Iron DM 2009 - all matches

[Wulf Ratbane]

UGH. I got called away today at work twice-- once to stand in as an extra on a video shoot, once so they could announce our first departmental case of Swine Flu-- so this is not as polished as I had hoped.

A PERNICIOUS QUARREL
An adventure of dastardly diplomacy for up to 8th level PCs.

Exhumed Grave
Tail End
Unmentionable Services
Unhappy Goatherd
Cross-Eyed Beholder
Gloves of Arrow Snaring

BACKGROUND/SETUP
What began as a friendly rivalry between two ostensible allies has, over the course of centuries, grown into a bittery and deadly feud. A beholder known colloquially as “The Magnificent Maw” has pitted his own intellect and criminal network against a canny rakshasa currently operating under the guise of a gnome named Kip*.

* Not her real name. Her real name is Kajanajat, but to any astute adventurer, a name like Kajanajat fairly screams “rakshasa.” So don’t even think it. She’s just Kip.

What began as a professional (if criminal and indubitably evil) rivalry can now be settled to their satisfaction only with the death of one or the other. Unfortunately, the two are uniquely matched opponents: The rakshasa’s natural damage resistance and spell resistance makes her nearly immune to any spell-like or even physical attack from the beholder, and the beholder’s anti-magic eye renders the rakshasa’s potent sorcery moot. It’s certainly within the realm of possibility that one or the other of them might get lucky, but as they are both natural cowards, they prefer to work patiently and by proxy, each trying to get a perfectly secure upper hand before moving.

The balance of power at the moment where the PCs get involved has tipped slightly. The Maw has allied himself with a clan of duergar (naturally resistant to many of the rakshasa’s spells, and in particular immune to phantasms) and they have successfully stolen Kip’s prized gloves of arrow snaring (which she acquired as proof against blessed bolts).

Kip has spent many months tracking them down to their current location, an abandoned dwarven mine in the low mountains where the PCs are currently travelling. In their last and most recent encounter, Kip managed to land a bestow curse on the Maw, leaving him permanently cross-eyed (at least until the curse can be lifted). As a result of the curse, any of the beholder’s eye-stalks has a 50% chance of missing its intended target and striking some other target instead. Needless to say, the Maw retreated immediately, leaving only a few duergar to deal with Kip.

Kip prevailed, using baleful polymorph on many of The Maw’s duergar allies—including a particularly useful Clr5 who was transmuted into a black-bearded billy goat (among other goats in Kip’s herd).

All of this seems to lean in Kip’s favor at the moment, but The Maw is working wheels within wheels. He and his duergar allies have been working through the tailings of the gold mine, sifting out huge quantities of arsenic, which the duergar have been adding in vast quantities to their diet. Although the arsenic is harmless to the duergar (who are immune to poison), The Maw’s plan is to trick Kip into eating one of his highly poisonous allies, thereby introducing the poison into her system while neatly bypassing her damage reduction. Unfortunately, they have reached the end of the tail and they have no more arsenic on hand. If Kip does not eat one of the duergar within the next day or so, the opportunity will “pass,” so to speak.

THE MAGNIFICENT MAW
Standard Beholder (CR13), currently afflicted with a bestow curse that causes all of his eye-stalks (other than his central eye) to go cross-eyed, giving him a 50% chance to miss his intended target and strike a random target instead.

KIP the RAKSHASA
Advanced Rakshasa (+3 sorcerer levels to Sor10, CR13.) Kip’s spell resistance advances to SR30. Kip’s spell selection should be changed up to focus on illusions (phantasms), and should include misdirection, gaseous form, shadow conjuration, hold monster (duergar are immune) and baleful polymorph. Kip knows that The Maw can revert any of his polymorphed allies to their natural form with his anti-magic eye.

ENTER THE PCs
The adventure is broadly arranged as a series of sequential encounters between the PCs and either Kip or The Maw, with a finale that brings all the major players together at the same time to decide things once and for all. The PCs will grow in their knowledge of the situation over the course of several encounters, and may ultimately ally themselves with one or the other of the major villains to destroy the other—and then possibly to double-cross their ally and finish things off for good.

FIRST ENCOUNTER—The Unhappy Goatherd
The PCs first encounter (a purely circumstantial encounter as the PCs are travelling through a fairly desolate and rocky/hilly area) will be with Kip, disguised as a female gnome with a small herd of goats. Some of these goats are real goats (not Kip’s preferred fare, but ok in a pinch) and some of these goats are polymorphed duergar.

The DM should be careful to play Kip completely innocently so as not to arouse the players’ suspicions. She should be played as “the hook” and certainly not “mysterious” or “untrustworthy.” You will want to play on your players’ preconceived meta-game notions. Nothing in your actions or Kip’s conversation should say anything other than, “Young female gnome goatherd named Kip who needs help from the PCs.”

Kip will greet the PCs shyly and a bit warily, and ask them if they would like to share her midday meal of warm goat cheese and fresh goat’s milk. She is obviously very unhappy and will quickly open up to them—asking if they are adventurers and if they would be willing to help her.

Kip will explain to the PCs that a horrible monster (“a big mouth with lots of sharp little teeth”) has recently taken up residence in an abandoned dwarven gold mine (true) and he seems to have some dwarven allies (true). She will explain that she encountered them near the mine itself (true) but that she managed to get away and they didn’t pursue her (true). She is sure that they are up to no good (true) and pose a danger to the nearby village (true).

Kip will use misdirection if necessary and if she realizes that she is in a zone of truth or the like she will just naturally extend the conversation with small talk, interspersed with such completely true snippets above. Eventually, she’ll throw in the following:

“There’s something more I am almost ashamed to ask. There is a grave not far from here (true) that has recently been dug up (true). I found bones everywhere (true) but I’ve arranged everything back (true). There are some gloves missing (true)—they must be magic (true)—and I’m certain those no-good dwarves have taken them (true). I’d really like to see them returned (true). You probably think that’s a silly superstition but I hope you don’t’ want to see a grave defiled (true). I would hate to think these hills might end up haunted by some hero’s ghost. Maybe you won’t even have to fight them.”

Finally, Kip will end, “Well if you do go up there, please don’t mention that you’re doing this on my behalf. I got away before but I am sure it would mean more trouble if they knew I sent you (true).”

SECOND ENCOUNTER—The Magnificent Maw and his Allies
The abandoned gold mine is not far from where Kip has set up camp. The mine is mostly collapsed and does not go back far, but does have its share of twists and turns. The duergar who watch the entrance will use invisibility and move silently behind the PCs as they investigate the cave.

Not far into the cave—perhaps at the first intersection—is a giant boulder painted to look roughly like a beholder—mostly just one big eye and lots of teeth. The duergar will stand above/behind this rock and speak to the PCs invisibly, “Who comes to petition The Magnificent Maw?”

If the conversation goes well, the duergar will remove a pebble with continual light from his belongings and, remaining invisible, lead the PCs down the hallway as a floating light. Eventually they will come face to face with The Maw in a large chamber with lots of collapsed tunnels and the remains of the tailings. A “suitably daunting number” of duergar will invisibly move into the chamber and take up position. When The Maw finally turns to face the PCs, his anti-magic eye will reveal many of the duergar who are in position around the chamber. The fact that The Maw is cross-eyed should be apparent to the PCs—his eyes will waggle and cross uncontrollably while he speaks to them.

(The PCs should also note that all of the duergar are armed with crossbows and there are more than a few crack shots among their number…)

The Maw has no interest in fighting the PCs but the encounter can certainly go that way if the PCs so choose—but they should be clearly outmatched. Indeed The Maw may be inclined to spare them if he can charm or neutralize enough of them with his eye-beams (remember his miss chance and the possibility of striking his own duergar allies).

The Maw speaks with a thick, slobbery, and heavily accented voice.

If The Maw can get the PCs into a receptive mood for diplomacy one way or the other, he’ll quickly figure out what is going on and suggest to them a counter offer. Exactly what he offers depends on whether or not the PCs mention the gloves:

If the PCs don’t mention the gloves: “I know that goatherd. Hmm, yes. In fact if I am not mistaken, she has quite a flock of tasty goats. Tell her that we’ll move along if she’ll give me all her goats. She can keep one or two for dinner.”

If the PC mention the gloves the bargain changes subtly: “Well, that goatherd has one fine black billy goat. I’ll trade the gloves for that goat. And if she won’t trade, maybe you could just sneak that goat back here on your own…? I’ll still honor the bargain. My word is my bond.”

