D&D 5E Gracklstugh

[mgshamster]

This thread helps a lot. My players are definitely not the type to go explore and help just for the XP. They have their own missions and plan to stick to it unless given a reason otherwise.

I was planning on luring them into the quest lines with promises of assistance avoiding or distracting the drow or promises of escaping the underdark (which may or may not be true).

I'm also planning on changing the culture of gracklstugh to one where a person's status is determined by how many other people they can inconvenience. So the highest ranking people will have tons of servants whose sole job is to order the servants below them to do the job they were ordered to do - and so on.

So the lowest-mid ranking individuals may be more prone to help the PCs with promises of helping them escape this nightmare of a city or even going up ranks themselves through political intrigue. Higher ranking individuals may "help" the PCs by thinking they're actually causing the PCs more trouble for their own gain.

And of course, there's the slave trade here.

Also, I'm having the Dueggar be completey honest - brutally so. And part of their "honesty" is convincing themselves that they're better than the person they are talking to by belittling them.

As I mentioned, my players are more likely to follow their own endevours rather than hep random evil bastards like most of the underdark. One of the PCs is in the underdark because he's investigating missing people from his homeland, and evidence suggests they've been taken as spaces to the underdark. He's the only PC that didn't start this campaign as a slave, because the player joined the campaign after the other PCs already escaped. So this player may very likely ignore any quest line that doesn't involve saving slaves. So I'm definitely tying in the rescue of slaves from the surface into the quests in Gracklstugh.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Well, my group made it to Gracklstugh this past session. It went well, but it's definitely a very tricky extra-sandbox-y section of the module.

I love the idea of the duergar as brutally honest. It fits well with their toil and work ethic.

I added a couple of things to the area - the Darklake Brewery had trouble with spoiled batches of their stout (courtesy of a vengeful specter), plus the chase with Droki went through a factory, complete with mechanized workers and conveyor belts.

I just through a bunch of hooks out there for them to interact with and let the PCs' action shape the adventure.

One thing I did find is that Grackle-lung is pretty vicious, especially for the spellcasters. The PCs immediately went looking for a cure for it. It was a small group this session, so I let them find something the reduces the symptoms.

 

[Motorskills]

My new player is playing a Halfling Barbarian (emotional artist-wanderer, it's quite a cool trope actually. )

She is starting as a tavern slave-employee in the Foreigners' Tavern. Captured a year ago, she tried to escape and was only saved from execution because the tavern owner found her useful. Her bonus language is Undercommon, so she acts as a translator in the tavern.

The Stone Guard captain has offered the halfling her freedom if she can capture Droki. But she has failed twice already, thus will trade the party assistance in the city, and a friendly contact in Blingdenstone in exchange for help capturing Droki, and escort to Blingdenstone.

I'm hoping it will work really well.


To convey the atmosphere of Gracklstugh, I'm describing it as being like the old East Germany. Cold personalities, everyone is very functional and all business (except the ones that aren't!).

The Stasi are everywhere, and most folks are fearful. everyone is always looking over their shoulders. Foreigners are viewed with suspicion, and mostly need to keep to their own areas.

My new player is a generation younger than me, so this comparator resonates less well with her!

I've told her to watch The Lives of Others before the session if she can.

[video=youtube;n3_iLOp6IhM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3_iLOp6IhM[/video]



For the smog, I'm referencing the problems that Beijing is currently having.

[video=youtube;q4DtOhe2LfQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4DtOhe2LfQ[/video]



For the Derro areas, I'm not sure it quite works, but I'm thinking civil war Liberia. Terrible state of affairs, horrible crimes, complete madness and cruelty.

I'm most familiar with Operation Barras, the SAS hostage rescue raid on the West Side Boys, and the video intro gives some good image and atmospherics about the people, culture, clothing etc.

