose a danger to the whole kingdom.
However, the Queen has become somewhat myopic about the situation and is most worried that something has happened to Sir Lothario, or that these events will somehow conspire to keep them from ever being together again.
While this adventure is the typical epic quest into the northern wastes to investigate a danger to the kingdom, the GM can easily add a whole level of court intrigue both before, during and after the actual quest – by having another court official give special instructions to one or more members of the party that can be trusted to be discrete. And that is bringing a letter (from the queen – though the party would not know that unless they open the letter) to Sir Lothario (the letter will reveal her undying love for him (she’s afraid he is going to die) and hint that the young prince is really his), and failing that to retrieve his body (above and before anyone else’s) for proper burial. The official being more pragmatic and worried about the consequences of this being revealed will also want them to retrieve any indiscrete items he may have had on his person or in his quarters. The court official will be extremely vague about this, saying “you’ll know it if you see it”, but he of course means any letters, tokens or journal that might point to the knight’s on-going relationship with the Queen.
Hooks:
This adventure is designed to have a classic D&D quest feel with the secondary complexity of helping to cover up (or reveal – depending on the PCs moral inclinations) the Queen’s affair, and in as much has some “classic” story hooks found in any number of classic D&D modules.
-- The party could be veterans of past missions for the Crown and are the first to be called in this time of need. Alternately, they could be well-known strangers traveling through the kingdom chosen by an agent of court for the mission because they would be less likely to put two and two together and figure out about the Queen’s affair.
-- One of the PCs could be the illegitimate child of Sir Lothario and havingjust recently found out about the identity of his father, or where he was stationed (something that was generally not talked about) wants to seek him out anyway. (In this scenario the DM could introduce a second adventuring party seeking to fulfill the same quest. (for the Crown) or a whole other layer of complexity could be added if the PC in question found out from his or her own mother about the Queen’s past affair and the party could try to use this as leverage get her to use her influence to get the PCs hired for the mission. Alternately, they can simply try to contact her for information and get hired only to deal only with the affair elements of the mission – thus allowing the GM to incorporate the rival party scenario as well.
-- The PCs could owe the infamously merciful queen a favor for having intervened on their behalf in the past (this would obviously require some set up).
-- A wilderness oriented party of rangers, druid, barbarians, or similar types may have come across evidence of increased hobgoblin activity and brought it to the attention of the king.
The Mission
In case it wasn’t clear, the PCs’ mission (as far as the crown is concerned) is to investigate what if anything happened to the fortress and the men stationed there, give them what aid they can, and scout out any hobgoblin activity in the area, and if need be make pre-emptive strikes against any forward groups of hobgoblins in danger of invading the southerly lands. A larger group of soldiers will be following by the end of the coming winter to re-possess the fort (which everyone is convinced has been overrun – or use of divination will reveal that no living soldiers can be found in that place).
The mission, if the party is hired by the queen or her agents is to find specifically what happened to Sir Lothario –and to deliver him a letter if possible – or gather what evidence of any of the affair and bring it back to the queen – and make sure no one else finds it. If dead, his corpse is to be returned for proper burial.
The Journey to the Mountains
The journey to the Froststone mountains can be as eventful or not as the DM wants. However, as PCs first enter into the mountains they have a chance to come upon a mountain cabin, home to Dzor –the dwarven ranger. An exile from his people, this ranger know these mountains, the surrounding area, its peoples and its animals and monsters very well. It is possible that the DM may want Dzor to be a contact the party is pointed towards before they set out, especially if their skills and spell selection do not make them particularly fit for a winter mountain journey. Dzor traded regularly with both the soldiers in Fort White, and paid tithe to the hobgoblins in forms of furs, meat and worked goods to keep them from killing him. In fact, he even spoke irregularly with Rez-Naci (see below) and trading information – However, their “friendship” (if it can be called that) is a base and feral one of the wilderness and both know he may need to kill the other one day. When the party arrives, Dzor has just returned from his last trip hunting bears before winter really hits hardest. He knows nothing of the razing of the fort, but was planning on traveling there (a day’s march away) in a few days after he had cleaned his hides for trade. He can give directions, but will be reluctant to bring the party there unless paid. Money means little to him, but he will want any worked metal tools that are hard for him to get, like axe heads, hammers, nails, a shovel – that kind of thing. Or gems or jewelry of exceptional value that he feels he might be able to trade later.
One way the DM can introduce possibly crucial mountain-man type character, is to have the PCs seeking shelter from an early storm and happening upon a mountain cabin. Entering it is seems recently used but abandoned, soon after Dzor will hurry in chased from his hunting trip by the storm – creating a great opportunity for role-playing during a tense situation.
If in the above scenario the party searches the cabin they will find human-sized pilgrim’s road clothing packed away. For this is where Sir Lothario came to disguise himself on his way to the Shrine of Light each year- paying the dwarf well for his discretion and help.
Or if the PCs spend time gathering information among shepherds and other peoples in the foothills they may know of the dwarf (having traded with him) and send them in that direction - or some combination of both.
If the PCs stop by the Shrine of Light (having figured out some of the queen’s secret while undertaking the court intrigue portion of the adventure) they can find out that a hermit made a yearly pilgrimage to the shrine each year around the same time as the queen (though they were never seen together), and he claimed to live in a cabin in the mountains five days northeast of there.
