Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dave Turner" data-source="post: 1170421" data-attributes="member: 12329">Here's some responses to the judging.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />First, the most obvious one about the Broken Teeth.  This omission was a result of my general harriedness towards the end.  It was the one ingredient still unresolved as I neared the end and I had resigned myself to including it in a cheesy way (it was to be the name of Bereth's animal-companion-turned-shadow-mastiff).  In the final rush, however, I forgot to splice it in.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f641.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":(" title="Frown    :("  data-smilie="3"data-shortname=":(" />It's interesting that you thought that the unicorn would have been stronger if he was somehow betraying the forest.  That was actually something I had hoped would come through with the unicorn's refusal to do what had to be done.  It was more of an "ongoing" betrayal than a completed one in the past.  This aspect didn't get the attention I would have liked.  Also, the unicorn was meant to betray the PCs in the fight with the shadow treant.  I was trying to include several instances of betrayal in the scenario rather than one.I thought it was funny that you considered my funeral an afterthought.  I had hoped to avoid the idea of a funeral as a stage for a battle or event (as nemmerle used it) and try for something a bit different.  I guess my intention didn't come across as clearly as I would have liked.  Trying to innovate with the funeral was where most of my brainstorming time went, actually.   <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f631.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":eek:" title="Eek!    :eek:"  data-smilie="9"data-shortname=":eek:" /> For what it's worth, here's a reworked version of the "highlights" I included at the end of my entry.  If I had had another fifteen minutes (which is how long it took me to go back and rework the original "hightlights"), this is closer to what I would have wanted to present.  I include them in the hope that anyone who might want to use some of the ideas in my scenario gets a better version of them.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />The highlights of the adventure are:- Making contact with Stratus: the PCs make contact with the remaining pure fey, who urge the PCs to seek out Nyrith on their behalf.  Nyrith has not been seen by any of the pure fey since the corruption began.  They fear he is dead or conducting some kind of losing campaign against the forces of shadow.  In fact, Nyrith is afraid that he will come into contact with a corrupted creature and, in his weakened state, be killed.- PCs visit the Deep Pool and contact Nyrith.  He actually speaks with the PCs, since he recognizes them as strangers to the forest and doesn't fear them in the same way.  If the PCs explain why they are there, Nyrith's paranoia gets the better of him.  He seemingly welcomes the help of the PCs and asks them to help him slay a very nasty shadow treant that he has recently become aware of.  Nyrith leads them through the forest to the treant and during a crucial moment in the battle, he teleports away from the PCs, hoping they'll be killed and preventing them from reporting back to the pure fey.- Stratus hears of Nyrith's betrayal and resolves to follow his plan of attempting to transform Argen into the new Protector.  He first wants to test the mettle of the PCs (since the story of the treant battle might have been a lie).  He sends the PCs against a nest of shadow giant spiders to see if they are strong enough to fight their way to the Heart.- The PCs must devise a way to get Nyrith into the Heart chamber against his will.  They might trick him, capture him, polymorph him, or simply drag him in.  Stratus, Argen, and the last few remaining pure fey accompany the PCs as they fight their way into the Heart Chamber.- Due to the power of the Protector and the link to the Heart, the fey are unable to actually harm Nyrith, since that would be like harming themselves through the connection of the Heart.  After Bereth and his minions are defeated, the PCs must fight Nyrith, who is delusional and thinks they're in league with Bereth.  It falls to the PCs to actually kill the unicorn so that the funeral can take place.- The funeral rite is somewhat successful and Argen assumes the mantle of Protector.  She retains her centaur form, but becomes pure white with a unicorn's horn jutting from her human forehead.  She uses the pure Heart-power to reverse the shadow corruption and Whispering Deep returns to normal.Congratulations again, Nemmerle.  Thanks for your criticism, Pielorinho!  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

Verification