The Maw’s first and most pressing plan is to get his Clr5 ally back so that he can cast remove curse on him, so he will make what bargains he can to get that goat back. However, The Maw is nowhere near as canny as Kip, and although he’s no more likely to lie or break his word, he is more likely to let the PCs in on the whole quarrel, revealing Kip’s nature, if he thinks it will improve his position to take a band of adventurers into his confidence.

If The Maw takes the PCs into his confidence, he will guarantee their safety and ask them to arrange a truce between himself and Kip—the adventure moves to THE FEAST. However, he is worried about arousing Kip’s suspicions, so he will warn the PCs that under no circumstances should they mention to Kip that they are working on his behalf. It is imperative that Kip believes the PCs are acting in the interests of settling things peacefully.

If he gets desperate enough, The Maw will trade all sorts of guarantees if the PCs will cast remove curse on him. He’ll honor any agreement with them but move to take Kip out once and for all at THE SHOWDOWN.

THIRD ENCOUNTER—Back to Kip
This encounter depends heavily on how the PCs handled The Maw, and what they know.

The PCs might try to talk Kip out of her herd. She will trade the herd for the gloves (and even the score later).

The PCs might try to steal the black billy goat. This will arouse Kip’s suspicions but she’s not likely to reveal her true nature to save one prisoner. The Maw will get his curse removed and the adventure moves to THE SHOWDOWN.

The PCs might now know Kip’s true nature and decide to take her on. Kip’s not down for that and will certainly try to flee using whatever means are at her disposal (gaseous form, etc.)

The PCs might know Kip’s true nature and try to arrange a truce between her and The Maw. Remember that The Maw’s ultimate goal is to trick Kip into eating one of the duergar who are laden with arsenic from the tail—and he’s on the clock. Of course, the PCs don’t need to know that one of the goats slaughtered for THE FEAST is actually a sentient being, and neither Kip nor The Maw is bloody likely to tell them. Kip will make certain that the meal is prepared when the PCs are away (perhaps returning to The Maw to agree to the truce.)

THE FEAST
If the PCs manage to arrange a friendly encounter between the two villains, it will be at THE FEAST. Nothing will save Kip now—eventually she will eat the tainted meat, which contains enough arsenic to kill her a few times over. She’ll lose several points of CON in the first round and she’ll have 1 minute (10 rounds) before the secondary effects kick in and she loses several times 1d8 CON.

Of course, as soon as she realizes she’s poisoned, the adventure moves to THE SHOWDOWN. She may already be dead but she'll try to take

THE SHOWDOWN
This part of the adventure is triggered as soon as the PCs, Kip, and The Maw are together together and open hostility breaks out. The PCs will need to pick a side quickly.

The Maw can always use his central eye effectively, and he will usually keep it centered on Kip no matter what. If he’s still cursed, he can’t very effectively use his other eyes, but use them he will, willy-nilly. Remember that Kip has SR30 and The Maw is caster level 13.

Kip will use Shadow Conjuration to summon allies when and where she can, and other illusions to distract whomever she can.

A paladin PC may be able to cast bless weapon on one or more crossbow bolts, either for the PCs or even the duergar to use. Whether or not they work depend on whether or not Kip has her gloves back, and certainly whether or not The Maw has her in his central eye (thus negating the magic on the blessed bolt). Timing is key.

Much hinges on the villains’ appraisal of the PCs capabilities. Obviously, if the PCs attack either of the villains, any previous agreements are off with respect to that villain.

The ideal denouement for the PCs is likely a situation where they can ally with one of the villains to take out the other, but where the remaining villain is sufficiently weakened that they can take him or her out, too.

Exhumed Grave-- the ruse that Kip uses to try to get her gloves back
Tail End-- the end of the tail from the mine, full of arsenic
Unmentionable Services-- the PCs are asked by each villain not to mention their involvment
Unhappy Goatherd-- Kip's disguise
Cross-Eyed Beholder-- The Magnificent Maw
Gloves of Arrow Snaring-- Kip's prized gloves

 

[Nifft]

Round 3, Match 2 - Wik vs. Iron Sky

Underdark Jungle
Lightning Fort
Evil Healer
Military Draft
Purple Wight
Trident of Fish Command

 

[InVinoVeritas]

This adventure consists of a pair of encounters that can be added as flavor to any existing adventure. There exists the tomb of a dracolich underneath a dungeon or castle. The tomb has since caved in and been filled in with dirt. Furthermore, a paladin has consecrated the ground, preventing the dracolich from rising again, as long as the dirt remains. The paladin’s wizard friend, foreseeing a time when other creatures might wish to free the dracolich, added a mechanical trap to the grave.

An unfortunate beholder by the name of Scilivanthrok had heard the legend of the great evil buried under consecrated ground, but was unaware that it was a dracolich. Having uncovered the tip of the dracolich’s tail, he now realizes that he does not want to awaken the dragon—but is also now caught in the trap, and needs to escape. He hopes that the party will help him with this.

If the beholder moves out of the way, or tries to free himself, he will be shot by an Arrow of Slaying. However, he knows of a goatherd outside who has Gloves of Arrow Snaring, who might be willing to part with it. Out in the field, the goatherd indeed has these gloves, but he is quite upset because his goats prove unwilling to mate. If someone in the party is willing to help (the task involves a magic skin that turns someone into a goat, a Girdle of Masculinity/Femininity, a bladder of warm milk, and a scroll of Remove Curse) he will give the Gloves to the party for free.

With the gloves in hand, the party can catch the hidden arrow, freeing the beholder to recover the dracolich grave, and leave the party in peace.

The Cross-Eyed Beholder

The party first encounters the grave in a room in a dungeon. The floor of the room is bare earth, and a large hole has been dug at one end. At the bottom of the hole floats a beholder, named Scilivanthrok. He stares intently at a tail bone that has been unearthed—the tail end of the dracolich. Also, hugging the beholder’s form is a large cagelike structure. It has bound the eyestalks of the creature in such a way that they bend inward, facing each other.

“There is another here! I can hear you!” the beholder calls out. “No, fear not, I will not harm you. Yes, indeed, if you find the way to set me free, then I shall call you friends, allies! I am Scilivanthrok, and a fool, yes. You see this bone before me? It is the tail of a dracolich. It does not move, yes? It is not yet active, and will stay this way if I stare at it. No magic, you see? Now, I must not move either, for I am trapped! I shall be struck dead if I move, killed by a hidden arrow! You would like the poor foolish beholder dead, but the dracolich will live! No, I know more people. There is a man, he tends goats, and has magic! He can give you gloves, and you can catch the arrow yourself! Then I free myself from the trap, cover the grave, and we all are safe, and friends, yes? You help foolish Scilivanthrok?"

 

[phoamslinger]

better something than nothing, IVV.

I'll take a better look at this tomorrow.

edit: judgment done. waiting on the other two judges now...

[sblock]ok. InVinoVeritas, you went way over the time limit and your entry clearly needs more work (it doesn’t even have a title). and your opponent finished and submitted his entry within the time constraints. the first two are bad, but the third one is the real killer. but as an intellectual exercise, let’s take a look at what we have.

Wulf has a full adventure laid out with hooks and a storyline. IVV has a side adventure that could actually be dropped into any high end dungeon as a side encounter.

Ingredients
Exhumed Grave
Wulf’s entry used the grave as a plot hook to motivate the players, but it never really comes into the story much beyond that. IVV’s entry used the partially exhumed grave as the resting place of a dracolich which held the beholder in place. so this was actually a much stronger usage. point to IVV

Tail End
Wulf’s Tail End is the back of the mine where the arsenic was being dug out. IVV’s Tail End lies in the Grave and is the threat that holds the Beholder and the rest of the story depends on more than just the tail end not being revealed. again, point to IVV.

Unmentionable Services
Wulf’s services were not to tell the other side. IVV’s services involved “a magic skin that turns someone into a goat, a Girdle of Masculinity/Femininity, a bladder of warm milk, and a scroll of Remove Curse.” truth be told, I’m almost glad that IVV didn’t have more time to go into details on this one. blech! unmentionable in the extreme. third point to IVV.

Unhappy Goatherd
Wulf’s Goatherd was a disguise, made acceptable by the presence of Kip’s goats. IVV’s entry wasn’t particularly inspiring either, but at least it was an actual Goatherd, not a Rakshasa pretending to be a Goatherd. not a strong point, but an edge to IVV.

Cross-Eyed Beholder
I was wondering how you were going to pull this one off. Wulf’s curse and subsequent mis-fire rules were a much better idea than IVV’s cage trap that pushed the eye stalks around. point to Wulf on this one.