The cabin can act as a relatively safe place for the party to stage their forays into the frozen plain beyond the fortress (see below), or a place to re-supply and rest traveling to and from this quest.
Dzor knows that the hobgoblins have risen in numbers, but he also has been able to figure out from clues unwittingly dropped by Rez-Naci that some kind of internal problem in the tribe is threatening their success. He gathered this conclusion from Rez-Naci’s comment that his people slay those guilty of heresy, unless they flee like cowards. The way it was said, made the dwarf think the hobgoblin holy warrior meant someone in specific. The reason it even came up was because Dzor himself was sent into exile by his own people. He was accused of heresy for regarding the revering of stone above all other elements of nature as foolish and limiting – and he doesn’t care who knows it. However, Dzor is ever the canny tradesman – and he has not traded the information about the hobgoblin numbers to Sir Lothario and his men for two reasons, 1) the numbers of hobgoblins is still not sufficient to pose a threat to the human lands (not that he really cares about that), so 2) the longer he waits the more crucial this information will seem to the humans and the more he can make from sharing it. Dzor is unlikely to share this information with the PCs unless they directly ask him and are prepared to offer him a great deal for it.
Dzor has no qualms about leading the PCs to some dangerous place and then losing them if they try to intimidate or coerce him by force to lead them or aid them in some other way. He is a canny tracker and knows the area well. And will bring them to the lair of a hibernating dire bear, or some other place saying it is a “short cut” or some other ruse, and then try to get away and sell the information about the coming PCs to Rez-Naci. Dzor is not evil. He is simply self-serving and pragmatic on all things and suspicious of people with supposedly altruistic motives. He never forgets that his own people were supposedly good and altruistic, but still they drove him away for his beliefs.
Of course, the other heretic that Dzor discerned the existence of, is Nebbukanezzar (see below). Dzor is neutral in alignment and should be about a 9th level ranger.
Fort White
The fort is set at the mouth of a mountain pass that opens onto a huge frozen plain, with a tall hill covered in ice just off center. It will be clear that something is wrong at the fort as the PCs approach. Smoke is rising from within the fort, and two of the outer walls are collapsed. If one of the PCs thinks to climb up one of the cliff faces to get a better view they will see that the far collapsed wall was burst from the inside, and that while some rubble is smoldering, the smoke seems to be coming from a small fire lit within the courtyard.
Rez-Naci & His Warriors:
Rez-Naci, whose name means “Heat-Lightning” in the hobgoblin tongue is a holy warrior of the bizarre faith of this hobgoblin culture. It is important to note two things, 1) the word for “heat” or “burning” in hobgoblin is the same as for “cold” as touching something that is intensely cold feels as if it burns, and 2) it is also the name of the frost worm revered and worshipped by this tribe (for reasons that will become apparent soon). Rez-Naci is the leader of what is called “The Arm” of their faith, an elite squad of barbarian/clerics who serve to honor their great god in combat and lead the attempts to destroy the world of men every few generations and lay claim to the fertile and warm lands from the south they were driven from over a thousand years ago (when humans first came to this place) and the Kingdom of Neergaard’s first dynasty was founded.
Rez-Naci is here with 12 other of his warriors (13 is a lucky number for them) investigating the events at the fort. While he and his fellow hobgoblins hated the presence of humans so close to what has become over the generations holy ground to them – they limited their attacks on them to times when men actually entered the plain, or when an opportunity arose to raid the fort for supplies as when the yearly caravan that Sir Lothario led back in the middle of the fall. It had become so regular an event, that Lothario began bringing back two extra wagon loads of less expensive goods – and would allow them to be taken with minimal resistance rather than risk too much life. The hobgoblins, not wanting to reveal their growing number and power to the humans, never attacked in mass, fearing an army from the south arriving before things could be organized for another great push south in the next generation or so.
This should be a great scene as Rez-Naci has information that the PCs will find very useful about Nebbukanezzar and the frost worm he is named for – However, the PCs are likely to think that the hobgoblins are responsible for the razing of the fort, especially if they have a means to sneak past the elite warriors set up to watch for anyone coming from the south and can witness Rez-Naci and the others stripping the place bare of anything of any value – including slaughtering the remaining sled dogs and piling up the human corpses for freezing and later consumption by the tribe (though the reason they are being piled up might not be clear).
A temporary alliance between Rez-Naci and the PCs might be possible, especially if Dzor is there to help negotiate it (the dwarf speaks the hobgoblin tongue). Rez-Naci knows that the frost worm is a great danger to him and his men and he has quietly always held the belief that his survival as a child was dumb luck not divine providence – He will see the PCs as a good distraction for the worm while he and his followers deal with Nebbukanezzar (see Rez-Naci & Nebbukanezzar below).
