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IRON DM 2022 The Tournament Thread
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<blockquote data-quote="FitzTheRuke" data-source="post: 8761943" data-attributes="member: 59816"><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">The Vampries of Dolgan’s Hollow</span></strong></p><p></p><p><em>Respected Beggar</em></p><p><em>Undead Settlement</em></p><p><em>Wide Depression</em></p><p><em>Recalcitrant Infant</em></p><p><em>Garden-fresh Greens</em></p><p><em>Moldy Tapestry</em></p><p><em>Smuggled Elixir</em></p><p></p><p>[spoiler="Vampires"]</p><p><strong>Backstory:</strong> Twenty years ago, an elven monster hunter named Malinar led a group that destroyed a coven of vampires, burning their castle to the ground and slaying their vampire lord. A shrewd vampire named Zannifer organized a small group of surviving vampires who fled into the surrounding countryside where they hid from the light and fed on whatever they could capture. When the vampires came upon Dolgan’s Hollow, the locals were understandably terrified. Salvation came from a very unlikely source - the local mendicant - who negotiated a peace with the vampires that lasts to this day.</p><p></p><p><strong>Dolgan’s Hollow:</strong> A run-down village in the Sinking Valley - a wide forested valley between to solitary mountains. The spring runoff flows through various creeks and streams to pool at the valley’s lowest point - Murky Lake. Dolgan’s Hollow is not on any major trade routes, and the Lords of Rottergate - the nearest city, three days travel westward – have long argued whether or not it falls under their purview. It is not worth as much in taxes as it would cost to protect, so the village is left to its own devices.</p><p></p><p><strong>Note</strong>: This adventure can portray the monsters as sympathetic and the monster hunters as the villains. For a more standard set-up, the GM could have the party be agents of the elf Malinar and the villagers be oppressed by the vampires, even living in fear of them. Either way, the tone is up to the table. This can be played as a fun monster-filled romp, or a dark horror with gray morality.</p><p></p><p><strong>Party (Session Zero): </strong>If the group chooses to play the adventure as villagers or travellers allied with the vampires, some can choose to play Dhampir half-bloods. If they are vampire hunters, some should be encouraged to play elves (or Malinar is likely to treat them as ignorant children).</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>NPCs:</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Malinar</strong> is an elf monster hunter from the elvish land of Estelion. He loathes vampires, who he views as a mockery of the living. He is driven to the point of obsession and has no sense of humour. He rewards loyalty and success but has no patience for dithering or failure.</p><p></p><p><strong>Zannifer </strong>is a vampire who has risen by merit to lead her coven. She convinced the others to settle in Dolgan’s Hollow and to keep peace with the locals. She is polite and regal but is not one to be trifled with.</p><p></p><p><strong>Ludz </strong>is mayor of Dolgan’s Hollow. He was a drunken beggar when the vampires came, living in the stables of the Smiling Cat, the local inn. To save the innkeeper’s wife from a vampire attack, he offered himself in exchange. The vampires took him to the forest to feed but to everyone’s surprise, they began to talk. By dawn, he had negotiated a peaceful settlement.</p><p></p><p><strong>Piquette</strong> is a halfling farmer and new mother who sells her crops at a stall in Dolgan’s Hollow market.</p><p></p><p><strong>Claydon</strong> is a wine importer and smuggler from Rottersgate. He works with the Rottersgate poor to deliver illegal blood to Dolgan’s Hollow. He has been successful at it for nearly twenty years but wants to retire. His son <strong>Mattew </strong>doesn’t want to deal with small-town vampires and has been leaking information to Malinar’s agents.</p><p></p><p></p><p>These<strong> Five Encounters</strong> can be played in any order the DM chooses (with the final battle at the end), but the order presented here is designed to build stakes and introduce important NPCs in inverse order of importance.</p><p></p><p><strong> Swamp Creature</strong> – The halfling farmer Piquette has a glorious crop of fresh vegetables this season. She’d be the most successful vendor in Dolgan’s Hollow Market this year if she weren’t struggling with two problems: Her husband Boltan has gone missing, and their son Dav, an infant, has stopped eating, and won’t stop crying. She begs the party for their help. Through investigating the disappearance, the party will eventually find themselves at Murky Lake, at the deepest part of the wide valley, where they will encounter a swamp creature. At first they should assume that the creature ate poor Boltan, but it flees from battle. Though it struggles to speak, eventually they should discover that it IS Boltan, who was infected by a spoor while gathering swamp cabbage. He has been secretly fertilizing his wife’s garden (hence the glorious color of her greens) but he made the mistake of touching his child – who is now infected – and can now only be sustained by swamp gasses. Both can be cured with <em>remove curse</em> or other powerful magic, or the child can go live with his father in the swamp (transforming after three days into a swamp creature).</p><p></p><p>If the party are locals, they may wish to help Piquette for her sake. If they are working for Malinar, they are in town to search for vampires. A swamp monster is not a vampire, but it will do for now.</p><p></p><p><strong>Location: Murky Lake Swamp</strong> – The lowest part of the wide valley about two miles from Dolgan’s Hollow. The shoreline has a lot of spots for a swamp creature to hide and is dotted with rocks and trees that hide pitfalls and quagmires.</p><p></p><p><strong> Missing Ring</strong> – A wereraven stole Ludz’ mayoral ring. The former mendicant, now mayor of Dugan’s Hollow, left his ring on his desk in the attic of the Smiling Cat Inn and when he returned, it was gone. The responsibility that was given to him when the town made him mayor sobered him up, so it has a lot of sentimental value. He hires the party to find it for him. Eventually they will discover it at the nest of a wereraven in the hills to the east. She gave it to her unruly brood of chicks, who tend to stay in raven or hybrid form. While they are distracted by shiny things, they are quite dangerous when provoked.