Gloves of Arrow Snaring
I can see where a Rakshasa would go out of his or her way to keep their hands on this item, to the exclusion of a whole bunch of other things. it is the Gloves which provide a background for most of Wulf’s storyline. IVV, stopping an arrow of slaying from killing the Beholder, wouldn’t it have been easier to just put a tower shield in front of the trap? and I personally can’t stand High Magic campaigns where even the lowly Goatherders have magic items lying around worth hundreds or thousands of gold pieces. Wulf got the point on this one as well.

so at the end of the ingredients, we have Wulf with two points, but IVV with three and an edge.

Connections:
Wulf your Grave didn’t tie to the End or the Goatherd very much at all, other than lipservice. and I found Your services were fairly weak as well. the Beholder that stole the Arrow which drives the rest of the adventure works ok, but even though you’ve got the various ingredients dropped in here and there, they really didn’t connect for me all that well.

IVV, your Grave holds the Tail End (of a monster, but that monster is just a mcguffin that never really comes into play) keeping the Beholder trapped and for it to escape the trap, it needs the players to perform Services for the Goatherd to get the Gloves.

Generally if I can string all six ingredients into a single (mostly) grammatically correct sentence, that’s doing pretty well. another nod towards IVV’s entry.

Usage
Wulf’s entry clearly dominates here. IVV, if I were playing in a game and walked into the setting you’ve described, I’d laugh my a$$ off at the monster and walk back out of the room. but it would be worthy of a laugh, once the situational stupidity of the beholder and the whole scenario was exposed to light. we the players would be asking the DM, “What were you thinking…” and it would have hung around as one of those bizarre stories of failed adventure hooks for generations to come… not a point there, but maybe half a grin.

Wulf. the biggest problem I had with your entry, more than anything else was your 7th ingredient, and that’s because it’s such a major dominating part of the whole storyline: Kip the Rakshasa. your entry is great and would make a fine adventure to run (especially since we three judges are actively trying to find some really tough finale ingredients for the end). I was and am impressed that you came up with anything with all six ingredients, much less that it was coherent and at least tried to string them all together. but there's a lot of extra stuff in there as well and without that extra stuff, your adventure based only on the six main ingredients just doesn't happen. each judge has his own grading system. mine looks, more than anything else, at the six core items. everything else is just touchy feely stuff.

IVV. I think it was Napoleon who said “Ask me for anything but time.” in my opinion, the basic ideas you had for stringing together the ingredients without a whole lot of extra stuff would have been a much stronger entry than Wulf’s and would have put you into the final running, if you could just have polished out the little bumps along the way and come up with a finished product within the time. a couple of your items were weak, but overall you had a much tighter usage of all six and used more of them better, without needing to drag in more stuff (Kip, the duergar, etc).

for these final three rounds, all three of us (Radiating Gnome, Nifft, and I) will be submitting a judgment. best two out of three judgments wins. even though IVV went over on time, on the basis of the ingredients and the way he used them, I would have given him the round on a wide margin - Iron DMs are not setting specific and a side trek or single encounter is just as valid as an entire campaign setting would be. it is the usage of the ingredients and ONLY the ingredients that should make up the core of an entry. but due to all the other negative factors involved with IVV’s entry, since my other two judges haven’t posted yet, here’s what I’m going to do.

in radically different ways, I found both entries needed a lot more work to be what I would consider a winning entry.

if either of the other two judges gives InVinoVeritas a win, or even if one of them is undecided and puts forth a split decision (like mine), then I will give IVV the win for this round.

but if they both throw it to Wulf (which I find rather likely in all honesty), then the decision will be unanimous and Wulf will advance.

so which of these two advances will now depend on RG and Nifft (which was the case anyway, come to think).
[/sblock]

 

[Nifft]

r3m1 - WR v IVV

Exhumed Grave
Tail End
Unmentionable Services
Unhappy Goatherd
Cross-Eyed Beholder
Gloves of Arrow Snaring

[sblock]
I don't DIS-like either of these, but neither can I feel much LIKE for them. They're both unfinished.

If weekends are better for you folks, please speak up early! I don't care if this contest takes a few extra days. I do emphatically care about the quality of work -- and I know that these entries take a lot of work!

Okay, so first things first: ingredients.

Exhumed Grave - Wulf's is pure backstory, and odd at that, since any PCs who acted on it would be conflicting with the lie-averse Rakshasa. InVino, you've made the grave into the setting. Advantage IVV.

Tail End - Wulf, I'm not sure how the PCs would know they were in a "tail end". My criteria for evaluating ingredients involves thinking how a player would respond when asked, "so what did you think of the ______?" And if a player would have no clue what I'm talking about, that ingredient is a failure. IVV, your tail end is cleverly integrated, but it's a mechanical failure, because the central eye wouldn't affect an undead critter. Still, at least players would see it, and there's plenty of room for a mechanically minded DM to say the central eye cone was really stopping a magic rune of blah blah blah merely adjacent to the tail.

Unmentionable Services - Boy, I gotta be more careful with ingredients. IVV, you almost lost a ton of points before I realized that the discomfort I was feeling was entirely our own fault for giving you that ingredient. Kudos. Wulf, your services were mention-averse, but the PCs could easily betray either party without a second thought. I'd rather these services were things the characters would be embarrassed about, so IVV takes this one. In a disturbing, yet oddly satisfying way.

Unhappy Goatherd - I felt like both of you nailed this one, though I have a lot of trouble seeing this Rakshasa just hanging around playing goatherd all day. Loses several plausibility points there.

Cross-Eyed Beholder - IVV, I'm just not seeing it. A mechanical trap custom-made for beholders?! That just happens to be above him as he exhumes a grave? Point to Wulf for straightforward implementation. IVV, if I used your scenario, I'd also use Wulf's mechanic -- somehow the beholder triggered a bestow curse and that is what made him crosseyed.

Gloves of Arrow Snatching - IVV, nice to see a beholder-specific problem (can't wear gloves), but why would a goatherd have such gloves, and how would the beholder know this fact, and ... yeah. Plausibility strain. Wulf, excellent justification. Of course a Rakshasa would want those! I'm kicking myself for never making that connection. Point to Wulf.


Evocative Prose: I liked Wulf's entry-cave, I liked the Rakshasa vs. Beholder mafias, I liked the cross-eyed curse.

IVV, I loved the idea of a Beholder trapped by not wanting to turn off his anti-magic cone, and the list of goatherd "animal husbandry" equipment was a bit TOO evocative... and by that, I mean excellent.


Plotwise: Wulf, I liked the idea of a feast on the poisoned flesh of the deep dwarves... but that was also terribly problematic, since the PCs would presumably be eating at the feast as well. Also, how would the PCs or Beholder get to choose which goat, rather than Kip? Also, why hasn't the sentient goat run away yet? Also, these criminal organizations must have been near a town, and I could easily see the PCs deciding to skip the mine and go to town for arrows, wands, ale, whores, whatever -- and then doing some Beholder research, discovering that the criminal underworld had two ringleaders, and connecting the dots from there -- and just deciding to kill both of them, which is what I'd probably want to do!

IVV, I really liked the essence of the setup, but felt it just wasn't justified by the details. IMHO the Beholder knows too much about his situation to have been caught in it.

In general, I felt that each of you have the kernels of an awesome idea, but didn't polish that idea to completion, and the rough edges are poking holes in your continuity.


Usability: Both scored low, because of the work I felt a DM would need to do to fill in the details in adapting for his own use.


Based on ingredient use, I want to give the match to InVinoVeritas. But ... [sblock] despite my reservations, I'm going to give it to InVinoVeritas anyway. He had far less cool stuff, but in this case less is more, because there were fewer loose ends dangling in my face. This bothers me, because with a tiny bit of tweaking Kip is an awesome NPC, and could easily be turned into the party's patron for half a campaign as they gather the equipment she needs to finally destroy civilization... including those gloves. But Raksha Gangsta wasn't an ingredient.[/sblock]

Even though I don't like how incomplete each of these felt, I really do admire the inspiration that oozes from both. Kudos on creativity.
[/sblock]

 

[Radiating Gnome]

And it falls upon me to sum up, after presenting my own.

First, My take. Pernicious Quarrel (PQ) vs. Unnamed Entry (UE)
[sblock]
Let me just get right to the meat of this -- I want to pay some attention to the ingredients and the form, despite the unusual circumstances.

So, the ingredients.

Exhumed Grave.
I frankly had to go hunting through PQ to find this ingredient. It's there, but I really had to hunt for it, and it could really have been anything. In UE, on the other hand, the dracolich's grave was being exhumed by the beholder . . . it works. It's not all that strong, but it's there a little better than the one in PQ. Point to UE.

Tail End
Again, the tail end of the gold mine in PQ is there, but not really in an interesting, evocative way. The exhumed end of a tail of a Dracolich is pretty cool . . . clever, even. Edge to UE.