If the party searches the Fort they will find that some great burrowing creature destroyed it from below. There are few bodies as most of the men were swallowed whole, but those that are around (who fell off or were trapped beneath) collapsing walls have been gathered by the hobgoblins of the “the Arm”. In addition, most of any written records that might have been found in Sir Lotthario’s quarters have been burned by Rez-Naci and his warriors. However, in that chamber can be found a loose brick in the large fireplace, behind which are some personal effects (pick something of sufficient value – perhaps an heirloom) and a ton of love letters. Some are from the Queen, but others are from other women throughout northern Neergaard. It seems the Queen was not the only woman he was visiting on those trips. He has more than one illegitimate child, and there are even some half-written letters back. Hidden in here is also his journal which reveals a man who really did fall in love with Ursula – but who forced to give her up and come out to the mountain wilderness to save his own life – grew embittered and returned to his Lothario ways after a few years when it became evident that he would never get her unless the king were to die, and despite his many flaws, one thing Sir Lothario is not is a traitor who wishes ill on his king. If anything this post allowed him to hide his other affairs from the queen as she could not afford to keep tabs on him at any other time to keep from arousing suspicions. Any excerpts from the journal should reveal a torn and bitter man, wracked with guilt and writing alternating rants of love, self-hatred and jealousy. He even writes that he hopes the hobgoblins attack in force soon so that he may die in valiant battle befitting the hero he thought he would one day become.
This should create a great conflict for the party about what to do with this information and whether it should be revealed to the Queen – and whether the mothers of his other illegitimate children have a right to learn about what happened to him (of course, the PCs will probably assume Sir Lothario is dead – but he is not (see The Sacred Hill & Stair Below)
Rez-Naci & Nebbukanezzar
The Gergo-lahtchli hobgoblins live in caves in the mountains that form a ring around the great ice plain. The land beyond that ring is a maze of broken and razor sharp rocks, sudden step drops and sheets of ice. Any passage out of this area en masse would have to be through the pass where Fort White stands. The field itself and the hill at (about) its center is holy land to these hobgoblins and none may enter it except in specific times of prayer and when the armies are to march upon the humans of the south. It is also the territory of a fearsome aberration of nature that the Gergo-lahtchli revere – a half-blue dragon frost worm, called Rez-Naci – whose name means “Heat Lightning”.
At the top of the hill in the middle of the field was a powerful magical object called “The Bell of the Worm”. It was the role of the “Mysteries of the Faith” (as opposed to “the Arm”) branch of the religion to make their way there by means of a secret corridor of stones through the ice during holy times and ring the bell, summoning the worm for a sacrifice, and allowing the ceremonies on the edge of the great field to take place, or for their great armies to pass by safely to the glory of the wars in the south. The corridor of stones is such that there are still broken areas exposed to the ice and snow (and thus to the worm) requiring those traveling this path to sprint across the open spaces. Otherwise the stone here are too large and thick for even the Frost worm hybrid to smash or burrow through, or for its lightning breath to burst.
Rez-Naci (the leader of the "The Arm") as a babe accidentally wandered into the holy land and no one from his tribe was allowed to go after him. He was written off as dead, especially since it was during a time period that the frost worm was particularly active and had even killed a few hobgoblin hunters who were near the field of frost. However, the young child by some miracle emerged from the sacred land, and was named for the worm and entered into the sacred training for his place in the Arm of Faith. It was considered a sign from their great worm god that Rez-Naci would be a great leader and lead them to victory over the humans of the south.
However, for Nebbukanezzar, the leader of the “Mysteries of the Faith” the mystic branch of the hobgoblin’s religion (a group of monk/sorcerers) – this was a sign not of a miracle of special favor for the child, but of what he had come to expect long before – that the frost beast was not a divine being, but just a powerful monster and that it might be used in his people’s desire for more power. After years of research into the worm and the Bell of the Worm and surreptitious journeys out to the hill to experiment he discovered that the sacred object had more powers. However, one of his own underlings having discovered Nebbukanezzar’s heresy in regards to the divine worm the tribe worshipped crossed the religio-political lines of the faith and reported it to the leader of “the Arm” – after a confrontation Nebbukanezzar slew both his underling and the leader of the Arm (thus causing Rez-Naci to be promoted into the position of leader) and then fled with 12 of his monk/sorcerers to the hill.
Among the tribe this was considered a great sign, for Rez-Naci was now leading the Arm of the Faith and his first real mission would be to deal with the heretic of the worm he was named for.
However, before a plan of action could be made to deal with the heretic he returned possessing Rez-Naci worm (see The Bell of Worm below). This was greater than heresy in the eyes of the tribe and especially the Arm of the Faith – it was blasphemy. They rejected Nebbukanezzar’s offer of using his new found power to help lead an invasion against the men of the south. Angered at their short-sightedness, Nebbukanezzar went ahead and attacked Fort White – knowing that such an attack would lead to men from the south coming en force and forcing his people to rely on his powers to defeat the attacking humans.
Rez-Naci and his followers watched the attack on the fort from the ice cliff above – for Rez-Naci has a tactical mind and if forced to battle his namesake he wanted to see what weaknesses it had. He saw none, but he did see the other members of the Mysteries of the Faith come into the fort soon after the worm and grab Sir Lothario and take him (ostensibly back to the hill).
