Help Needed: Dungeon Entry

[Obergnom]

Hi there,

in my 4e campaign, my players are approaching the Tomb of Abysthor (3rd Ed. Dungeoncrawl Module by Necromancer Games)

At the moment, they are in a huge swamp, where the tomb is located in a forest full of dead trees.

The tomb once was a burial hall for the lawful good deities Torm(Duty), Tyr(Justice) and Ilmater(Perseverance). Today it hosts a Cult of Bane, Foulspawn, evil Artifacts, a Black Dragon...

To spice things up, I would like to make the entrance "hidden" by a riddle, skill challenge, ... something. I was thinking along the lines of a dense, misty forest, where they have to solve some riddle spread out over several locations, but I just can't think of anything cool right now.

 

[Keefe the Thief]

The dead forest could have several places where the "walls" between the Prime and the Shadowfell are really thin. Narrate ghostly visions of the other side when the PCs approach, and then use an appropriate skill challenge with 6 different tests to adjudicate if the players step into the wrong grove and end up in the Shadowfell for a couple of minutes.
I´d design 3 encounters that could happen "over there", and have the other 3 possibilities of being ´ported end in the PCs being shunted out of the Shadowfell and taking damage. So your encounter roster could be:

1st failed test = PCs end up in an Eerie Grove (TM) where they witness the Dark Rituals (TM) of some Shadar Kai (TM). No combat necessary, if the group gapes and hides.
2nd failed test = PCs land in the midst of a couple of angry Darkwood Driads. Quick talk or Quick swords necessary!
3rd failed test = The Shadar Kai Shaman/Priest/Whatever has found the group - and now he and his Shadow Giants want to smash and burn!
4rd to 6th failed test = Shunted out of the Shadowfell, taking 4d[die] to 6d[die] damage.

That´s what i´d do if i had to come up with something on a hurry. Oh, and 3 successful tests end the challenge.

 

[Obergnom]

Great idea. I like the Shadowfell connection. Only problem would be, they'd have to do the challenge over and over again, as they will not finish the dungeon at once, they are there for a couple of "quests" and will most likely return later.

 

[scrubkai]

Two thoughts:

You could make it that as they clear out the dungeon it starts to sever the link to shadowfell. So each time they go back they have less trouble falling in with Shadowfell encounters.
(For example: The second time through encounters get misty and can't damage the PCs as well (treat the both sides as incorporeal), the third time they see visions but can't interact, and the forth time they go through it is bright and sunny with no problems getting in)

That would give your players a feeling that what they are doing is helping the world at large.

Or if you wanted, they could uncover a map that guides them along the solid ground and avoids the encounters after the first time through. After all the evil priests probably have a way to get there without having to deal with the shadowfell.

 

[Obergnom]

Thanks a lot! This will really help my campaign.