Unmentionable Services.
Well, the unmentionable services in UE were funny, and certainly unmentionable. I laughed at the idea. In PQ, the services are not really unmentionable at all -- it's a trivial thing, but asking someone not to mention something is not the same as that thing being unmentionable, at least in my head. And, certainly, the PCs had the OPTION to mention those services to either party in the exchange . . . so . . .they were not quite unmentionable at all. I'm imagining 4e skill challenge version of those unmentionable services . . . . Edge to UE.

Unhappy Goatherd.
I like Kip a lot -- it's a real shame that he's not an ingredient per se, because if he were, I think he could have carried a lot of the weaker stuff in PQ. The goatherd guise is okay, but it's sort of weak, even with the flock of polymorphed duegar goats. With UE, the goatherd is an actual goatherd, and as campy and weird as his role in the story is, at least he's tied to the story by an ingredient that calls for that sort of camp (unmentionable services). The idea that a goatherd has a set of gloves of arrow snaring . . . well . . . anyway, that's another ingredient. I'll be back on that horse in a sec. But, if we focus on the unhappy part . . . in UE, the goatherd is unhappy; in PQ she's only pretending to be unhappy. I dunno. It's pretty thin. Call it a wash.

Cross-Eyed Beholder
Honestly, I'm not excited about either of the uses of this. In PQ, the beholder is crosseyed because of a curse, in Ue because of the trap which has caught his eyes and pointed them at each other. Both of those are weak, but I have to say that the idea of a mechanical trap -- one that was not designed specifically to catch a beholder -- has this one caught with his eyes all facing each other is just too much to swallow. Point to PQ.

Gloves of Arrow Snaring
I'm really struggling with the idea that the goatherd in UE has the gloves -- if he has a magical item of such value (and of so little use in his everyday life), why the heck hasn't he sold it and given up being a goatherd? Point to PQ. (and, really, the girdle of masculinity/femininity? Where does he get these wonderful toys?)

So, it's very close, with 3 ingredients swaying towards IVV, and two for Wulf, with a split decision on the goatherd.

Usability
I don't really know what sort of players either of you play with, but my groups don't do well with this sort of delicate negotiation sort of adventure, especially when they are so far fetched.

In PQ, depending upon whether the DM tips his hand, may well believe Kip and head off into the mines to look for the maw, but the PCs will "know" at that point that they're facing the bad guy. They see a painted boulder and hear a voice, they stop sweating the "real" beholder and start attacking. And the rest of the adventure falls apart from there.

In UE . . . well, my PCs would just killed the helpless beholder in the trap, then go looking for the goatherd who has some loot. Maybe some further development would create a situation where combat is ill-advised because it might actually wake the dracolich, but that's not here now.

Evocative Writing/Creativity.
I wasn't very excited by much in either entry. I liked Kip a lot. I think he has potential. And in a very different way, I liked the unmentionable services in UE, even though they're based on magic items that are improbably in the kit of a lowly goatherd.

Overall -
Man, this is a lot harder than I expected when I sat down with these two, given the circumstances. And I find that I'm leaning towards an answer I did not expect to come up with before I started to look closely at the way ingredients were being used.

PQ should have been an easy winner, given the time and development of the adventure. Everything about it is more fleshed out, more developed, more complete than UE. But in the key areas of the ingredients, UE is still edging out PQ, despite the anorexic development, because the ideas behind the use of those ingredients are better. And that's an interesting place to be.

But look at Kip -- so much has been done in this adventure to develop the Rhakshasa Kip -- and the only thing that pays off for the competition is the unhappy(?) goatherd guise he uses to get the PCs to help him. It certainly makes for a more complete entry, and that helps, but does it help the entry cross the finish line? I'm torn.

UE has better, if campy, use of the ingredients. It lacks hooks, and all the window dressing that we want from a good Iron DM entry. But I still am drawn to that adventure more -- that's the one I would rather play. I think if IVV had been able to develop this entry better, it would have been the hands-down winner. No question in my mind.

I find myself in a place where I'm on the hooks between giving one entry my nod because it was more complete, but not because I liked it better -- or, giving the other entry my nod because I liked the ideas better despite the lack of completeness of the entry.

In the end, Iron DM is about creativity and inventiveness -- and I don't necessarily like the trend towards entries that have included complete stat blocks for monsters, etc. Those are nice, but to me they're not the heart of the matter.

So, I'm going to tip towards IVV. I'm sure it's a minority position, but that's where I'm standing.
[/sblock]
-rg

 

[Radiating Gnome]

I'm both surprised and not surprised.

The short version of the judgement on this round is that Nifft has given a solid vote for IVV; that was enough to throw Phoamslinger's vote into IVV's column, so my position was trivial . . . . though my weak vote for IVV makes this a pretty wish-washy but still unanimous decision

Reading over the judgements, I think we're all responding to the same things, and all felt the same sort of frustrations making a decision on this round.

Wulf, I think you're a helluva guy, and you've been a model of sportsmanship, given the lateness of IVV's entry. And, frankly, I'm still surprised that I didn't like this entry of yours better. But as one of the judges, I want to make it a point to thank you for your generosity and grace.

And InVinoVeritas, I'm happy to be the one to send you along to the finals, but I'd HATE to see another entry as thin as this past one, given the other strengths you clearly have. I hope that we'll be able to schedule the final round in such away that you'll have the time to complete your entry properly.

-rg

 

[InVinoVeritas]

Honestly, guys, I'm humbled.

Thank you for your judgment and discussion of the entry. The weekend will give me time that I cannot have during the week, so this might help.

Wulf, Kip is awesome, and I'll have to find a way to use him in my games.

Thanks again, I'll keep working and do my best in the finals.

 

[Wik]

Gone Fishing!

Gone Fishin’
A Fourth Edition D&D Adventure for five PCs of 15th level

Background:

The Black Rock Confederacy has recently come under the threat of raids originating from the many caverns that thread through the hills. Strange, aquatic fish monsters, named “Kuo-Toa” by those knowledgeable in such things, have been making forays on the various towns and villages of the confederacy. Many have gone missing, dragged screaming into the steaming caverns below.

Traditional attempts to fight this menace have failed – fortifying the numerous villages and towns is difficult at best, and the laying of traps thus far has been unsuccessful. Divine pleas for aid point towards a risky endeavour – for, in the very caves haunted by Kuo-Toa, there is said to lie an abandoned magical trident that grants control over the fish men. But to enter the underdark – and brave the kuo-toa army that camp there – is a terrifying proposition.

Luckily for the Confederacy, a resourceful young healer named Ebon Grai has put forward one means of acquiring otherwise reluctant volunteers. The Confederacy will issue a draft...

Synopsis:

The PCs are asked by Confederacy leaders to arrange for the draft of civilians, in the hopes of putting together a suitable force capable of acquiring a magical Trident said to be located in an old underground dwarven hold. They take part in the forced drafting of the adult populace, having to quell riots and settle on a means of determining suitability in the drafting process. During this process, they will be faced with many bribery offers, and will most likely wind up on the expeditionary force themselves.

The PCs meet Ebon Grai, an opportunistic young healer who has offered to lead the expedition. Ebon is a very smart man, with sinister motivations, which the PCs soon discover on their trek underground. Ebon has developed a process that allows slain volunteers to be temporarily revived as wights – those undead that are able to return to the surface will be easily revived (or so Ebon claims).

The strike force makes it way through a fungal forest underground, with the PCs having to settle disputes among their “troopers” and unease over the “new recruits” (the wights). After several battles with Kuo-Toa, they learn that a strike team of Fish Men is making its way to the fortress in order to secure the trident.

The PCs (along with Ebon) leave the main expeditionary force to enter the fortress, which has been charged with electrical energy due to the presence of so many Kuo-Toa whips and monitors. Eventually, the party comes across the Trident (an artefact that allows the PCs to control the Kuo-Toa) only to be predictably betrayed by Ebon. Using their kuo-toa army, the PCs have to battle Ebon’s Wights if they wish to escape the underdark alive.

A Quick Note:

Unlike earlier entries, this adventure could be very large in scope, and is not necessarily linear in structure. While a potential path is charted for the PCs to follow, deviations can (and probably will) occur. Further, the exact outcome of this adventure remains open to PC choice. As such, the presentation of this adventure will differ from earlier entries, instead focusing on individual ingredients and adventure possibilities.