Rez-Naci will be careful about what information if any he reveals to the PCs. Being rather intelligent and diplomatic for one of his kind and talents (remember he is a barbarian as well and can fly into a murderous rage in combat) he will suggest that the PCs have a chance to do something about the danger to their own people by taking care of Nebbukanezzar now – except that the worm cannot be killed. Some PCs might be tempted to wait for the army to arrive to deal with the problem – but quick-thinking Rez-Naci will explain that an approaching army will be easy to notice and that as they march through the pass it would be an easy thing for Nebbukanezzar to use the worm to collapse the sides of the pass killing most if not all the soldiers in one fell swoop – while he might not be aware of the PCs presence as of yet. If this does not work as a means of getting the PCs to “help” (i.e. act as a distraction) – he will tell them that the leader of the humans was taken and might still be alive. He also will tell them that the secret to stopping Nebbukanezzar and getting him to relinquish power over the worm can be found in the Sacred Hill (but will pretend not to know what it is – however, he has a pretty good idea that it is some additional power of the Bell).
The DM should really play up the uneasy alliance between these hobgoblins and the PCs. While they will likely be surprised by Rez-Naci’s demeanor and intelligence the rest of his 12 followers will act more like hobgoblins would be expected to act – quick to anger and resentful of human (or non-hobgoblin) presence. Rez-Naci will have to stop them from reacting violently to the PCs – and may even allow one of his men to challenge one of the PCs to a fight to the death as a means of both testing the PCs’ power and prove to the others that he knows what he is doing in being cautious in these dealings. A PC that knows the hobgoblin tongue but does not reveal this will learn a lot about the Gergo-lahtchli – for Rez-Naci will have to remind his men that their people are not yet ready to face the men of the south and still have much power to gain before doing so. The afore-mentioned duel could be used to reinforce that. The 12 other hobgoblins in this group should be about ½ to 2/3 the level of the individual PCs (depending on the number of PCs), but Rez-Naci himself should be three or four levels higher than the highest level PC.
The Journey to the Sacred Hill & Stair
It is an eight hour march to where the safe stone passage to the hill can be found. While this passage was only supposed to be known to the “Mysteries of the Faith” – most of the Arm knew of it (the two groups were ever competing for power) – and even Dzor has been able to figure out where it likely is. So, even if the party did not ally themselves with Rez-Naci they should be able to find it with some effort (though the danger of wandering around looking should be apparent to them). If the party has a means for all of them to fly they will find the powerful winds of this area make flying very very difficult.
Depending on the party’s level, the DM may want to throw in a battle with the Rez-Naci worm while the group marches across the plain to the Hill. If the party is not high enough level to really challenge the worm at all, then the encounter should be limited to happening on the stone path and at the hill – otherwise, when it attacks, Rez-Naci the hobgoblin will do his best to break away from the group with his own followers and leave the PCs to deal with the worm (and hopefully be killed).
However, in this case, Nebbukanezzar will note Rez-Naci’s absence and after a few rounds try to take off after him to stop him before he reaches the corridor of broken stones. He will fail, but then hurry back to the hill to prepare for his arrival, ignoring the PCs for now.
This is also an opportunity to thin the number of NPC barbarian/cleric NPCs the DM has to worry about by having some killed by the worm.
The party should be able to track Rez-Naci to the stones from there fairly easily. If Dzor is with them (though it will take an offer of great payment to get him to come this far) he will certainly be able to do it.
Alternately, the DM can add a great deal of tension to the journey through the corridor of stones, by having the worm be visible just beyond it, trying to reach the PCs and/or Rez-Naci and his hobgoblins from above in areas where it can reach down to get them from behind the stones, or using one of its two breath weapons to get past gaps in the stone. Or most evilly using the trill ability to freeze people in place as they run across the gaps.
The addition of some other “random” encounters in this area will help to give the environment a sense of verisimilitude. This might include a colony of taers or tribe of yeti that live among the safety of the rocks – and perhaps non-combat encounters with caribou or other similar animals.
The Sacred Hill & Stair
The Sacred Hill was long ago the home of a wizard who loved experimenting with the combining and re-combining of monsters. It was his work that led to the aberration that is that Rez-Naci worm. The hill itself is hollowed out, but can only be entered from the top. A spiral staircase winds ups the outside of the hill. It is covered in ice and very treacherous. Anyone climbing these steps must move at half speed or be required to make a balance check (DC 20) or lose their footing and then must make a Reflex check (DC 16) or slide painfully back down the steps (assume to as far as where their movement started). Others on the steps that someone slipping down passes adjacent to are allowed a Reflex save against DC 10 to allow the sliding person another save at +2 to stop sliding. If someone slides into a box where somewhere else is standing, the standing person must automatically save or fall and start sliding. (Use size modifiers for grappling to the saving throw in this case – i.e. a small character sliding into a large character is less likely to knock him over than vice versa). Those who slide have a 50% chance of sliding in a straight line and thus right off the side of the spiral stair taking appropriate falling damage. The hill is 80 feet high.
The icy spiral staircase is meant to be the site for a dramatic and dynamic combat. As the PCs and/or Rez-Naci try to hurry up the steps they will have to deal with Nebbukanezzar’s Mysteries of the Faith monk/sorcerers (six of which will be met on the steps using spells and missile weapons to fight from above and afar. Anyone struck while on the icy steps needs to make a balance check against 10 + the damage dealt or fall (with rules as above). The other six can be found guarding the entrance to the chamber of mysteries.
