This is very well-written. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for that, very much appreciated.
Here's the next bit...
KOTS Part 17: Into the Shadow.
[sblock=Party Line Up]
The Hard Core Adventurers Level 3
[/sblock]
Jimmy slides to a stop, ahead of him a gaggle of soldiers- each bearing the markings of the ancient empire of Nerath, the halfling sees this but for some reason does not consider it odd. The soldiers have blood on their arms and armour, their faces creased and reddened by anger, beyond anger- fury, rage.
Jimmy looks down at the wooden sword in his hand, and then up at blades of the furious killers approaching- he turns tale and runs.
Behind him the raging swordsmen, his father’s men…
Jimmy almost comes to a halt.
The sound of his pursuers getting closer brings him back to… reality?
He shakes his head, a raging soldier rushes around the corner behind him, and he’s off again.
He speeds up, flashes past an intersection of passages, thumps hard in to a heavy-set reinforced wooden door, he fumbles with the handle and then dashes in to the chamber beyond- his father’s office… he turns the large ornate key in the lock- a satisfying click.
Jimmy stops again, what’s happening to him, he looks up- at his father, Sir Keegan.
The thickset commander of the keep looks down at him, smiles- kindly, and then suddenly hears the screams of the warriors beyond the door.
The door suddenly shakes and shudders, as if massive force is being applied.
“What is it?” Sir Keegan is on his feet, his chair falling backwards as he rises, the knight draws his sword in the same motion.
“What is it Stephan? Who’s out there?” Sir Keegan is desperate, his eyes plead for an answer.
CRACK
A section of the door smashes, the blade of an axe appears for a second and then is wrenched back.
CRUNCH
The axe comes again.
Jimmy stands statue. He drops the wooden sword.
“The window, quickly!”
Sir Keegan is quickly over to Jimmy, hoisting the halfling in to the air, and to a leaded window high on one wall- the only possible exit, save the door through which he entered.
“Quickly!” Sir Keegan shoves him higher.
Jimmy fumbles with the catch on the window, gets it open and begins to hoist himself up and out. The halfling stops, looks back, at his father… Jimmy shakes his head furiously, trying to clear the… Sir Keegan is talking.
“Raise the alarm, find Kalarel- tell him we’re under attack, tell him to come to me here… Find your mother, your sisters- make sure they’re safe.”
Jimmy finds himself nodding, and then with one final shove he’s up and out of the window.
In to the great courtyard, which now closely resembles hell- fire silhouettes the vista, the north tower is a furious torch thrusting up in to the heavens, shrouded at its apex by roiling black smoke. Grey-black lumps litter the floor at the base of the tower, they’re… Jimmy squints- burnt dead bodies.
There are lots of bodies, the courtyard it seems has played host to a great battle- soldiers, like those that chased Jimmy, their broken bloody bodies scattered about- circled by glistening slicks of blood, discarded weapons, and here and there severed limbs.
Jimmy heaves.
His senses spin and reel.
So much blood and destruction.
He staggers, suddenly he feels as light as a feather.
He takes a knee- breathes hard.
Thirty seconds pass.
Jimmy looks up just in time to see the door on the bottom of the burning northern tower open.
[sblock=Info]
Well, what’s going on here?
The deal is I decided, having played KOTS many times, to change things up a little- the entire series of WOTC adventures are lacking somewhat in narrative, they don’t connect that well- particularly the H series. For this reason I decided to add in a narrative section in this first adventure, an early indication of a bigger picture, as yet unseen.
In this encounter the PCs were individually transported by magic back in time to the fall of the Keep on the Shadowfell, when Kalarel turned to the dark side and attacked Sir Keegan and his family. Each of the players is transported in to the bodies on one of Sir Keegan’s family. In the above section Jimmy becomes Stephan, Sir Keegan’s son.
In game each of the players was co-opted in to the story, made to play (role-play) the part allotted to them, I allowed them to make a variety checks- happily they quickly cottoned on to what was going on, I didn’t tell them- they had to work it out. Other than that I pretty much allowed the players to do anything they wanted, although in truth events in these segments were tailored to not so much railroad the PCs but to guide them to where I needed them to be.