[video=youtube;cvCvrEk5BLs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvCvrEk5BLs[/video]

 

[robus]

Probably a good place for me to relink my Gracklstugh encounter map

It tries to make some sense of the chaos

 

[Goober4473]

My plan for the city was to have the guard initially attempt to arrest them, probably after they deal with the two-headed giant, intending to ship them back to the drow, but have the Keepers of the Flame show up and insist the party hear their offer instead, whereupon the dragon can make a counteroffer. In either case, the reward would not only be freedom, but safe passage out of the city where the drow aren't watching. If they refuse, I wouldn't have them actually arrested, but neither would they get any help.

 

[CapnZapp]

My players caught on to the thieves guild connection from the alchemy lab in the whorlstone tunnels, and seemed much more interested in pursuing the rest of the Grey Ghosts organisation than finishing the Whorlstone "dungeon".

Of course, there is no adventure material to support this. I could have created a brand new adventure from scratch, but didn't want to shift away the focus from the material in the book.

What I did was to prepare an alternative adventure vignette (instead of the second half of Whorlstone) that had the Grim Herald of Laduguer ask them to infiltrate the Council of Savants palace for signs of demonic corruption.

(Since they accidentally let slip to the dragon that the Gray Ghosts were rumored to have the Red Dragon egg, I had Themberchaud torch their hideout, neatly bypassing that stage of the "investigation", so I could go directly to the Council of Savants)

With them they had Hemeth the Duergar, which I made into a psionic agent of Deep Duerra, to explain how they could bypass the magical wards of the palace.

Once inside the heavily Star Wars inspired palace*, they fought Uskvil and the sisters Zubriska and Aliinka of the council and their summoned demons. Hemeth revealed himself to be a rabid anti-derro fanatic, and his plan was that once the council was attacked, the derro slums would rebel, finally giving the Duergar the excuse they needed to assault the slums and return the derro to slave status. (All of course induced by demonic madness, though the adventurers have only caught onto half of it yet)

*) opulent luxury with drug-addled councilmen and servants everywhere (including a cantina-like band) contrasting with freaky insane derro mutants and "derro fetal savants" (google it!) made for a good Jabba's Palace vibe

The heroes succeeded in their mission but was rewarded with exile. Now the Gracklestugh path to the surface is closed to them (which was my plan all along, since they ought to experience at least one of the Neverlight Grove or Blingdenstone chapters before managing their escape)

 

[Celtavian]

Neverlight Grove is disgusting. I can't wait to describe that sickening place.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Oh yeah, me too. Things get weird with Sloobludop, than vaguely normal with Gracklstugh, and then go completely bizarre and alien in Neverlight Grove.

So in my latest installment, the group did a bit of a bone-headed thing, and totally forgot the terms of their deal with Themberchaud to report to him directly, instead spilling it all to Gartokkar. Themberchaud was not happy at all. So they’re heading back into the Whorlstone Tunnels to try to regain his favor.

Neverlight Grove is disgusting. I can't wait to describe that sickening place.

 

[Motorskills]

I realized (somewhat belatedly) that Medium-sized PCs shouldn't be able to follow Droki in Whorlstone at all after he eats Pygmywort.

Droki shrinks from Small to Tiny, which must be required for him to be able to squeeze through the various cracks, else he wouldn't bother. A Medium-sized PC will only shrink to Small.

So Medium-sized PCs must use other means to track him. Halfling and Gnome PCs can (nominally) chase him the whole way.

 

[CapnZapp]

I realized (somewhat belatedly) that Medium-sized PCs shouldn't be able to follow Droki in Whorlstone at all after he eats Pygmywort.

Droki shrinks from Small to Tiny, which must be required for him to be able to squeeze through the various cracks, else he wouldn't bother. A Medium-sized PC will only shrink to Small.

So Medium-sized PCs must use other means to track him. Halfling and Gnome PCs can (nominally) chase him the whole way.

The adventure is quite clear on this.

Not that medium PC can't follow, but that they too must eat Pygmywort in order to be able to follow Droki.

There are plenty of the fungus scattered all around the Whorlstone Tunnels.

As to why Droki eats the stuff when he would be able to squeeze through anyway - perhaps he doesn't want to wrinkle his poncy hat?

Don't conclude the tunnels are impassable to small creatures; that's directly counter to the adventure "idea" here.