In addition, the worm itself will be a danger to those on the exposed steps, using its breath weapons, trill and slamming into the hillside to try to stop anyone from getting to the top. However, even at full height, the worm cannot reach past 40’ up the side of the hill – so if the entire party and allies get past it – Nebbukanezzar will abandon the worm’s body and will have to be dealt with in the Chamber of Mysteries. However, it might be possible to distract Nebbukanezzar on the steps (if someone wants to sacrifice himself) allowing others some time to get to the Chamber of Mysteries and figure out what to do.
The hobgoblin monk/sorcerers should be about equivalent level to the Arms of Faith with Rez-Naci.
The Chamber of Mysteries
The chamber of mysteries is a round domed structure of permanent walls of ice atop the hill. This was once the workroom of the wizard who had made this his stronghold in ancient days passed. The place should be large bright room of ice (think the inside of the Fortress of Solitude in the Superman movies) with various platforms and levels and strange ice structures and sculptures. At the center of the chamber is a great bell made of a translucent ice-like metal hanging above a raised block of ice.
If Nebbukanezzar is still possessing the Frost Worm – then he will be standing on the block of ice beneath the bell (see “The Bell of the Worm” below) and his body will be defended by his imp familiar, Bloodicle (who will try to alert is master).
While Nebbukanezzar is within the bell and controlling the worm he can be coup de graced. Otherwise, whether he flees, fights or bargains depends on the threat placed before him. If it comes to it he will try to bargain Sir Lothario’s life for his own.
While Nebbukanezzar was still obeying the laws and taboos of his order – none of the other items in the chamber aside from the bell could be touched – but once he decided to abandon the faith of his people – he began to figure out what other things in here did.
Around the Chamber of Mysteries is a thick inner-wall in 12 long segments. – 9 of the wall segments seem to have different things frozen in the center of them, but only the vague shadowy outline of the thing can be determined without True-Seeing or some other similar ability. These wall segments function as a type of mirror of life trapping. Nebbukanezzar knows the command words for 7 of the segments (they are different for each) two of which are empty. If things are going against him in a fight, he might release something nasty from one of the segments. And if it turns out to be too nasty he will try to use Charm Monster to get it to obey him. Sir Lothario is “frozen” in one of these wall segments (Nebbukanezzar planned to use him in a back-up plan to gain power and cause havoc among the human forces in the south by means of magic jar or domination.
Nebbukanezzar should have at least 10 levels of sorcerer, and be around 15th to 18th level – so that he presents a danger consummate with the worm itself.
The other creatures in the wall segments should be other experiments of the wizard that created this place. Including other half-draconic things (like blue dragon/artic owlbears) and/or things with the cold elemental creature template from the Manual of the Planes. One of the chambers should also hold three preserved blue dragon eggs and one of the ones Nebbukanezzar has not figured out how to open yet has a gelugon fiend trapped within.
The DM should populate this chamber with a variety of mysterious and dangerous things. Perhaps magical notes carves into sheets of ice that can only be read in certain light, other magical items, trapped items or boxes, etc…
Conclusions
There are a great number of possible conclusions and consequences for this adventure.
- Rez-Naci will want to slay Nebbukanezzar himself, however, he does not know the effect of killing the villain while beneath the bell. In addition, if the bell is free, he will feel an overwhelming urge to ring it and step beneath it and take control of the worm himself – if he does so – a great unknown prophecy of his people will be fulfilled and he will permanently become the worm, his body melting away. Ironically, fulfilling what Nebbukanezzar wanted, but in the rightful way. If this happens, the other warriors of the Arm of Faith will go into a religious fervor, trying to kill any and everyone.
- The party may or may not succeed in freeing Lothario from the wall of ice – but regardless he poses a tricky political problem the PCs may not know how to solve. He will be very resentful of any involvement on their part – esp. if they destroyed the letters and other effects they might have found in the ruined fortress.
- The possible threat of the hobgoblins will still have to be dealt with – as the leaders of the coming army will want to have any information the PCs have gathered about them – and they will be very upset if they discover the PCs worked with the hobgoblins and did not take a prisoner. Depending on how things develop with Rez-Naci, the PCs may even feel reluctant to reveal to much about them if they feel the hobgoblins pose no real threat as of yet (though if he becomes the worm those feelings are unlikely to last).
- The PCs are likely to have a long wait before the army arrives. The Sacred Hill is honey-combed with chambers from the ancient days – perhaps they will spend time exploring those and seeing what else there is to be found in this place. The adventure could have whole second part involving any kind of classic dungeon-delving elements the DM wants to incorporate. Perhaps the command words for the other ice walls of life-trapping can be found, releasing some of the other captives or horrors within those chambers.
- If the DM wants to explore a war theme or play out large battles, he can have the hobgoblins decide to face the coming army and the PCs may become involved as elite troops or scouts – especially if Rez-Naci has become the Frost Worm and is leading the troops in that form.
Some Final Notes
Rez-Naci (the blue dragon / frost worm) – Rez-Nazi is the result of magical experimentation upon blue dragon eggs fertilizing them with the essence of frost worm. The thing should have about 21 HD and is over 60’ long. Much like a rhemoraz, it has small vestigal wings on the front portion of its body that collapse cleanly against the body for burrowing, but are used to raise the heavy front-end of the beast when it rears up to attack. In addition to the Frost Worm’s usual breath weapon, it can also breath a stroke of lightning – thus its name (which can be translated as “Heat Lightning”; remember the detail of the hobgoblin word for “heat/cold”). The worm on its own is more intelligent than a typical frost worm, but not nearly as intelligent as a blue dragon (Int 9). It hates being summoned/possessed and if by some chance Nebbukanezzar is near it while it is not possessed it will attack him. It will not attack Rez-Naci under any circumstances.