So, in this section Jimmy quickly realised he was playing the part of the young lad- he had to make a series of skill checks to avoid the raging soldiers, to open the lock to get in to his father’s room, and then to escape through the high window. A skill challenge, only the PCs were not aware of it at the time.
It worked, I’m happy to report, some of them really got in to it, and we had fun- wait and see. The players also felt, I hope, a little better connected to the scenario. I like making an effort to bleed the narrative in and get the players involved with the story. As written H1 seems to trade on the threat of some unseen, and not much discussed, portal to the shadowfell opening up and the undead come rushing out… Only it’s pretty much unsaid, certainly not used as a threat to fire up the PCs in to playing the hero.
This version is smaller, a less dire threat, it does however offer the players the chance to right an ancient wrong, which I think works well- particularly with a bit of role-play from the DM- the guys liked Sir Keegan, he fought fair, and told them a few secrets when he was defeated. The death of the commander’s family was likewise emphasised in this version because it’s evil, and bad, and… well, it’s everyday (in the PCs world)- it’s good versus evil, with a foreshadowing of the dark side’s intentions- the bigger picture.
As stated earlier, it also provided us with a few humorous moments, now read on…
[/sblock]
Back in the dirty chamber, in the dungeons below the Keep on the Shadowfell the four remaining adventurers exchange worried looks. Gokan is already moving forward, gingerly tip-toeing in to the passage, trying somehow to prevent his full weight coming to bear on the shifting flagstones beneath his feet.
“WHAT?” Gokan looks back, he sounds panicked.
“Where did he…” The half-orc starts up then turns back to look at his companions again.
Tonka and Ramm move forward at a rush, Sigur however…
“SIGUR!” Gokan yells.
The dwarf is, however, otherwise engaged.
Tonka stops short and turns to look.
“SIGUR!” He adds his voice to Gokan’s call.
The dwarf holds the flat of his hand before his face- stares intently at his palm, he puckers his lips and makes faces, every now and then he grins and mouths unheard words…
Sigur stares at his face in the mirror.
The dwarf’s brow furrows- what the…
He looks down; he seems to be wearing a dress… and a pair of exquisite lacquered gold sandals.
And yet he seems to be unconcerned at this turn of events.
He looks again at the mirror he holds before his face.
GAH!
He has long brown hair, a clear complexion and for the first time in his life could be accurately described as beautiful. The face in the mirror belongs to a girl no more than fourteen years old, she looks like a princess.
Sigur grins.
Then furrows his brows… what the…
The dwarf princess puckers his lips again- admires himself some more.
[sblock=Info]
Sigur takes the part of Rasa, the middle child and daughter of Sir Keegan, Steve who plays the surly dwarf was subject to much abuse, and laughter.
“What do you mean I’m a girl?”
I’m happy to report that he took it like a man.
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Suddenly the door in to the room opens, which causes Sigur to look up and over- how did he get here - he’s in a high-ceilinged bedchamber illuminated by candlelight, with three beds.
Coming through the door is a weasely looking human, grinning lasciviously and clutching an open flask- he stinks of alcohol.
“Oh Rasa…” The man coos, and chuckles.
“Hn!” Sigur sounds confused- he looks around the bedchamber, then realises the man, Chalwin, is looking at him.
He’s Rasa- Sigur recognises the name from somewhere.
“There’s nowhere to run.” The man states as he creeps forward, drawing a dagger en route.
“Princess!” Chalwin hisses and closes in on the dwarf.
“What do you want?” Sigur snaps, his voice is… soft, mellifluous, girlish.
“You know what I want!” Chalwin snarls.
“Take it off.” Chalwin reaches forward with his dagger outstretched and…
SNIck!
He cuts one of the straps on Sigur’s beautiful dress.
Chalwin grins as the garment slips a little exposing more flesh.
“Oh.” Sigur states, comprehending at last, “You want... Noogies!”
The dwarf princess smiles, bats her eye-lashes and then kicks Chalwin, the castellan, in the balls as hard as he can.
Chalwin folds, and thumps to the floor clutching at the spot, Sigur does… nothing. Nothing except stare down at his gold lacquered sandals- they are beautiful, he continues to admire them.
Chalwin grabs out, clutches at Sigur’s leg, he looks up at the dwarf.
“You’ll pay for that…” Chalwin hisses, “… Princess!”