The Black Rock Confederacy:

The Black Rock Confederacy is a collection of independent townships in the Furnace Hills, an area known to be riddled with both limestone caverns and lava vents. Considered by most to be a suicide locale, due to the frequent volcanic eruptions and inevitable monster raids, the confederacy still attracts a rough and tumble assortment of miners and profit-seekers, due to the abundance of gemstones (particularly diamonds) in the earth. The confederacy consists of a dozen or so towns and villages, scattered throughout the hills, each no more than thousand souls strong.

The exact reasoning for why the PCs find themselves in the Furnace Hills is, of course, up to the individual GM to decide, but a simple reason that can easily be explained into the story is to come as independent arbiters, hired in a low-lying town. As the Confederacy struggles against the increasing Kuo-Toa raids, they have decided (due to Ebon Grai’s leadership and plan, described below) that a military draft to put forth a field army is the best pursuit. However, in such a case, there are always those who can put forward a valid argument on why they should not be considered for the mission. And, due to the small size of the confederacy, no leader could be considered to be truly neutral. As such, the PCs could easily be hired to act as a neutral, unbiased party. This “hook” is the default consideration for the adventure, though GMs can modify it as they see fit, obviously.

The Draft:

Ebon Grai has put forward a plan to draft thirty men and women that are capable of entering the underdark in the hopes of securing the trident. Each will be trained in basic military drills, equipped with arms and armour, and arranged into a strike force. However, Ebon has a technique that will allow those who are slain to be temporarily revived as a special form of Wight – a monster with a fully-functioning body and a soul in limbo, capable of draining life from the living. The breakthrough in the process is Ebon’s ability to, upon returning home, return the wight to life without the expensive ritual components that would surely bankrupt the confederacy. This technique is done using an easy-to-operate machine the healer has been working on for years as a side project – everyone knows how to use it, and are reasonably sure it will work. Enough, at least, to accept the risk Ebon proposes.

Of course, no one wants to face the possibility of temporarily turning into an undead monstrosity, and so a random draft is necessary. The PCs are hired to decide what constitutes a “draft-worthy candidate”, debating on parameters such as age, physical fitness, average intelligence, and so on. Each time they make a claim, they are presented with a “corner case” that they will have to make a ruling on. Of course, the whole time, they are presented with individuals feigning illnesses to make them exempt from the draft. During this period of the adventure, they are also given “friendly advice” by Ebon to make sure certain individuals are automatically drafted (rivals that Ebon holds a grudge against), as well as bribes by wealthier miners to exempt certain members. At least one “Draft Riot” should occur, and rebellions that oppose the draft could also spring up (imagine the PCs’ headquarters being surrounded by a “sing-in”!)

In any case, the PCs have to organize the draft itself, and the draft should be carried out as a major adventure scene. People growing increasingly tense as things carry on, while draftees pass out when their names are called.

After the draft is carried out, if the PCs haven’t volunteered to lead the expedition, they are approached by the community leaders, who beg the PCs to venture into the underdark. If they oppose this, they are instead approached by wealthier draftees who are willing to pay a rather large sum (in diamonds) if the PCs take their places. The PCs are also responsible for the training of the new recruits.

The draftees will follow PC advice as long as it is reasonable, and have a good mix of trepidation at the ordeal ahead of them and pride in their new combat abilities. Each is equipped with suitable arms and armour, provisions for the expedition, sun rods, and metal neck tags identifying themselves. They have a fear of the wights, and as more and more draftees are changed into undead, the fear among the draftees increases. They are prone to panic, and develop jaded personalities alarmingly fast.

For a good example of the draftees’ behaviour, watch the movies Platoon and Hamburger Hill, or most any movie on the Vietnam war. Establish several draftees early on, and give each draftee a catch phrase (such as “this can’t be happening” or “one day, this will all be over, and we’ll laugh about it”. As the draftees die and resurrect, they’ll repeat these catch phrases at key moments).

Ebon Grai:

Ebon Grai quickly establishes himself as a problem. Not only is his plan an unusual one, but his personality suggests he has little love for the confederacy. He does act as the expedition’s healer, though he charges for his healing services, and readily admits he became a healer for the money. Furthermore, his desire to see townsfolk changed into Wights becomes apparent very early on, with the so-called “healer” often declaring minor wounds to be fatal, suggesting a “temporary change in life status” as the only possible solution.

An early example will involve a draftee breaking an arm or a foot, and Ebon doing his best to humanely kill the civilian and promptly bring him back as a wight. Of course, the PCs will not trust Ebon very early on, especially once they realize they have no way of controlling the wights without the healer (who, of course, was fully trusted above ground). For his part, Ebon will do his best to get to dying draftees before the PCs, to turn them into wights before PC healing magic can take effect.

Ebon’s secret plan is to raise an army of wights and steal the trident, and then use the trident to gain control of the kuo-toa. With this force under his control, he’ll intensify the raids upon the surface and increase his army of wights substantially, until he is strong enough to seize control of the diamond stores and achieve fabulous wealth.

By the time the PCs realize Ebon is a threat, they also discover that they need him to return to the surface alive. After all, the moment he dies, the wights will go berserk. They should realize that the speedy retrieval of the artefact is the only way to return to the surface.

The Wights:

The Wights, as raised by Ebon, are mostly animated bodies animated by necromantic energy, as opposed to the soul-like animus that drives most people. They appear in many ways in their original form; however, their improper blood flow gives most of the wights a bruised look, with many purple splotches over the face, neck, hands, arms, chest, and legs. The longer the wights remain “dead”, the more pronounced this purple colouring becomes.

The Wights are not mindless, in fact retaining the same level of intelligence and training they had in life, only with a pronounced desire to “achieve the mission” (acquire the trident) and a subtle hatred of those who are still alive. Each wight is also incredibly loyal to Ebon, readily laying down his “life” to save “the master”. Should Ebon die, the wights will go berserk, slaying the remaining draftees readily. Each wight says little, though they often repeat one or two phrases. Some unconsciously repeat the last words they said over and over again as a mantra, others (such as the draftees the GM has decided to focus on) will repeat a stock phrase, even when it makes absolutely no sense. When they are forced to speak, they respond in one or two word answers.

During their foray into the fungal jungle, the Wights develop infections all over their body due to the moist conditions, some even growing mushrooms during watch duty. Upon reaching the dwarven lightning fortress, a wight that gets struck by an errant bolt of electricity will suddenly have its heart start once more, at least for a few seconds (one round). During this time, the wight reverts to his human self, screaming in horror at his current predicament before once more “going wight”.

The Underdark:

When the PCs enter the underdark with their large expeditionary force, they must move through many limestone tunnels and lava vents. The entire underground is hot and steamy, as there are numerous underwater vents that keep the air uncomfortably moist. For the first few days of the journey (encountering relatively small kuo-toa strike teams), the group encounters only small mushrooms and fungus conditions. This all ends when they enter the last stage of the journey, the mushroom jungle (see below).

During this trip, the group should have many role-playing opportunities with draftees (as they break for camp and try to keep morale), leadership opportunities, arguments with Ebon, and pitched battles with Kuo-Toa. The battles with Kuo-Toa should involve the PCs in a side fight, running a skill challenge to influence how the battle as a whole went. In any case, draftees should die during the Kuo-Toa ambushes; the success of the PCs in the skill challenges should influence the number. Make it clear that PCs cannot fight the Kuo-Toa along – each fight should involve dozens of the fish men. Furthermore, the more wights there are in the party, the easier each fight becomes, which could allow the PCs to think dead draftees are the ideal solution (good parties could have a very hard time rationalizing this).

The Fungal Forest:

The Fungal Forest is a series of large caverns, fed by both magma vents and aquatic waterways to create a steamy, moist environment. The steam collects on the millions of stalactites hundreds of feet overhead, before reaching a critical mass and “raining” in predictable torrents. This abundance of moisture has lead to the development of an underground “jungle” of sorts, populated entirely by giant mushrooms and various fungi that resemble undergrowth. The frequent rain and thick vegetation plays havoc on night vision, and the draftees find their clothes soon completely sodden and uncomfortable – diseases run rampant if left unchecked.

The group knows that the “dwarven fort” is somewhere in this forest, but also know that the forest stretches across dozens of caverns, each cavern kilometres in length. The Kuo-Toa are also searching the area in large groups (conveniently, groups the same size as the PCs expeditionary group! Who’d have thunk it?), using the waterways and pools to get from location to location, as they hate the conditions of the forest at least as much as the surface dwellers.

Many survival challenges can take place here – disease and the rotting of food are an obvious place to start, but deadfalls, poisonous fungal clouds, strangling vines, and pit traps are all possible choices. There could be minor dwarven ruins, completely overgrown, that foreshadow the dwarven fortress (below). Encounters could include Kuo-Toa raiding parties (in the thick of the “jungle”, these fights would be running skirmishes), bizarre giant centipedes that act like jungle snakes, and all manner of insect.