The Bell of the Worm – Developed by the wizard who created the Rez-Naci worm, if simply rung it summons any worm-like magical beast within a 50 mile radius to it. This included frost worms, purple worms, rhemoraz and similar creatures. Once a creature comes within 100’ of the bell, whoever steps under it may possess the worm (similar to a magic jar spell). The worms remain in the area as long as the bell is rung and up to 5 minutes afterward. Thus the importance of the bell being out of reach of the worm, or else it would likely destroy everything around while you sought to get under and control it (or if more than one worm answered the call). Worms gain a Will save (DC 20) to resist the effect, but another attempt can be tried once per minute. While possessing the worm, the possessor also gains the ability to communicate telepathically with any sentient creature within 100 feet of the worm. If a possessor is killed while controlling the worm, his consciousness is permanently stuck in the worm. If the worm is killed the possessor is stunned for one round, but after that is fine.
Someone beneath the bell can relinquish control as a free action, but taking control is a full round action. While beneath the bell the possessor is in kind a daze and all listen checks are made at –10 and spot checks at –20 (it is possible to see, but the bell itself is translucent). This daze does allow for a coup de grace on the possessor – but if he survives a concentration check must be made to maintain possession. The only range limit for possession is that the worm (and possessor) must remain on the same plane. The possession lasts for up to 12 hours modified by the possessor’s charisma.
Pielorinho
Iron Fist of Pelor
Judgment, Nem vs. Rune:
Another case in which the contestants excelled in different areas.
Organization: I've left this category out for a few rounds because it hasn't been significant, but I'm bringing it back in, because both entries were remarkably organized. I say "remarkably," not "well." My remarks follow.
Rune's was organized in an unusual fashion, almost a lyrical fashion, with the two concurrent perspectives on the adventure, a set of paragraphs for each ingredient, plus a final set for the denouement. Very readable, very easy to follow; although it wouldn't be of especial assistance to the DM running the adventure, it made for a cool entry format.
Nem, on the other hand, desperately needs an editor. His second sentence -
Characters: Fortunately for Nem, he makes a comeback here. We've got the solitary, mercenary dwarf; the canny hobgoblin barbarian; the evil hobgoblin heretic; the bitter relapsed manslut; and the bizarre frost-wyrm as characters. None of them were especially memorable, no Stan the Fans in the bunch, but they were all plausible, and all had the potential for good roleplay. Rune's characters - excuse me, character - fell flat in comparison. I'm not sure whether we're talking Jim Jones or Barry White, a French Situationist or a pop star. In my mind, I've settled on playing him like my childhood companion Brian Dingledine, all sneers and erudition and punk attitude and sex appeal and manipulation, but I could really use some better characterization - and more characters.
Scenes: Both, of course, turn the spiral staircase and the frost worm into cool scenes. Nem has got more cool scenes, though: from watching the hobgoblins stack corpses, to running across the ice field, to fighting up the hillside, to dealing with the mad sorcerer inside the hill, and even to confronting a dwarf inside his modest cabin. Rune's scenes were pretty much what was suggested immediately by the ingredients, and not much more (the fight vs. the frost wyrm with the army's participation, however, was pretty cool).
Mood: Rune's was definitely moody, almost allegorical in tone. It suffered, unfortunately, from the absence of sympathetic characters: I'm afraid a lot of players would throw up their hands in disgust and leave the two sides to wallow in their own pettiness. The allegorical tone that worked so well in Rune's last entry fell flat in this one. Nem's has a more standard mood on its surface, but the difficult questions of loyalty (is the queen betraying the king? Is Lothario betraying the queen? Is the hobgoblin betraying his people? Is cooperating with the hobgoblin betraying the PCs' people? Will the hobgoblin betray them?) add a whole bunch of moral quandary goodness. I approve.
I picked this set of ingredients to be difficult. Specifically, mountain cabin conflicts with spiral staircase, and heat lightning conflicts with frost wyrm. The contestants dealt with these contradictions in various ways.
Spiral Staircase: Both entries had fights on spiral staircases, of course, with different mechanics for resolving falls. Nem's staircase was spiral only technically - nobody would normally call a stairway wending around a hill a spiral staircase. Though further from the ingredient, however, it was more plausible to me: Rune's staircase built of frost wyrm bones raises the question of why his heretic thought frostwyrms were difficult to kill. He'd killed enough to make this stairway, but figured one frostwyrm would annihilate an army? It seemed a poor choice of construction material for the lothario for an ambiguous political statement.
Mountain Cabin: Rune resolved the conflict between cabin and staircase by having the latter be a secret escape from the former. It works pretty well, assuming PCs get to this scene; I imagine the lothario sort of like a supervillain or a Batman at this point, leading the PCs to his Batcave. Nem resolved the contradiction by having them as completely separate scenes in his 11-page opus. Because slightly more action happens in Nem's cabin (Rune's is little more than a foyer for the batcave beneath, where the real fun begins), Nem's use is stronger.