Sigur grins, grabs the broached flask from Chalwin’s hands and upends the liquid all over the creeping castellan; he drops the container and snatches up a candle from the table to his side, he applies the flame to the spirit-soaked Chalwin.
WOOF
The face and upper body of the castellan explode in flame.
Chalwin staggers backwards, flailing wildly, he grabs hold of the drapes that curtain the nearest bed, he clutches and paws at them trying to hold himself up- the fire spreads.
Black smoke rises and begins to fill the chamber.
Sigur lurches backwards as Chalwin launches himself forward- towards him, the castellan thumps hard in to a dressing table, another candle spills and thumps in to an open trunk full of clothes.
The fire spreads.
Less than a minute later Sigur stands in the only corner of the chamber not swathed in flames- half-hidden by swirls of black smoke.
“Help me!” Sigur screams, and clutches the ornate mirror to his heaving bosom.
[sblock=Info]
Again I allowed the player to decide what skill checks they would like to use, I just described the action- there was no way that Sigur was going to allow the weasely Chalwin to take advantage of him, or rather her.
I obviously needed to make sure the fire was set, in truth I did this by putting the fuel and the flame within reach, the angry dwarf did the rest.
[/sblock]
Back in the dungeon beneath the Keep on the Shadowfell Tonka scurries after Sigur, the dwarf seems to be engaged in some strange dance- ducking and dodging, and once kicking out when the dragonborn gets too close.
“Sigur!” Tonka shouts, behind him Gokan still peers in to the darkness, looking for his brother. Ramm meanwhile stands statue, taking everything in but unable to comprehend the events- the minotaur has no idea what’s happening here.
“SIGUR!” Tonka screams again and dodges forward, and then suddenly stops- a noise, a strange alien noise…
Tonka turns to see Gokan sat cross-legged on the floor of the passage, the massive half-orc is giggling to himself, concentrating intently on something in his hands.
“What the hell?” Tonka screeches, exasperated.
Gokan giggles again, admires the necklace in his hands… he has small hands, incredibly small hands.
The beautifully made gold chain catches the light and sparkles and glistens.
Gokan grins.
“Shiny!” The half-orc lullabies in a sing-song voice.
[sblock=Info]
Gokan is playing the part of Leesa, Sir Keegan’s four year old daughter- the half-orc had no problems with his new role.
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Gokan grasps the necklace in hand and gets to his feet- he scampers forward down the flagged corridor, to the stairs- the stairs are steep, and yet one-by-one, he manages to make his way down two flights of the spiral staircase.
[sblock=Info]
Athletic and Acrobatics checks needed to get down the stairs of the tower, this after Gokan explained in detail how he was going to climb, wriggle and shuffle his way down the steps.
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Out in to another corridor, only…
Gokan pulls up short- there’s something wrong with the picture, he seems to be much closer to the ground than he usually is, what’s the word for it… shorter?
“Ground!” Gokan states, grins, and then reaches down to pat the cold stone of the tower floor.
“Ohh!” Gokan straightens and toddles forward, the half-orc is suddenly a little disconcerted, he’s not used to toddling, he usually moves with grace and style. He makes his way to a door.
“Bedroom!” He states, and grins.
Then jumps, once, twice, three times and manages at last to grab at the handle- the door slowly swings open, after a little shove, black smoke pours out- followed by a wall of heat.
The door continues to swing open to reveal a burning wreck of a bedroom, the nearest bed- the smallest is ablaze, as is the next, beyond the third bed is a beautiful girl…
“Rasa!” Gokan states.
The half-orc grabs up the mat before the door and then toddles forward, dodging as he goes, through the burning wreckage of the room.
The young woman is screaming and crying.
“Don’t cry!” Gokan states and passes over the rug the wide-eyed Rasa.
“Wear it!” Gokan states, and then grabs and holds tight on to the young woman’s hand- the half-orc feels the connection, the warmth- Rasa feels like family.
Gokan leads Rasa back through the fiery inferno, having to dodge a swathe of falling flaming cloth en route, and moments later having to leap over a burning timber.
The pair makes their way back out of the chamber.
Back in the dungeons beneath the keep on the Shadowfell, Tonka attempts again to arrest the progress of Sigur and Gokan- the pair are holding hands and skipping and dodging- who knows what, as they leap and race around the dirty dungeon chamber.
