Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Atras" data-source="post: 4967212" data-attributes="member: 84936">The Brutal Bard of TrasaAfter weeks of stumbling through the woods and the mountains, you have found a pleasant seeming village built around a river delta, but all is not as it appears in this sleepy little town... A 4th Edition adventure for five level 10 characters.Background The village of Trasa, located on the river Bradlichi, has been met with hard times. Known for nothing of interest, it sits largely ignored by nobles; the town has grown self-reliant enough to fend off a random passing goblin or orc group. When a Troll came, that was another matter altogether. The troll nearly caused the starvation of the town three winters ago when it killed two of the strongest defenders of the town, and it took nearly all of the town's food. When it came back in the spring, it was surprised by a Half-Orc Bard that had been hired by the mayor to remove the troll problem. Braeden, the Half-Orc Bard, removed the problem, but the cost was terrible: he demanded the five prettiest woman in town to accompany him on his travels. After he had been gone for 8 months, he returned with a newborn child and a demand for the five prettiest women in town. This time the townsfolk fought back, particually the husbands of the women he had taken the first time. Sadly, none were a match for the monsterous Bard, and he brutally slayed over 80%of the adult males of the town, and took all of the women of child-bearing age.Character Introduction You have been contacted by a young boy: Owen, a small twig of a boy just barely ten years old, who is in desparate need of heroes. His village, Trasa, on the delta of the river Bradlichi, has been attacked by a most powerful half-orc. He left for help when five husbands of wives who had been taken by this half-orc were cut down, but he heard the screams and cries for a mile while he ran towards the nearest city. He needs someone who can bring justice to this monster and hopefully save his town. If your players are not moved by this hook, then you have some seriously non-heroic characters; I recommend feeding them to Tiamat. If they agree to follow Owen to his town then describe the scene:  The town is in ruins... nearly half of the village is still smoldering from the fires of what used to be houses. Prepubescent girls and boys are busy digging graves for what appears to be adult males - despite most being barely recognizable as such. Encounter 1: Role PlayingA Perception check of 20 reveals that the only women in the town are all quite elderly, and are only able to help by trying to comfort the smallest children.Talking to any of the coherent people in the town reveals the history of the toown's troubles as well as the fact that the Half-Orc began killing villagers that attacked him when he demanded new women to take away, and that he didn't stop hacking at the bodies until forced to fend off another attempted defender of the town. When the first three waves of abled-bodied men were brutally killed, he pulled some gems from a pouch that circled his head, and he began a strange sounding song. When the song was finsihed all of the women of child-bearing age literally dropped what they were doing, some even dropping held babies, and followed the Bard out of town. Encounter 2: Skill ChallengeThere is no opportunity for purchasing gear in this little town, so the heroes should be prepared to move out, trying to track the Bard at this point. Finding the tracks of all of the women in town is trivial, but the party is met with a challenge at the river, where severed ropes and crushed reeds indicate a boat was waiting at the end of the tracks for the villian. The heroes will need to follow the river and decide which path to take at the delta. This can be run as a Complexity 1 Skill Challenge with a DC 24 on Perception, Nature and History to reward Successes for noticing a hidden trail or knowing the history of this area; 19 DCs in Athletics, Acrobatics, Dungeoneering and Insight provide +2 bonuses to any checks for pushing the group harder, getting over/around tricky obstacles or understanding the way a Half-Orc may think. Sucess in this Skill Challenge prevents the Bard from arming his minions, Failure means the women are armed when the heroes arrive. In either case, if the players do not come up with a means of travelling by river, they must all make DC 20 Endurance checks, and each character that fails that check loses a healing surge. If more than half of the party fails this check, it counts as a failure.  Encounter 3: River Delta CombatWhen the party reaches the Bard's keep down the river, they are confronted by a group of undead set to defend the Bard while he completes a ritual that permanently binds his hostage's minds to his will. These are made up of skinned victims of the Bard, severed feet of the victims, and two ghosts who are unable to depart the area. This is a level 13 encounter and the monster are in Open Grave. The undead fight to the re-death.5 Skins of dead women (Forsaken Shell at level 11) 2 Drowned Ghosts 6 Severed Feer(Lich Claws at level 14) Encounter 4: Role Playing Once the entrance to the keep is secured, the party enters to see a strange sight - a troll, strapped to a bed with crystalline stones circling his head. His legs dangle off the end of the bed, with a stream of foul smelling green liquid pouring constantlly on the ends of his legs - at the ankles. His arms are resting off the side of the bed, the wrists smoking as they rest inside bowls of the same liquid. A Nature check of 19 reveals that this is Acid, keeping the troll for regenerating his appendages. An Arcana check of 