Frost Wyrm: I think Rune is using his worm to symbolize chaos, the id, base lust, that sort of thing. Yes? Thus the city of chastity is built on killing the id, and the manslut leads the chaste back to the id, and so forth. And that works pretty well, I think, although Wulf is probably tearing his hair out on reading this. The lothario's use of frost-wyrm corpse in his house doesn't quite work for me: if the chaste kill the worm to symbolize the triumph of order, why does the slut kill the worm? Nem's Rez-Naci (misspelled once, amusingly, as Rez-Nazi - I picture a dour man with long braids shouting, "No fry bread for you!") as a mythical beast-god is a cool creation
Heat Lightning: Okay, you both pretty much lamed out on this one, the second of the contradictions in ingredients. Rune's heat lightning as a symbol of the god's pleasure or displeasure felt really tacked on - was this a natural or a supernatural phenomenon? No fair not to tell the DM, as the DM is going to be the one answering the druid player's questions or the questions of the cleric who casts divination. Still and all, it was better than Nem's: heat lightning used twice as someone's name is even more annoying than using it once as someone's name, especially when we're talking Icy-Hot Lightning. Whereas Rune's actual heat lightning wasn't well integrated into his adventure, though, at least Nem's absurd interpretation of the ingredient was an integral part of the story. Oy. I wash my hands of this mess.
Lothario: I wondered whether Nem would've renamed his characters if he'd had more time (Ursula, the queen from Atuan? Was that just pandering to another Le Guin fan? And Prince Lothario?) At first, I was expecting to ding him for this ingredient: a lothario who quits sleeping around before the adventure begins is a poor ingredient use. But then we find the secret letters, and find out that old habits die hard. Cool! As I mentioned before, Rune's allegorical lothario didn't feel fully fleshed out to me; while he did fit the ingredient's criterion, I didn't see him as a person.
Heresy: Both of you used this ingredient well, and indeed it was central to Rune's adventure. I was left wondering in Nem's adventure what the hobgoblin Icy-Hot was planning on doing about the PCs once they killed off his rival; it becomes clear at the end that Icy-Hot is no heretic himself, and is happy betraying the PCs by killing them, so that difficulty is resolved.
Overall, Rune had a neatly packaged little fairy-tale of an adventure, with a few big flaws - namely, that I can't imagine most PCs getting drawn into a power struggle between such flagrant jerks as the city and the lothario. His structure was neat, but the adventure itself wasn't up to his previous standard. Nem's adventure was sloppy as hell, difficult to read in places and with one silly ingredient usage - but past those problems, it was a great, multilayered adventure with all kinds of possibilities and a few very memorable scenes.
Round goes to Nem. Congratulations!
Daniel
Another case in which the contestants excelled in different areas.
Organization: I've left this category out for a few rounds because it hasn't been significant, but I'm bringing it back in, because both entries were remarkably organized. I say "remarkably," not "well." My remarks follow.
Rune's was organized in an unusual fashion, almost a lyrical fashion, with the two concurrent perspectives on the adventure, a set of paragraphs for each ingredient, plus a final set for the denouement. Very readable, very easy to follow; although it wouldn't be of especial assistance to the DM running the adventure, it made for a cool entry format.
Nem, on the other hand, desperately needs an editor. His second sentence -
- nearly gave me a migraine. I feared I was going to throw up my hands halfway through the entry and give up on reading it. Were I tutoring Nem, I'd forbid him to use hyphens, the word "however," and nested parentheses (my god, nested parentheses?) until he was free of their addiction. This entry was the sloppiest-organized of any entry yet, and was positively painful to read for that reason.
Characters: Fortunately for Nem, he makes a comeback here. We've got the solitary, mercenary dwarf; the canny hobgoblin barbarian; the evil hobgoblin heretic; the bitter relapsed manslut; and the bizarre frost-wyrm as characters. None of them were especially memorable, no Stan the Fans in the bunch, but they were all plausible, and all had the potential for good roleplay. Rune's characters - excuse me, character - fell flat in comparison. I'm not sure whether we're talking Jim Jones or Barry White, a French Situationist or a pop star. In my mind, I've settled on playing him like my childhood companion Brian Dingledine, all sneers and erudition and punk attitude and sex appeal and manipulation, but I could really use some better characterization - and more characters.
Scenes: Both, of course, turn the spiral staircase and the frost worm into cool scenes. Nem has got more cool scenes, though: from watching the hobgoblins stack corpses, to running across the ice field, to fighting up the hillside, to dealing with the mad sorcerer inside the hill, and even to confronting a dwarf inside his modest cabin. Rune's scenes were pretty much what was suggested immediately by the ingredients, and not much more (the fight vs. the frost wyrm with the army's participation, however, was pretty cool).
Mood: Rune's was definitely moody, almost allegorical in tone. It suffered, unfortunately, from the absence of sympathetic characters: I'm afraid a lot of players would throw up their hands in disgust and leave the two sides to wallow in their own pettiness. The allegorical tone that worked so well in Rune's last entry fell flat in this one. Nem's has a more standard mood on its surface, but the difficult questions of loyalty (is the queen betraying the king? Is Lothario betraying the queen? Is the hobgoblin betraying his people? Is cooperating with the hobgoblin betraying the PCs' people? Will the hobgoblin betray them?) add a whole bunch of moral quandary goodness. I approve.