“What’s going on?!” Tonka screams, as the pair finally come to a stop
And then again- “What’s going on?”
The dragonborn warlord stands in a corridor, before him an open door and a bedchamber swathed in flame.
“Ma ma!” Tonka looks down, before him are two young girls- fleeing the fiery chamber; the first of the pair is perhaps only four years old, the second in her early teens- crying and clutching an ornate looking mirror to her chest.
The younger of the two grabs hold of Tonka’s legs and crushes the dragonborn’s lower limbs.
“Aaaarghh! Get…”
At which point Tonka notices he has breasts, and is wearing ladies clothes- in fact…
“WHAT’S GOING ON?”
Tonka attempts to stagger backwards, prevented by the young girl’s grip of iron; to make matters worse the second girl grabs hold of him, he means… her, Tonka is getting awfully confused.
Who is he?
Where is he?
And finally, at the top of his lungs.
“WHAT’S GOING ON?”
[sblock=Info]
Tonka is of course Magda, mother of Sir Keegan’s children.
[/sblock]
Back in the dungeon beneath the Keep on the Shadowfell Ramm stands statue, about ten or so yards away from him Tonka flails and wrestles as Sigur grips tight to the dragonborn’s legs and Gokan attempts to clamp his hands around the warlord’s chest.
Sigur keeps shouting “Ma ma!”
Gokan keeps trying to rest his head on the dragonborn’s chest.
“Tch!” Ramm finally comments and shakes his head.
Back in the corridor Tonka continues to struggle, although his efforts are subsiding, the two young girls it seems have got the better of him with their grapple checks.
[sblock=Info]
This entire section went wrong(-ish) very quickly- for all of the players at the start of each of these sections I made each of them make a very easy (DC10) Insight check to figure out the basics of what was going on, the three previous PCs had no problems with this check- Tonka failed on his first three checks.
It also didn’t help that he was being grappled by Sigur and Gokan, the latter being built for grappling with high Athletics and Acrobatics skills, Sigur on the other hand manages to roll a ‘20’ twice in a row.
The warlord cannot escape the clutches of his kids… or rather her kids.
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“Oh!” Tonka suddenly states.
Followed by “Oh!” again for good measure.
“Ma ma!” Leesa coos.
“Mother.” Rasa snivels.
At which point something in the flame-filled bedchamber explodes, perhaps the ornate perfume bottles on Rasa’s dressing table.
Tonka, or rather Magda, dodges hard right as a gout of flame bursts from the chamber and ignites a collection of silk banners draped on the wall opposite.
The banners crisp and curl, engulfed in fire.
Tonka wobbles and struggles to keep his feet- he’s having to clasp and carry the two young girls as he goes, every step is a titanic effort.
“We must escape, little ones!” Tonka states, and then furrows his brow.
Tonka heads for the stairs, desperate to save the young ones, tottering as he goes- carrying his heavy load. Then down the stairs, the strain etched on his face.
Eventually, after an incredible feat of endurance, the dragonborn warlord makes his way with his charges to the exit door, grabs it open and strides out.
[sblock=Info]
Tonka has to make Strength checks, Athletics checks and finally an Endurance check- all part of his individual element of the ongoing Skill Challenge.
[/sblock]
In to the courtyard, the scene of death and destruction.
Over the opposite side of which young Stephan stands.
Back in the dungeon beneath the Keep on the Shadowfell Ramm stands statue still- before the great minotaur are arrayed all of his companions… Jimmy seems to have just reappeared.
Ramm grunts.
Back in the courtyard of the Keep, centuries previous, the four members of Sir Keegan’s family- Magda, Stephan, Rasa and Leesa huddle and look about at the horror.
At least for a short while.
A sudden disturbance over the far side of the area makes them collectively look up and over; striding towards the quartet comes a knight of the Keep- clad in jet black armour, Sir Kalarel.
He closes fast.
Unsheathes his sword.
And charges.
Screaming.
“The Lord of Death claims you…”
The four, paralysed by fear, cower- await their deaths.
At the last moment, as Kalarel’s blade lashes down- set to decapitate Magda, a longsword- swathed in a golden light - lances out from behind the Keegan family and deflects the blow.
