Help Me Customize Heart of Nightfang Spire

[Samnell]

Pursuant to the idea I got from my previous thread, I'm thinking on having my 10th level group go out seeking who's been buying droves of slaves and shipping them out of Mulmaster at night.

SPOILERS for Nightfang Spire (vaguely) and my PBEM (if anyone's reading this) follow:









I want those slaves to be going to Nightfang Spire, where the recently-revived Gulthias is trying to bring back his god, who I'm changing to Moander. My filched campaign idea revolves around Moander coming back through a series of mass sacrifices at points that correspond to the ends of the lines on a magical rune that will come to cover the whole Moonsea and when fully activated bring back his Moldiness in all his squirmy glory.

The first of these points just happens to be at a long-ago Moander holy site where the cultists committed mass suicide ages ago when their deity got imprisoned by elves. Moander has a long history of getting picked on in FR. He's been killed at least three times and imprisoned at least once more. It fits that his more powerful cultists would be the sorts to think of divine revivification.

Enter Nightfang Spire, where through some serendipity Moandar's rotten heart has come to reside. The slaves are being bought to become sacrifices. So I have a pretty clear idea of how the module fits into the campaign, but now I have the hard work of wrestling it into a less Ashardalon and undead type place and more of a Moander place. I think some undead fit (considering the simultaneous mass suicides) but I'd like to also include some sort of corrupt nature/evil plant type of flavor into it.

Does anybody have any suggestions for monsters to alter/change out to get the flavor? Or do you think it might work better out of the box with just more dungeon dressing type alterations?

 

[Kamard]

Heres what I would do, and hear me out.

I would change all the undead into plant/fungus based possessed beings.

The beauty is that despite the fact that the adventure is EXACTLY THE SAME, it looks different to the PC's.

So, all those mohrgs in the adventure are actually living beings, possessed by creatures subservient to the lord of rot- like creeping thornflowers that nest inside their bodies, and expel like long tongues. *sneaky*

The zombies and other lesser undead can just be human cultists infected with various forms of spore. "zombie" spores that make them slow and tough to kill, and skeleton spores that make them quick and rough with claws.

The girallons are easy enough. Make them look like strange, bipedal fungus creatures, with four ironhard, barbed tentacles.

To me, the mooncalfs in the adventure smell like a strange type of flying, sentient fungi, and thats fungoid and Cthuluesque enough for my tastes.

As for the tons of vampire spawn, they're the natural evolution of the cultist to the worship of Moander- deranged, bloodthirsty, and forever-rotting.

Happy motoring, and hope that helps a little.

 

[Samnell]

Heres what I would do, and hear me out.

You've got good ideas there, Kamard. I do want to do at least a few full substitutions if I go that way, though. IE more than just filing the serial numbers off. I've got no problem with doing that, but I like to go all the way sometimes too. Gives me a real proprietary feeling.

Any recommendations?

 

[Kamard]

You've got good ideas there, Kamard. I do want to do at least a few full substitutions if I go that way, though. IE more than just filing the serial numbers off. I've got no problem with doing that, but I like to go all the way sometimes too. Gives me a real proprietary feeling.

Any recommendations?

Heh, but I like to file the serial numbers off.

Well, first off, do you have the Tome of Horrors? the Yellow Musk Creeper and Creeper zombies etc. in there fit good to replace all the lesser undead (zombies and skeletons).

If you have Monster Manual II, I suggest Needlefolk...

somewhere in there you could throw a fungus-serialed vrock as a high powered follower of Moander. I say this just because they've got the spore attack.

You could cut down on the number of sessile monsters and populate the spire with a few oozes, assassin vines, fungi, etc).

Mummies are good replacements for the vampire spawn because of their rot touch. Thematically speaking it works to your advantage, but they are nasty nasty when it comes to their disease. Still, they are a CR lower than the vamp spawn, so it might be ok.

 

[Samnell]

Well, first off, do you have the Tome of Horrors? the Yellow Musk Creeper and Creeper zombies etc. in there fit good to replace all the lesser undead (zombies and skeletons).

Nope, don't have it.

If you have Monster Manual II, I suggest Needlefolk...

Now THAT I have. Hmmm, they're not quite singing to me, but it's close. Maybe if I gave them some special effects.

somewhere in there you could throw a fungus-serialed vrock as a high powered follower of Moander. I say this just because they've got the spore attack.

There's already an imprisoned Vrock in the adventure. I'm looking forward to the PCs meeting it.

You could cut down on the number of sessile monsters and populate the spire with a few oozes, assassin vines, fungi, etc).

But I like the sessile monsters. Mobility rules!

Mummies are good replacements for the vampire spawn because of their rot touch. Thematically speaking it works to your advantage, but they are nasty nasty when it comes to their disease. Still, they are a CR lower than the vamp spawn, so it might be ok. [/B]

Good point. I think I might trade down and maybe throw in an extra few to even things out. I'm suspecting I'll have a cleric or two that can handle the disease.

 

[paulewaug]

I think some undead fit (considering the simultaneous mass suicides) but I'd like to also include some sort of corrupt nature/evil plant type of flavor into it.

Does anybody have any suggestions for monsters to alter/change out to get the flavor? Or do you think it might work better out of the box with just more dungeon dressing type alterations?

Besides the plant stuff you can go for Aberration types, as well as Outsiders and Elementals.

I would consider from the MM1:
Assassin Vine
Athach
Belkers
Carrion Crawlers
Chaos Beast
Chuul
lots of Dretch wandering around perhaps
maybe a Quasit familiar
Destrachan
maybe a Devourer
some Digesters
some Ethereal Marauders
Shriekers and Viloet Fungus of course (the Shriekers being placed to 'give away' the partys location at critical points)
Gargoyles are always good for old run dwon places
Ghouls + Ghasts
Gibbering Mouthers
some Gricks
some Mephits esp. Dust, Fire, Ooze(!), Salt, and maybe Steam.
the fungi-Mohrg are a great idea as well as the fungi-zombies and skeletons.
Mummies are always fun-
possible a Naga of some type.
maybe a Nighthag follower of Moander, a "concubine"
a high priest cultist type could ride a Nightmare
oozes were a good idea
a couple of Otyugh
Phase Spiders
a Rakshasa
a pair of Rasts
Rust Monsters(!)hehe
Shadow Mastiffs
Shambling Mounds
Slaad maybe?
Troglodytes
Umber Hulk
Trolls
Wights
Yuan-ti