I picked this set of ingredients to be difficult. Specifically, mountain cabin conflicts with spiral staircase, and heat lightning conflicts with frost wyrm. The contestants dealt with these contradictions in various ways.
Spiral Staircase: Both entries had fights on spiral staircases, of course, with different mechanics for resolving falls. Nem's staircase was spiral only technically - nobody would normally call a stairway wending around a hill a spiral staircase. Though further from the ingredient, however, it was more plausible to me: Rune's staircase built of frost wyrm bones raises the question of why his heretic thought frostwyrms were difficult to kill. He'd killed enough to make this stairway, but figured one frostwyrm would annihilate an army? It seemed a poor choice of construction material for the lothario for an ambiguous political statement.
Mountain Cabin: Rune resolved the conflict between cabin and staircase by having the latter be a secret escape from the former. It works pretty well, assuming PCs get to this scene; I imagine the lothario sort of like a supervillain or a Batman at this point, leading the PCs to his Batcave. Nem resolved the contradiction by having them as completely separate scenes in his 11-page opus. Because slightly more action happens in Nem's cabin (Rune's is little more than a foyer for the batcave beneath, where the real fun begins), Nem's use is stronger.
Frost Wyrm: I think Rune is using his worm to symbolize chaos, the id, base lust, that sort of thing. Yes? Thus the city of chastity is built on killing the id, and the manslut leads the chaste back to the id, and so forth. And that works pretty well, I think, although Wulf is probably tearing his hair out on reading this. The lothario's use of frost-wyrm corpse in his house doesn't quite work for me: if the chaste kill the worm to symbolize the triumph of order, why does the slut kill the worm? Nem's Rez-Naci (misspelled once, amusingly, as Rez-Nazi - I picture a dour man with long braids shouting, "No fry bread for you!") as a mythical beast-god is a cool creation
Heat Lightning: Okay, you both pretty much lamed out on this one, the second of the contradictions in ingredients. Rune's heat lightning as a symbol of the god's pleasure or displeasure felt really tacked on - was this a natural or a supernatural phenomenon? No fair not to tell the DM, as the DM is going to be the one answering the druid player's questions or the questions of the cleric who casts divination. Still and all, it was better than Nem's: heat lightning used twice as someone's name is even more annoying than using it once as someone's name, especially when we're talking Icy-Hot Lightning. Whereas Rune's actual heat lightning wasn't well integrated into his adventure, though, at least Nem's absurd interpretation of the ingredient was an integral part of the story. Oy. I wash my hands of this mess.
Lothario: I wondered whether Nem would've renamed his characters if he'd had more time (Ursula, the queen from Atuan? Was that just pandering to another Le Guin fan? And Prince Lothario?) At first, I was expecting to ding him for this ingredient: a lothario who quits sleeping around before the adventure begins is a poor ingredient use. But then we find the secret letters, and find out that old habits die hard. Cool! As I mentioned before, Rune's allegorical lothario didn't feel fully fleshed out to me; while he did fit the ingredient's criterion, I didn't see him as a person.
Heresy: Both of you used this ingredient well, and indeed it was central to Rune's adventure. I was left wondering in Nem's adventure what the hobgoblin Icy-Hot was planning on doing about the PCs once they killed off his rival; it becomes clear at the end that Icy-Hot is no heretic himself, and is happy betraying the PCs by killing them, so that difficulty is resolved.
Overall, Rune had a neatly packaged little fairy-tale of an adventure, with a few big flaws - namely, that I can't imagine most PCs getting drawn into a power struggle between such flagrant jerks as the city and the lothario. His structure was neat, but the adventure itself wasn't up to his previous standard. Nem's adventure was sloppy as hell, difficult to read in places and with one silly ingredient usage - but past those problems, it was a great, multilayered adventure with all kinds of possibilities and a few very memorable scenes.
Round goes to Nem. Congratulations!
Daniel
Last edited:
el-remmen
Moderator Emeritus
MerakSpielman said:
Sweetheart, if I thought I could make a living writing this stuff this job would be history.
But anyway,
I wrote most of it last night and polished it up today at work and added some stuff to make it flow better and tweak how the ingredients were fit together.
Wulf Ratbane
Adventurer
Somebody let me know if nemm's entry was any good. I'm not reading that damn thing till they release the Cliff's Notes version.
Wulf
Wulf
Pielorinho
Iron Fist of Pelor
NEM'S ENTRY IN BRIEF:
A guy screws around with the queen and is exiled for it. Some hoboblins worship a worm. They kill the guy's friends, capture the guy, and stick him in a mirror. Nobody is happy with this outcome. Plus, hot means cold.
Daniel
A guy screws around with the queen and is exiled for it. Some hoboblins worship a worm. They kill the guy's friends, capture the guy, and stick him in a mirror. Nobody is happy with this outcome. Plus, hot means cold.
Daniel
el-remmen
Moderator Emeritus
Just for the record - I didn't ask Pielorinho to read the version I sent him - but only to use it if I did not get to post the proper version in time if events conspired to not allow me to get it up in time. 
Also, most of my entries are usually 5 to 9 pages long - so this is not that much longer.
Also, most of my entries are usually 5 to 9 pages long - so this is not that much longer.
