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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wik" data-source="post: 4990188" data-attributes="member: 40177">Gone Fishing!Gone Fishin’A Fourth Edition D&D Adventure for five PCs of 15th levelBackground: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.</blockquote>

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