The Lightning Fortress:

The PCs were sent to get the Trident of Fish Command, which was said to be in an old dwarven fortress made of steel, buried underground. When the PCs reach the fortress, they see that the steel framework has been completely covered by the unchecked fungus forest. They also soon learn that the Kuo-Toa discovered it first, and the presence of lightning-powered Kuo-Toa whips and monitors has charged the metal structure in many places. In fact, it hums with electrical energy in places.

The PCs realize sending the entire strike team into the fortress (now probably half human and half wight, at least) would be more of a hassle than a help, so instead go in themselves. Ebon insists he accompany them (he wants the Trident, remember), and brings along his two favourite wights. Run Ebon and each Wight as a companion character, if possible.

The fortress is obviously dwarven in nature, with dwarven script in the walls and dwarf-sized hallways and furniture. Many of the larger room are filled with fungus growths, while large patches have completely rusted through. Despite this, many areas consist of bare metal, which often has an electrical charge. Furthermore, the Kuo-Toa in the area are aware of this, and use it to their advantage. As mentioned above, wights who trigger the numerous electrically-charged areas will temporarily revive, which should unsettle most PCs.

Exploring this dungeon should be a horror setting at times, with the wights increasing the tension, and the kuo-toa launching ambushes from underbrush or through rusted-open walls. Eventually, though, the PCs make it to the central room, and find the trident.

The Trident of Fish Command:

Built by the dwarves centuries ago, the Trident was forged to repel the Kuo-Toa that infested the underdark. However, the Kuo-Toa soon learned of the trident’s powers, and left the dwarves alone. With no kuo-toa to worry about, the trident remained unused for decades, until it was loaned to surface-dwelling humans to increase their fishing yield. Of course, after this, the kuo-toa attacked once more, and the dwarves scrambled to regain their valuable artefact. It was eventually returned, but not before the dwarves were forced to the surface. The bearer of the trident was not able to repel the kuo-toa – he made it to the old steel fortress before he was killed from a fall through the floor. The trident has remained in the fortress ever since, forgotten.

The Trident allows the wielder to control up to fifty Kuo-Toa at any one time, issuing commands as a minor action.

When the PCs recover the trident, Ebon makes his power play to seize it. However, the PCs should be prepared, and repel the healer. Ebon flees back to his army of Wights, and leads them in an attack against the remaining draftees, hoping to develop more followers. The PCs have to use the trident to control the nearby Kuo-Toa to stop Ebon... without killing him (since should he die, the wights will go berserk, and will not make it back to the surface to regain their former lives).

Exactly how the PCs accomplish this, of course, remains to be seen.

Final Notes:

If the PCs are able to lead the wights and surviving draftees to the surface, the wights are revived and Ebon will face prosecution and probable hanging. The trident will be used as a deterring device, and once the kuo-toa realize the confederacy has the trident, they cease their raids.

INGREDIENT SUMMARY:
Evil Healer: Ebon Grai. Obviously evil, throughout the adventure. His "healing process" of temporary revival is pretty evil, and his behaviour as official doctor throughout the adventure is pretty nasty.
Purple Wights: Again, pretty obvious. They are purple from their half-living status (and the congealed nature of the blood). This was actually really hard to figure out, but once I took at look through my first aid book (completely by accident!) it all came together.
Military Draft: The PCs both initiate the draft itself, and then have to deal with draftees throughout the adventure.
Trident of Fish Control: Not only the "MacGuffin" but an artefact that creates a very interesting encounter at the end (and the first time that the PCs are able to actually oppose Ebon, since if they do beforehand, they'll find many wights against them).
Underdark Jungle: The mushroom forest. Very much a jungle (due to the frequent rain and heat) over a forest.
Lightning Fort: The dwarven steel fortress, charged due to the presence of so many kuo-toa exploring it.

 

[Iron Sky]

OPERATION: LIGHTNING STORM

This adventure is designed for a party of 11th level PCs. It takes place deep in the Underdark and makes a great introduction to paragon-level play.

Background
The brilliant and ambitious Locutious “Royal” Bolt had a grand dream; to set up a human empire amidst the dangers of the Underdark. He was partially successful, creating rifts to the Elemental Chaos to power the defenses of a series of forts around the borders of the territory where he planned to build his empire. Unfortunately for his grand dream of the “Bulwark Empire”, several factions took an interest in his machinations, including the neighboring drow and the militaries of the elemental cities Stormbreak and Cloudpeak(see below).

While the drow had no interest in the forts themselves due to the distance from their nearest settlements, they didn't like Bolt's rapidly expanding power or the idea of his forts falling into someone else's hands. They infiltrated his followers and performed a ritual that turned all of the inhabitants of his primary fort into ravening undead, figuring that would deter anyone else from taking it over. When Bolt himself was transformed, he – unlike most wights – retained a shred of his previous personality and ambitions and created a small “kingdom” of Wights based out of the first fort he constructed: the Sparkrift Bulwark.

Sparkrift Bulwark
The first fort is built in a massive Underdark cavern, designed around a rift to just inside a massive continual lightning storm in the Elemental Chaos known as the Allfront. The Sparkrift Bulwark taps into the power of the storm, channeling lightning into the fort and its surrounds to create a nearly-impenetrable barrier. The yellow metal walls of the fort have arcane and mechanical grounding devices that keep those inside it safe from the energy-saturated area around the rift but those outside aren't so lucky.

Sparkrift Jungle
Everything went entirely according to Bolt's plan, including the Sparkrift's effect on the lush, tangled Underdark jungle in which he built his fort. Much of the native Underdark flora and fauna died away, but what remained adapted and intermixed with the exotic plants and creatures native to the Allfront.

Aside from the usual Underdark giant mushrooms and phosphorescent fungus, the Sparkrift Jungle also now holds brilliantly-colored schools of cloud-swimming Sparkfish, several of the smaller breeds of Skywhales(that tend to remain in the near the energy-rich Sparkrift itself), dangerous Flicker Sharks, volatile current bushes, and, most importantly, exotic Crimson Charge-blossom flowers and an elemental-adapted fungus called Blue Groundweb.

Charge Blossoms and Groundweb have the unique property that, when gathered and ground together into a paste that is applied to the skin, the wearer is protected from the worst of the elemental effects surrounding the Sparkrift itself (and lightning in general). This is the key that let Bolt and his followers come and go from the Bulwark once the Sparkrift was opened and is also the key that has allowed Bolt, in his new form, to keep his small army of Wights intact.

The Sparkrift Jungle is a dangerous place. Every round a creature is in the Jungle, they take an attack versus Fortitude that deals 2d6+3 lightning damage from the ambient lightning energy sent out by the Sparkrift. The local creatures and plants have either adapted to this environment or are native to it and have grown in/migrated to the Jungle. Any normal Underdark hazard or an evolved version of just about any normal Underdark monster might be found here as well.

Also note that the Jungle is thickly laden with faerzress – the magical energy that is consumed by the Underdark plants in the Jungle – that made the growth so rich in the first place. Because of this, any teleport attempt is reduced to a 1 square teleport and any divination or scrying rituals fail when used in or on the Jungle or Bulwark.

Locutious “Royal” Bolt, aka the Royal Wight
Bolt was an eccentric genius whose mad fervor was enough to draw a hundred human followers on his “Royal Underdark Design.” Once converted, he still remembered enough to coat his wights with his stockpiles of protective paste and have them constantly scour the Jungle for the ingredients to keep their supply high.

Now, his wights ambush patrols or caravans of whatever Underdark creatures that happen to pass by the Sparkrift Jungle, then retreat to the relative safety of its bounds, often taking captives so he can Soul Harvest them to heal up any injured/damaged Wights after battle(see below).

As the Royal Wight, he still wears the purple and white garb of the royalty he made himself up to be in life and a gaudy crown of white gold studded with emeralds.

Mechanically, he is a Battle Wight Commander(MM1,p262), modified to be an elite – mostly consisting of making the Soul Harvest power an at-will rather than recharge power, augmenting the area-of-effect and healing quantity of Soul Harvest, and giving him 15 lightning resist.

The rest of his Purple Wights are as Battle Wights(MM1,p262), any he sends out of the Bulwark are coated with the protective purple paste, granting them resist 15 lightning for the day. All of them are canny about the hazards of the Jungle and adept at avoiding them.

