Help! Need Ideas for a 6th Level Adventure

[Eye Tyrant]

My players (the 1 or 2 that visit the boards) STAY OUT!







I am currently running a new hombrew campaign (file attached for those interested), it's a mish-mash of LotR, DL, Warhammer, and maybe a tiny bit of FR . We've played about 10 sessions now and up to this point I have been integrating free WotC adventures and "Sons of Gruumsh" (the latter we are still playing). I am looking ahead to the next challenge. The PCs just reached 5th Level and are coming into their own so to speak.

There lies an old ruined fortress (Stormgate), not far from the PCs base of operations. It once defended the free world from the Eldritch Waste (see attachment for more info), but since has been abandoned. Think of a Helm's Deep type of location.

My question is, what do I populate it with?

It lies in a mountain pass known as Goblin's Gut, so Goblins will obviously be in the surrounding wilderness, but the fortress itself is something more. The PCs have already passed by it, and when they tried to enter found they could not get through the outer gates. When they tried to force the gates, the structure, as a whole, seemed to groan ominously (I did not have anything prepared ).

Undead? That's what first comes to mind. But if so, these are the Undead from a war fought a millenia ago against the forces of an evil Necromancer. What's their story? Is the Necromancer back somehow after the world thought him defeated?

Any and all ideas are appreciated!

 

[Poster Bard]

Cooperative Dungeons tend to play on the tough side of EL, so you probably wouldn't even have to modify this freebie -

http://www.enworld.org/shop/index.php?do=product&productid=33

 

[lastalas]

You might go with the leader of the goblins is in the keep...perhaps, a dargon type or classed Ogre, something...the keep functions as the command center

Undead are always good.

For modules, I would look into the Dungeon Crawl Classics by Goodman Games - Yummy hack and slash fun for all.

 

[gizmo33]

It groaned ominously because the fortress is possessed by a special kind of earth elemental, summoned by the old occupants so that it could repair the fortress during a seige. The elemental can control the gates, make stones fall on PCs, etc. The fortress is staffed by elemental creatures led by a few Dao, of unknown (to me) relationship to the elemental - perhaps they worship it as a god. The Dao occupy the fortress, search for relics in the adjacent wasteland, infiltrate the local goblin tribes. Maybe the Dao are themselves enslaved by the earth elemental.

 

[Eye Tyrant]

B-b-b-bump.

 

[MavrickWeirdo]

It groaned ominously because the fortress is possessed by a special kind of earth elemental, summoned by the old occupants so that it could repair the fortress during a seige. The elemental can control the gates, make stones fall on PCs, etc. The fortress is staffed by elemental creatures led by a few Dao, of unknown (to me) relationship to the elemental - perhaps they worship it as a god. The Dao occupy the fortress, search for relics in the adjacent wasteland, infiltrate the local goblin tribes. Maybe the Dao are themselves enslaved by the earth elemental.

Similar to this, the fortress is "alive" (animate object) there are a number of goblins & treasure-hunters who are trapped in the fortress because it won't let anyone leave.

 

[Eye Tyrant]

Thanks for the suggestion so far!

The Living Fortress idea is kinda cool... How would it be defeated? Is there a place deep in the bowels of the place that is a power center? Does it manipulate the halls to confuse trespassers? What does it do with those trapped, and why?

 

[BiggusGeekus]

This may not be terribly useful, but if you go through the Monster Manual, you'll see that most of the aquatic critters are around CR 7. So you may want to set things up for an aquatic adventure as a change of pace and to use the beasties you normally don't get to use. Maybe some flooded caverns underneath the keep?

 

[Eye Tyrant]

This may not be terribly useful, but if you go through the Monster Manual, you'll see that most of the aquatic critters are around CR 7. So you may want to set things up for an aquatic adventure as a change of pace and to use the beasties you normally don't get to use. Maybe some flooded caverns underneath the keep?

Not a bad idea... Aboleths are CR: 7!

Now, how to roll all this together?

Living Fortress + Aboleth beneath + Goblins and Undead....

Should the Aboleth be the Mastermind (BBEG) or just a coincidence? How did the fortress come to life? Did the the Aboleth cause it or was it an effect from the grear cataclysm at the end of the last age? Are the Undead fallen warriors that defended the fortress during the war, or enemies, or both?

Just posting the questions that I am asking myself

Keep it coming, it's starting to take shape

 

[gizmo33]

The Living Fortress idea is kinda cool... How would it be defeated? Is there a place deep in the bowels of the place that is a power center? Does it manipulate the halls to confuse trespassers? What does it do with those trapped, and why?

The elemental possesses the fortress like a ghost would possess a person. I'm not really up on the rules for this, but I know in 1E, there was an exorcism spell. For elementals, I probably would prefer something like Phase Door instead of exorcism, which would force the elemental to "manifest" itself. At that point, you can start whacking it with a sword.

There might be a specialized spell that's designed to cause an elemental to manifest. The spell could be on a scroll - but what would it be doing in the castle. Perhaps the people who originally bound the elemental to the castle also kept around it's means for being released.

Whether or not it manipulates the halls, or what things it can control within the fortress is up to you - I think you should decide that based on the EL of the adventure.

A reason I can see that it would trap and destroy those that it could would have to do with it's original mission - it was summoned to protect the fortress during invasion. It might see anyone entering the fortress at this point as an invader. Of course if you use the Dao idea, then they might have corrupted/changed the elemental in such a way that it is doing their will (in the case that the Dao are not doing the will of the elemental, which was my original idea)