25 reveals that the stones around the Troll's head are Ioun stones - keeping the troll alive while resticted in this situation. A DC 20 check reveals a troll foot on a shelf, the ankle also resting in a bowl of acid. The players can rouse the Troll from his stupor with a DC 25 Heal check or any healing power. If they choose to help the troll, he is too weak to assist in the battle, but he provides the PCs with the location of the traps in the Bard's inner sactum as well as knowledge of the Bard's mind-bending abilities, granting the party a + 2 bonus to saves against his powers. If the players instead choose to kill the troll, they may do so without penalty - it is a troll. Either way, they can avail themselves of the Ioun stones that circle the troll. There is a clear spindle and a dark blue rhomboid that keep the troll aware of his suffering and alive without any sustenance. If the troll is allowed to live, he will be well enough to walk away by the time the players finish the fight. He is grateful enough to help the players in any way he can. He claims his severed foot if he survives. Encounter 5: Battle the Monsterous BardThe final encounter is the battle against the Half-Orc Bard. If the players had success in the skill challenge, then the women of the town are not armed and will not attack the players. If they took too long to track down the Bard, the women have been instruccted to attack and otherwise impede the players. The villian has managed to set up his traps already, and will steer players into them as much as possible. He has three Ioun Stones orbitting his head, a pink and green sphere (granting him a +2 to Charisma), a pale lavendar ellipsoid that can absorb 1 level 3 encounter power and 1 level 1 encounter or at-will power and a vibrant purple prism that allows him to use Bigby's Icy Grip (level 5 Daily Wizard power) Braeden, Monsterous BardLevel 13 Solo Controller (Leader)Medium natural humanoidXP 4,000Initiative +9 Senses Perception +14Mindbender's Hum aura 1; enemies that move into or start their turn in the aura are slid 1 square.HP 460; Bloodied 230AC 27; Fortitude 25; Reflex 25; Will 29Saving Throws +5 Resist: 1 Level 1 Power, 1 Level 3 Power (once each)Speed 6Action Points 2m Commanding Strike (at-will; standard) • Weapon+18 vs AC; 1d10 + 6 damage, and the target is slid 1d4C Braeden's Chant (at-will; standard) Close Blast 3; +17 vs Will; 1d10 + 6 damage, and pushed 2 squares, if pushed into any creature, the target and othe creature are knocked proneC Word of Command (recharge 6; standard) • PsychicBraeden assaults your mind, making you do his biddingClose burst 5; +15 vs Will; psychic damage, and target is dominated (save ends) .C Majestic Song (recharge 6; minor) • HealingClost burst 10; Braeden heals 10 hit points and slides 2 squares. All of Braeden's allies gain 5 temporary hit points and slide 1.C Monsterous Burst (encounter; standard; recharges when first bloodied) Close burst 2; targets enemies; Braeden slays an adjacent ally and uses the death to damage those who oppose him.; +15 vs Reflex; 4d8 + 6 necrotic damage, the target slides falls prone, and the target is blinded (save ends). Requires adjacent dominated enemy or ally - that target is reduced tto zero hit points. C Braeden's Brag (recharge 5 6; standard) • Fear, PsychicThe Bard gives brutal details of his atrocities, weakening your resolve to engage him. Close burst 5; +15 vs Will; 1d10 + 6 psychic damage, and ongoing 5 psychic damage and the target is dazed (save ends both)Bardic Enchanting (encounter; standard; recharges when first bloodied) Braeden's charm affects time itself, allowing him to act faster than those around him. For the rest of this round, Braeden gains a +2 bonus to all defenses. In the next round, Braeden acts twice, at initiative count 30, and his original initialive. At each of these counts, he gets to perform a standard action, a move action, and a minor action. In the round after that, he acts normally at his original count in the initiative orderAlignment UnalignedLanguages CommonSkills Arcana +14, History +14, Insight +14, Streetwise +19Str 16 (+9)Dex 17 (+9)Wis 17 (+9)Con 20 (+11)Int 17 (+9)Cha 27 (+14)Equipment Rapier, Implement, Wand, Green Ioun Stone, Pale Lavendar Ioun Stone, Vibrant Purple Ioun Stone (Bigby's Icy Grasp)© 2009 Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. All rights reserved. This monster statistics block has been generated using the D&D Adventure Tools.   <img src="https://docs.google.com/File?id=dhsmzg92_36dxrd3ddf_b" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> A = Undead Battle Encounter B = Roleplaying Encounter C = Braeden Battle Encounter T = ankle slicing traps (+16 vs Reflex, 2d10 + 10 damage and slowed (save ends), on a critical hit, foot is severed, you take ongoing 5 damage and are slowed until Remove Affliction can be cast during an extended rest.) Ingredients:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">River Delta - location and source of some undead</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Severed Foot - the Troll's condition and risk of traps.<LI goog_docs_charIndex="11016">Monsterous Bard - the villian of the story monsterous in both race and behavior.<LI goog_docs_charIndex="11034">Brutal Slayings - the result of the Bard's action, payment for his troll removal service.<LI goog_docs_charIndex="11052">Bedridden Troll - the way the Bard was introduced to the town, and a chance to roleplay something non-standard late in the adventure.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ioun Stone - Rewards from killing the Bard, as well as his means to torment the troll and protect himself in battle.</li> </ul></blockquote>

Verification