Stormbreak and Cloudpeak
Stormbreak is a many-bridged city in the Elemental Chaos that is built on a web of massive wind-blown floating platforms that continually fly along the crest of the ever-expanding Allfront. Currently, they are preparing for war with the neighboring floating city of Cloudpeak. Until fairly recently, the cities were peaceful, but Bolt's Sparkrift sits in the Allfront between the two cities, disrupting the schools of Sparkfish and the migration patterns of Skywhales that the two cities fish/hunt as their primary food sources.

As sky fishers in the two cities began coming back with empty nets, the two cities became more aggressive in protecting their territories in the Allfront, eventually leading them to the brink of all-out war as they skirmished over the disappearing foodstocks. Finally, both called up their militias – the last step before war – the massive swelling of their respective militaries putting a massive strain on their resources and their already fragile relations with each other.

As a last-ditch diplomatic effort, the military leaders of the cities met in an attempt to avert the war and sent a combined squad of soldiers to the material plane in an attempt to find and eliminate the cause of the Sparkrift. This force wasn't quite prepared for the dangers of the Underdark into which they were sent and their number has now dwindled to two; a Genesai(Wind) Warlord from Stormbreak, code-name “Bellows”, and a Genesai(Lightning) Paladin from Cloudpeak, code-name “the Purifier”.

Bellows and The Purifier
Having finally reached the edge of the Sparkrift Jungle, Bellows came to the conclusion that if they were to have any hope of completing their mission and surviving to report their success back to their home cities, they had to conscript “locals” to the task. They have managed to bribe, threaten, coerce, and/or persuade a few adventurous parties to brave the depths of the Sparkrift Jungle for them and have learned much from those group's (mostly fatal) failures. They have a plan that they think will work, but they are running out of time; every day they wait is another day closer to war between Stormbreak and Cloudpeak.

The Purifier was also given a secret objective by the commander of his order, The Knights of the Golden Sky, to test a new ritual codenamed “Heal Evil” that may possibly restore intelligent undead and return them to their previous forms. It is a lower priority than preventing the war, but if it doesn't compromise their primary mission, he would like to try it on one of the Purple Wights.

The PCs will discover them in a small camp on the outskirts of the Sparkrift Jungle consisting of a pair of small personal tents, a much larger “command tent”, and two supply tents. Both agents own and carry a veritable arsenal of weaponry and equipment – mostly taken from their fallen companions and “conscripts” – some of which might be offered as rewards. Most importantly, Bellows has the Trident, MK2, Fish Command and Control Device(see below).

Bellows has a constant swirl of wind about him and an air of absolute command. The Purifier is much quieter, but his eyes spark with his zealousness and devotion to the mission(s).

Each is a different flavor of Level 13 Solo Soldier(Leader).

Trident, MK2, Fish Command and Control Device(TMK2-FCACD)
These tridents are primarily used to keep Flicker Sharks and other larger sky-swimming creatures away from military airships traveling through the Allfront and the one Bellows possesses is integral to their plan to complete their mission.

The trident has an at-will, standard action power that automatically(no roll required) dominates a nearby swarm of Sparkfish, a single Flicker Shark, or a Skywhale until the end of the player's next turn.

Sparkfish are usually non-hostile “background” elements and the DM can assume there is always a school or two of them “swimming” amidst the Jungle or near the Bulwark. If the Trident holder calls a school to swarm around them, the bodies of the Sparkfish protect anyone inside the huge(3x3) school from some of the lightning energies of their environment(lightning resist 5). Also, they can be ordered to attack the Trident-holder's enemies.

Flicker Sharks and Skywhales are more rare and Skywhales are also an important part of Bellow's plan(see below).

Also, the Trident has been secretly modified by the Purifier so that if an intelligent undead creature is hit by the blunt end of the trident, an item daily power, free action power activates: the creature makes a saving throw. If it is successful, the power is not used up; if the save fails, the creature dies unless otherwise noted(see below). Bellows knows nothing of this power, nor do any PCs not taken aside by the Purifier(see below).

Hooks
1) The PCs, while traveling through the Underdark, encounter the Bellows and The Purifier and are conscripted to aid them on their mission(s).
2) If the PCs have ties to any Underdark factions (drow, dueregar, etc), those factions can send them to investigate Sparkrift Bulwark and/or the Sparkrift Jungle to determine how much threat they pose now.
3) The PCs are encountered wherever they happen to be by Bolt's recruiters – who have been gone from the Underdark for months to years as they roam the lands and haven't heard of their master's fate – who promise them adventure, power, high rank, and/or good pay if they join the “Bulwark Empire's” military, dispatching them to Sparkrift Bulwark to enlist.
4) Cloudpeak and Stormbreak have called upon their allies in the material plane for assistance; allies who happen to be factions the PCs have been working with/for and send the PCs to assist.
5) Good aligned Paladins, Clerics, or similar characters might have been sent by the same order that the Purifier is a member of to aid him in his secret “Heal Evil” mission(see Below).

Bullet Point Adventure Summary
0) Hooks
1) Drafted into “the mission” and briefed
2) Infiltration/navigation of the Sparkrift Jungle
3) Skywhale assault on the Sparkrift Bulwark
4) Resolution

1. Mission Improbable
The PCs find themselves on the outskirts of the Sparkrift Jungle. How and why they are there depends on which hook(s) the DM used to get them there.

Regardless, when they arrive, the commandeering Bellows will attempt to conscript them into their mission, via whatever means he thinks will work; pleading, persuasion, bullying, promises of equipment, riches, and/or glory, even threats if he believes there is no other alternative.

The Purifier uses Insight to gauge the PCs' trustworthiness, approaching good-aligned Paladins and Clerics first, then any other seemingly good-aligned characters(especially any he discerns to be ritual casters, offering them copies of the ritual if it works). The Purifier will take such notables aside to discuss his secret “Heal Evil” mission. If he can convince them to help with his secret mission, he will attempt to get them to help persuade the others to help with the primary mission.

Once the PCs are on-board, Bellows shifts to the stern mien of a commanding officer. Whichever PC has the most prominent military bent, took the lead in the negotiations, and/or that Bellows likes most becomes “Sergeant.” He appends “Private” to the beginning of all the rest of the PCs' names. When speaking of them in general, he calls them “the Recruits”.

The Purifier mostly stays quiet, though occasionally throws in strong words about the “righteousness” of their mission, especially to any PCs in on his secret mission.

Bellows reveals the following plan, all drawn up and diagrammed on dozens of parchment sheets pinned to a large board that he points to with a long stick as he details the mission:

OPERATION: LIGHTNING STORM
Preparation: The Recruits are to be trained in the use and operation of the Trident, MK2, Fish Command and Control Device(TMK2-FCACD).
Phase 1: The Recruits are to use any means at their disposal, including but not limited to relevant applications of the TMK2 to appropriate a sufficient quantity Objective Alpha(indigenous fungal species BG, alias Blue Groundweb and floral species CCB, alias Crimson Charge-blossom) from the edge of Operation Zone Bravo(Sparkrift Jungle).
Phase 2: The Recruits are to rendevous at Home Base with Objective Alpha to regroup to create LBF-15(Lightning Block Factor 15) and prepare for Phase 3.
Phase 3: After training in the use and operation of LBF-15, the Recruits are to make liberal application of it to fortify against local conditions and infiltrate Operation Zone Bravo, eliminating or avoiding any encountered hostiles, using the TMK2 at their discretion.
Phase 4: Upon reaching the boundary of Operation Zone Charlie(Sparkrift Bulwark), the Recruits are to use the TMK2 to locate and commandeer any sufficient Objective Delta(Skywhales).
Phase 5: Once inside a commandeered Objective Delta, the Recruits are to use its arial capabilities to bypass the barrier surrounding Operation Zone Charlie.
Phase 6: Upon location of a suitable Landing Zone inside Operation Zone Charlie, the Recruits are to find and identify Primary Objective Echo(Sparkrift's source).
Phase 7: If necessary, the Recruits will perform a holding action while destruction and/or neutralization of Primary Objective Echo are carried out.
Phase 7b: Target of opportunity, Secondary Objective Foxtrot(Locutious “Royal” Bolt, aka the Royal Wight) shall be eliminated if possible, though not at the expense of Primary Objective Echo.
Phase 8: The Recruits will be responsible for self-extraction from Operation Zone Charlie and Operation Zone Bravo. Debriefing to be carried out at Home Base.

Bellows will then answer any questions, distribute written copies of the mission(with all the words in parenthesis omitted for “mission security reasons”, and send the Recruits on their way.

Once the mission briefing is complete, The Purifier will slip the relevant PCs a slip of paper with the following:

Special operation “Heal Evil”
Phase 7c: The alternate function of the TMK2-FCACD is to be used on Secondary Objective Foxtrot if at all possible. If not, it should be used on Tertiary Objective Golf(any Wight).

