Gorgoldand's Gauntlet Expanded

[Ry]

Once all 4 items have been placed, the door slides downwards, allowing access to the room with the skeletal statues.

 

[Ry]

With a pretty strong use of tactics, the Jermlaine have 2 entrances in the ceiling with the rust monster. They pelt the PCs with stones while the PCs fight the rust monster.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Cool stuff.

Time for me to print out that adventure.

 

[Ry]

A gold ring lies in the Merrow's cave. Sharp-eyed PCs will see it glitter as they pass the first time. Of course, any wedding ring will do.

This ring could actually be used as a hook, since it's a wedding ring. One option is that it is the wedding ring of a local earl - Camis Polrost - who is another holder of a Hoardmaster. He lost the ring, and his ring finger, to the Merrow in his early adventuring career before he "settled down." The baron could express interest in comparing his own blade with the PCs' Hoardmaster after this adventure, and he believes (correctly) that the Hoardmasters tend to fall into good hands, so he could act as a patron for the PCs in their early adventures. Hobgoblin attacks in the area have been worsening, and so he could point them in the direction of the Jibigi plotline as well.

 

[Ry]

Anyone have an idea for the optional math puzzle that leads from the minesweeper puzzle to the Spriggan Mirror?

 

[Ry]

I'm using Pathfinder Goblins instead of Jermlaine proper because I'm not a big fan of the pictures in the MMII, but this tribe is size Tiny and uses the Jermlaine stats (or Hobgoblin stats if they figure out the mirror). These Smallknife goblins are looking for the mirror because 1) they hate gnomes and 2) they're compensating for something.

If the players don't put a stop to the goblins, they'll encounter a bunch of Medium-sized goblins trying to step through the minesweeper puzzle on the way out.

I also decided to put the mirror on the WEST side of the minesweeper puzzle - the goblins gave up on the puzzle and are tunnelling towards the room from the other side.

 

[Ry]

The door leading to the Spriggan Mirror is going to use the Jewel Pyramid puzzle from the Book of Challenges.

 

[Ry]

I ran Gorgoldand's Gauntlet at the local meetup, with changes here (I simplified the Spriggan Mirror door compared to the book of challenges version).

It went over like a house on fire!

The Spriggan mirror and Pathfinder goblins were also a hit, and the 4-riddle door wrapped the whole thing together. Players ended up negotiating with the goblins ("We fight the ogre, you guys shoot it with blowdarts, and you can eat it and we just get to see the next stuff") after it became clear the goblins were capable of holding the fort. They also took a goblin prisoner in the trade, he was fun to play (he kept yelling the "change" word in front of the mirror, then the others were yelling it too to counter him, it got silly and confusing, and then they heard the other goblins tunnelling towards so they broke the mirror).

For the minesweeper puzzle, I used notes on the scale (do=1, re=2, mi=3) instead of numbers of chimes, and they ALMOST got it but ended up bruce forcing it. Chatting about it after, the players thought the chimes were a better idea because then they'd be looking at numbers and not as much trying to create patterns from the music.

Although there were only 3 PCs, this is the first time I've run it and not had a chance to shave anyone bald. Excellent module

 

[Ry]

Here's pictures of the stuff I used.

Puzzle handouts and pregenerated characters:

 

[Ry]

Map pages: