D&D 5E Frigga's Lament

[RealAlHazred]

Originally posted by OrwellianHaggis:

My characters would establish a camp nearby, hire people from the local church to petition the gods for information/intervention, and hire people to excavate Frigga' s tear. This is assuming we don't know about the remorhaz beforehand. Then, when all hell (and the yeti) brooke loose, we'd deal with it... somehow.

Originally posted by iserith:

OrwellianHaggis wrote:My characters would establish a camp nearby, hire people from the local church to petition the gods for information/intervention, and hire people to excavate Frigga' s tear. This is assuming we don't know about the remorhaz beforehand. Then, when all hell (and the yeti) brooke loose, we'd deal with it... somehow.

 
Having to protect the people you've hired to come along would be an additional fun challenge!
 
Excavating Greta and Flame Tongue is probably a finesse job that draws the remorhazes. When they fight near the tear, their internal heat can melt away the ice within 3 to 4 rounds and frees the yeti. So if you can down the remorhaz before then or draw them away from the tear to do battle, there's a decent chance you can get Greta free without releasing Jotnar (51% with one person chipping away and one helping, 58% with three people and a group check, 76% with four people and a group check - and that's assuming a +0 bonus average). Getting the sword without Jotnar getting free is harder (10%, 22% and 35% respectively as above). This is all assuming that the players need to make a check at all... maybe they come up with a better solution to get Greta and the sword than applying fire or chisel.
 
Another complication comes if the remorhazes free the yeti and they start attacking each other. If the remorhazes bite the yeti or the yeti hits them with a melee attack, it takes fire damage and howls. Six howls and Grimfjord is wiped away!

 

[RealAlHazred]

Originally posted by Phobos:

iserith wrote: 

Phobos wrote:What prevents PCs from using magic fire to tunnel direct to Greta from her side, avoiding the Bumble, and perhaps the remorhazes, entirely?
 

 
"Because of its particular structure and nature, any heat (e.g. fire damage) applied to it melts it evenly. "

 
OK, all said then, I think its a good story, but I'm inclined to change this.  I understand it exists to prevent exactly what I'm describing, but if chipping the ice is a process that can go awry, then melting should fall into the same category, and not mysteriously melt ice that is potentially over 25' away.
 
The "magical" structure is ancient, and the magic is slowly fading and over time,  due to the delicate nature of the ice, the prison itself may collapse. Any attempt to break the ice, or melt it, is a risk... and then throw in your skill checks and mods.  First any AOE fire is a serious risk, unless they use slow, controlled, pinpoint fire, the skill check should be risky.
 
That said, and only my personal opinion, nice job.

 

[RealAlHazred]

Originally posted by iserith:

Phobos wrote:OK, all said then, I think its a good story, but I'm inclined to change this.  I understand it exists to prevent exactly what I'm describing, but if chipping the ice is a process that can go awry, then melting should fall into the same category, and not mysteriously melt ice that is potentially over 25' away. 
The "magical" structure is ancient, and the magic is slowly fading and over time,  due to the delicate nature of the ice, the prison itself may collapse. Any attempt to break the ice, or melt it, is a risk... and then throw in your skill checks and mods.  First any AOE fire is a serious risk, unless they use slow, controlled, pinpoint fire, the skill check should be risky.
 
That said, and only my personal opinion, nice job.

 
Thanks for the feedback. It's less a way to prevent the tactic from working and more to set up the threat of the remorhazes' fire and the escalating risk of having them inadvertently release Jotnar during the fight unless the PCs prevent it. I think folding melting and chiseling into the same basic check is fine. I'd just want a way to create a countdown for the remorhazes and the sphere's hit points plus their auto fire damage was a good way to do it. I'm open to other ideas though. Like I can start the base DC of freeing the proxy/sword lower and then raise it incrementally each time the remorhazes apply fire damage to the sphere.

 

[RealAlHazred]

Originally posted by bawylie:

Comic Book Guy Voice: "Are we expected to believe that the body heat of mere Remorhaz is sufficient to melt the tears of a goddess while the flame tongue itself cannot? Fuh fuh fuh."

 

[RealAlHazred]

Originally posted by raleel:

Destroy water might allow for targeted removal. It's not a lot (1.3 cubic feet per level 1 casting, there are a lot of cubic feet in a 30' sphere) but seems like it might be a good way to tunnel into the sword. silence could stop the yelling/Avalanche issue. I am assuming that the ice prevents line of effect and the like, due to its magical nature at least, so no teleporting out, or encapsulating in resilient spheres and such. Otherwise doing a heat metal on the sword seems like a good option to help remove it as well. Seems kinda weird, but I think I would allow cold effects to heal the sphere, better controlling the fight. 
 
Edit: moving it is going to be rough. 100k pounds of water, roughly. A sorcerer casting maximized spells might be able to accurately control the damage output and pull enough to melt it in one shot.

Originally posted by raleel:

Side note, I am going to steal this for my Fate of the Norns game - a heavily norse fantasy rpg.  Just the sort of thing we'd see in there. 

Originally posted by iserith:

raleel wroteestroy water might allow for targeted removal. It's not a lot (1.3 cubic feet per level 1 casting, there are a lot of cubic feet in a 30' sphere) but seems like it might be a good way to tunnel into the sword.

 
Yeah, cast at higher levels multiple times, you could probably tunnel to the sword. Good idea!
 

raleel wrote:silence could stop the yelling/Avalanche issue.

 
Yep.
 

raleel wrote:I am assuming that the ice prevents line of effect and the like, due to its magical nature at least, so no teleporting out, or encapsulating in resilient spheres and such.

 
The level of the scenario might be prohibitive as well. At 5th level, the PCs don't have a ton of teleport, for example.
 

raleel wrote:Otherwise doing a heat metal on the sword seems like a good option to help remove it as well.

 
Another good idea. If we go with it meaning that 2d8 fire damage is inflicted upon the sphere each round for 10 rounds, that could bring the whole sphere down... but of course, Jotnar would come out first. I could see using the spell in conjunction with other methods of tunneling to grant advantage on the check for sure.
 

raleel wrote: Seems kinda weird, but I think I would allow cold effects to heal the sphere, better controlling the fight.

 
I'd totally be open to that if a player suggested it during play.
 

raleel wrote:Side note, I am going to steal this for my Fate of the Norns game - a heavily norse fantasy rpg.  Just the sort of thing we'd see in there. 

 
Cool, if you do end up playing it through, let me know how your players tackled the challenge!


Originally posted by raleel:

Likely quite a bit different. The availability of fire damage is much less as a whole. Association with gods and Jotnar is much stronger though, so maybe. 

 

[RealAlHazred]

Originally posted by iserith:

At the request of another poster, here are maps with tokens and title removed, one with hexes, one without.
 

 

[RealAlHazred]

Originally posted by Akeisha:

iserith wrote:At the request of another poster, here are maps with tokens and title removed, one with hexes, one without.

 
Thanks for posting those!  I am definitely saving those back for possible use in a "Frostburn-inspired" campaign setting some time this upcoming year...

Originally posted by raleel:

Thanks! As the other poster, I greatly appreciate it. 

Originally posted by iserith:

You're welcome! If you guys and gals do use the scenario, please let me know how it went!

 

[RealAlHazred]

Originally posted by Orethalion:

iserith wrote:You're welcome! If you guys and gals do use the scenario, please let me know how it went!

 
If you cast heat metal on the sword, will it melt the ice ball evenly starting from the inside or the outside?