Sir Keegan strides forward, his sword swings out and sends the dark knight flying back- battle is joined.
Ramm looks down at Kalarel staggering backwards, trying to keep his feet, the minotaur snorts as he also realises that he is no longer a minotaur- he’s a man, a soldier, a commander- he’s Sir Keegan.
He bellows and charges.
Smashes in to Kalarel again.
This time he sends the dark knight sprawling.
“You… You fool!” Kalarel screams as he gets back to his feet.
“You cannot hope to defeat me! You cannot hope to live!” Kalarel attacks, his blade sings, Ramm this time is forced to give ground, the minotaur suddenly finds himself off-balance. Kalarel grabs at his arm, the merest touch leaves the limb numb and almost impossible to use. Ramm grimaces and gives ground quickly.
[sblock=Info]
Ramm takes the part of Sir Keegan- the minotaur to the rescue.
This section, like all of the others, was played out as a Skill Challenge- with a variety of skills used to simulate the melee. The player, Lee, was allowed to choose which skills to use and how they were applied, providing he could make the case for their application.
[/sblock]
Ramm blocks the next blow, and the next, successfully dodges back, avoids another of Kalarel’s flailing touch attacks.
The minotaur even manages to land a blow of his own, although not with enough force to halt Kalarel’s advance.
Very quickly the minotaur and his family have been backed up to a pair of double doors- the portals lead down in to the catacombs beneath the Keep- to the armouries, and store rooms, and well-chambers… and the crypts.
The fight goes on…
And on…
The fracas advances in stages- Ramm holds his ground for a brief moment before being knocked back again- forced to give ground, the rolling melee descends in to the depths of the catacombs.
Sir Keegan’s family scream and shout, cry and cower- constantly having to skitter back and give ground as the dark knight advances.
Ramm puts his body on the line, having to take blows again and again aimed at his family, all the while having to back up; faced by Kalarel’s, seemingly supernatural, onslaught.
All the way down to the lowest depths of the catacombs.
To the sealed chamber.
The doors of which, sensing the fighters’ approach, magically swing open.
The portal chamber.
The reason the Keep was built- to guard the passage to the land of darkness and shadow.
The fighters roar and bellow, shout and curse, the echo of their blades clashing rings around the final empty chamber.
Empty save for the two wooden doors situated over the far side of the chamber, innocuous looking portals, which also swing open as the combatants approach.
“In to the SHADOW!” Kalarel hisses and screams.
Ramm looks back, over his shoulder, he knows where he is- he knows all about the portal behind him; his command here a sham- it was all for this, to keep the darkness contained, to keep the portal closed.
And the empire safe.
He did this.
He brought his family here.
He didn’t tell them about the risk.
He trusted Kalarel, his lieutenant.
It was all his choice.
His fault.
The dark knight, breathing hard, grins- shifts his gaze to encompass Sir Keegan’s family.
“They will become my servants in the shadow.” Kalarel states.
Ramm roars, and suddenly twists and turns aside.
Kalarel’s sword lances out, enters the minotaur’s lower back.
Runs him through.
Ends him.
Forever.
The commander’s momentum is enough, Ramm lashes out with his vengeful holy longsword- Aecris, the blade pierces the veil of shadow, the light of Bahamut explodes and… everything ends.
The breech is terrifying, a tear in reality sucking all life in to the black.
Sir Keegan’s family are swallowed by the shadow.
The knight commander falls.
[sblock=Encounter #17 Synopsis, PC XP & DM’s thoughts]
Skill Challenge- Open the Portal to the Shadowfell (Level 2 Complexity 4)
500 XP Level 1 Encounter.
PC XP
100 XP each for a total of 2836 XP in total (PCs Level 3).
DM Thoughts-
A little bit of creativity sometimes goes a long way; the players still talk about some of the things that went on in this encounter to this day. It just worked, that’s not to say there weren’t moments when things could have gone awry but for the most part the players took it in their stride and played their parts.
In conversation around the table afterwards it likewise became clear that they had understood the events we played out, and their implications, the adventurers at times somehow saw themselves as being agents of change, avenging Sir Keegan; which was just perfect.
This was one of the best Skill Challenges I have ever run, the format is one I’ve used many times since.
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