2. It's a Jungle Out There!
The PCs now are set loose into the Sparkrift Jungle. Their first foray won't take them too far into the Jungle, especially since, even with a swarm of Sparkfish about them, they probably can't survive the round-by-round lightning attacks very long. Inside, an Easy Nature or Dungeoneering check nets 1 handful of the Blue Groundweb and a Hard Nature or Arcana check nets 1 Crimson Charge-blossom flower. Failed checks to pick Crimson Charge-blossom inflict 2d10 lightning damage as Charge-blossom's are improperly handled.

The PCs will spot (and hopefully use) schools of Sparkfish and maybe a Flicker Shark or Skywhale in the distance, glowing eyes and furtive movements deeper in the Jungle, but shouldn't be forced to fight at this point.

Once they return to “Home Base”, The Purifier will quickly grind and mix LBF-15 salves(1 handful of Blue Groundweb, 1 Crimson Charge-blossom, plus a bit of water) that can be applied grant 15 lightning resist for the day. Any PC with the Alchemy feat that observes him can now produce make LBF-15 if possessing the proper ingredients.

On their second foray into the Jungle, the PCs face a skill challenge to navigate the Jungle and find their way to the Sparkrift Bulwark. Failures will usually mean attacks from roaming bands of Wights and/or a school of Flicker Sharks, encounters with particularly charged flora (walking through current bushes, stepping on blue charge-blossoms, etc) that will overcome even the Groundweb's lightning resist and cost the PCs a healing surge. The PCs might also encounter any appropriately modified Underdark monsters and especially distinctive Underdark hazards such as doomspores or failed teleport attempts over pits.

Once they near the Bulwark, they find the Jungle has been cleared away so the last 50 feet or so from the walls are open ground. Spires on the walls reach up towards the Sparkrift that sits over the Bulwark, continuous bolts of lightning from the crackling into them. Blue lightning constantly rolls across the outer surface of the walls; any creature that touches them takes 3d10+5 lightning damage and is pushed 5 squares.

The PCs must undertake another smaller/easier skill challenge to find a Skywhale, use the TMK2 on it, have it swallow them(harmlessly), and fly them over the wall of the Bulwark.

3. Fade to Wight
Once the PCs “land” the Skywhale, they find themselves inside the Sparkrift Bulwark.

Inside is a large central tower, the spire on its top touching the bottom edge of the rift itself. The PCs must fight their way through the Wights roaming the courtyard, then into the tower itself. If they get through the tower's open doors, they can close and bar them against the Wights outside. On the highest level of the tower, they find a massive and intricate arcane device – a massive central crystal, floors and walls littered with glowing glyphs, spinning crystals orbiting about, swirling arcs of metal, and any other embellishments the DM cares to add. Guarding it is a handful of Purple Wights and the Royal Wight himself.

The room is dangerous – the glyphs flare up when touched, as do the crystals, arcs of metal slam into and push people around, etc – and should make for a dramatic fight, especially since the Wights are canny enough to work together and take advantage of workings of the device – such as immobilizing PCs in the path of hazards or on dangerous glyphs or immobilizing PCs near the Royal Wight so he can use his healing Soul Harvest power on them.

If the PCs attack the workings of the device itself, each hit makes the room even more dangerous – randomly arcing arcane energy, massive falling pieces of metal, exploding crystals, etc.

If the PCs successfully hit a normal Purple Wight with the “special end” of the TMK2 and it fails its save, that Wight dies instantly since there is not enough of the previous personality remaining for the transformation. If the Royal Wight is struck and fails his save, however, he instantly becomes Bolt again. Several things happen at this point: the Wights instantly see Bolt as hostile and Bolt quickly sums up the situation. If the PCs have started attacking his device, he will quickly call for them to stop and head towards a series of glyphs on the wall where he needs to survive three rounds to turn the device off. He keeps the same hitpoint totals he had as the Royal Wight but loses all his powers.

Once off, Bolt will suggest they get out of there since there's Wights everywhere and he isn't sure exactly what will happen with the “Singularity” (the Sparkrift) closes.

If they land 5 hits on the device(whether Bolt is helping them or not), the whole tower to becomes unstable and the device starts coming apart dramatically. The Wights will suicidally continue to attack, but it should rapidly become apparent to the PCs that they need to flee. If he has not been killed or “healed”, the Royal Wight will flee as well to rally any remaining Wights in the courtyard against the PCs.

When the PCs reach the courtyard, they will face a horde of Wights to the front and an exploding tower and violently collapsing rift behind. The Skywhale they flew in should be nearby so they can call it with the TMK2 and make a dramatic fighting escape back over the walls and into the Jungle.

If they destroyed the device, as they fly away in the Skywhale, the rift trembles and collapses and the whole tower implodes to a shimmering pinpoint of energy, then explodes in a massive shockwave that tears apart the Jungle and sends the PCs' Skywhale crasthing into the Jungle.

If they didn't destroy it, the rift still collapses and sends out a shockwave the crashes the Skywhale, but the Bulwark (and some of the Wights inside) survives.

At this point, the PCs resources are probably fairly exhausted and the DM can simply narrate their flight through the Jungle back to “Home Base”, though if the DM desires, they may face more of the Jungle's hazards as they depart.

4. See no Evil, Heal no Evil
When the PCs reach the camp, they are enthusiastically greeted and rewarded by Bellows. He issues a round of “field promotions” – the Sergeant to Lieutenant, the Privates to Corporals – and carries out his side of whatever was agreed upon earlier when the PCs were “drafted”. Also, he hauls out a keg of “field brewed beer” that he made from some of the local Underdark plants, taps it, offers the PCs frothy tankards full, and drinks heartily with them.

The Purifier will pull aside the members of the “secret mission” and ask how it went. If they destroyed a regular Wight or hit any Wight(s) to no effect, he will take the Trident somberly and not speak of it again.

If they got it to work on Bolt, however, he will examine Bolt, write extensive notes in a journal, then thank the PCs profusely and let them keep the Trident as a reward.

If Bolt lives, he eats and drinks ravenously with the PCs, likely being scolded by Bellows and the Purifier for his irresponsibility and lack of regard. Bolt half-listens until he is done eating when he jumps up, shouts “so much work to be done!” and disappears back into the Sparkrift Jungle.

Further adventures
The PCs have many options from here. They might investigate Bolt's other Bulwarks, perhaps at Bellows and the Purifier's behest. They might escort the agents to a teleportation circle or another rift where they can return to the Elemental Chaos. If they go along, they might discover the war has already started and join one side or the other, or be enlisted to try to stop it. They might head off with the Purifier to capture more undead as he works on perfecting “Heal Evil”. If Bolt has been restored, they might join him in his instantly renewed attempts to create his empire or find themselves chasing him down trying to stop him from creating more forts and mucking with the planes.

Ingredients:
Underdark Jungle: The Sparkrift Jungle, full of a strange mix of creatures, plants(such as the Blue Groundweb and Crimson Charge-blossom that are mixed and used by the Purple Wights and gives them their color), and hazards of the Underdark and the Elemental Chaos. In its depths is the Lightning Fort, ruled by the Evil Healer, the Royal Wight.

Lightning Fort: The Sparkrift Bulwark, built by the Royal Wight(the leader of the Purple Wights and the Evil Healer) in the middle of the Underdark Jungle. The LBF-15, created from ingredients found in the Underdark Jungle, also Fortifies creatures against lightning. Also, creatures that spend any time in the Underdark Jungle take Lightning attacks that target their Fortitude.

Evil Healer: The leader of the Purple Wights, who built the Lightning Fort in the middle of the Underdark Jungle. Also, the Purifier, whose secret “Heal Evil” mission is to find a way to reverse the evil that creates intelligent undead.

Military Draft: The war preparations at Stormbreak and Cloudpeak that caused the adventure to take place in the first place. One of the plot-hooks to get the players to come(to join the military at the Lightning Fort) and what Bellows does once they are there. As part of their reward, the PCs are given fresh-tapped field-brewed alcohol(Military Draft beer). Also, as a Wind Genesai, the highly militaristic Bellows also has a constant stirring wind about him (a “military draft”, *wince*).

Purple Wight: The Purple Wights led by the Evil Healer, so named because they smear a paste made from plants in the Underdark Jungle and protect themselves from the power-source of the Lightning Fort. Also, the Royal Wight is dressed in purple, customarily the color of nobility (he also wears purple/white because I couldn't resist the terrible pun).

Trident of Fish Command: A device given to the PCs to aid them in getting through the Underdark Jungle and into the Lightning Fort. Also the instrument of the Purifier's plan to be the Evil Healer, by healing the Evil Healer with it.