</p><p></p><p>If the party is working for Malinar, they will help to ingratiate themselves with the town mayor while looking for vampires.</p><p></p><p><strong>Location: Hillside Raven’s Nest</strong> – A rocky outcropping with a gravel trail leading up to it. The nest is on a ledge near a 30 ft. drop onto jagged rocks. Cover is sparse and the wereravens know the area well.</p><p></p><p><strong> Smuggler’s Cache</strong> – When the blood is delivered to Dolgan’s Hollow, it is left outside town in a regular spot under an elven tapestry. Zannifer brought the old tapestry with her when she fled the elven lands. It is a beautiful work of art that shifts colors with changes of the light. It also makes for excellent forest camouflage. Though diminished now by stains and weathering the tapestry has historical significance and great value to the elves and Malinar would see it returned.</p><p></p><p>If the party is working for Zannifer, she sends the party to pick up the delivery and they are ambushed by Malinar’s agents. If they are working for Malinar, they have come to ambush the vampires that arrive to pick up the shipment.</p><p></p><p><strong>Location: Hollow’s Forest Glen</strong> – A secluded clearing four miles out of Dolgan’s Hollow. Superstitious drivers refuse to go closer. The Cache is beside a fallen log, under a weathered tapestry that looks much like the forest around it. The treeline provides much cover for an ambush.</p><p></p><p><strong> Blood Smugglers</strong> – In the nearby port city of Rottersgate, Ludz facilitated a deal with a wine importer named Claydon. Already heavily involved with smuggling, they fill empty wine bottles with human blood (purchased willingly from the poor of Rottersgate) and smuggle it through the city’s gates (both to avoid wine tariffs and because transporting blood is illegal, due to its connection to questionable acts such as necromancy.) The encounter occurs just before dawn where bottles of blood are being loaded onto a wagon for transport to Dolgan’s Hollow. Claydon’s son has betrayed his father by informing Malinar of the location.</p><p></p><p>The party is either working for Zannifer to ensure the arrival of the shipment, or for Malinar to destroy it and anyone involved.</p><p></p><p><strong>Location: Rottersgate Alley</strong> – A steep cobbled alley next to a warehouse, with a wagon and two horses, crates, and a corner that leads onto a main road. Claydon and Mattew are there, as well as two workers.</p><p></p><p><strong> Final Confrontation</strong> – Until now, Malinar has sent agents to do his work for him. His agents have now confirmed that his quarry has settled in Dolgan’s Hollow, so he arrives himself with a small army. The monster-hunters confront Zannifer and her coven at the mayoral manor house, where the vampires have taken residence (while Ludz moved his office to the Inn’s attic). The party can join in on either side, tipping the scales of the encounter one way or the other.</p><p></p><p><strong>Location: Mayoral Manor</strong> – An old manor house with a large tree out front and a low wall with an iron gate. A road loops around the tree and it has a second floor with a balcony.[/spoiler]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="FitzTheRuke, post: 8761943, member: 59816"] [B][SIZE=5]The Vampries of Dolgan’s Hollow[/SIZE][/B] [I]Respected Beggar Undead Settlement Wide Depression Recalcitrant Infant Garden-fresh Greens Moldy Tapestry Smuggled Elixir[/I] [spoiler="Vampires"] [B]Backstory:[/B] Twenty years ago, an elven monster hunter named Malinar led a group that destroyed a coven of vampires, burning their castle to the ground and slaying their vampire lord. A shrewd vampire named Zannifer organized a small group of surviving vampires who fled into the surrounding countryside where they hid from the light and fed on whatever they could capture. When the vampires came upon Dolgan’s Hollow, the locals were understandably terrified. Salvation came from a very unlikely source - the local mendicant - who negotiated a peace with the vampires that lasts to this day. [B]Dolgan’s Hollow:[/B] A run-down village in the Sinking Valley - a wide forested valley between to solitary mountains. The spring runoff flows through various creeks and streams to pool at the valley’s lowest point - Murky Lake. Dolgan’s Hollow is not on any major trade routes, and the Lords of Rottergate - the nearest city, three days travel westward – have long argued whether or not it falls under their purview. It is not worth as much in taxes as it would cost to protect, so the village is left to its own devices. [B]Note[/B]: This adventure can portray the monsters as sympathetic and the monster hunters as the villains. For a more standard set-up, the GM could have the party be agents of the elf Malinar and the villagers be oppressed by the vampires, even living in fear of them. Either way, the tone is up to the table. This can be played as a fun monster-filled romp, or a dark horror with gray morality. [B]Party (Session Zero): [/B]If the group chooses to play the adventure as villagers or travellers allied with the vampires, some can choose to play Dhampir half-bloods. If they are vampire hunters, some should be encouraged to play elves (or Malinar is likely to treat them as ignorant children). [B]NPCs: Malinar[/B] is an elf monster hunter from the elvish land of Estelion. He loathes vampires, who he views as a mockery of the living. He is driven to the point of obsession and has no sense of humour. He rewards loyalty and success but has no patience for dithering or failure. [B]Zannifer [/B]is a vampire who has risen by merit to lead her coven. She convinced the others to settle in Dolgan’s Hollow and to keep peace with the locals. She is polite and regal but is not one to be trifled with. [B]Ludz [/B]is mayor of Dolgan’s Hollow. He was a drunken beggar when the vampires came, living in the stables of the Smiling Cat, the local inn. To save the innkeeper’s wife from a vampire attack, he offered himself in exchange. The vampires took him to the forest to feed but to everyone’s surprise, they began to talk. By dawn, he had negotiated a peaceful settlement. [B]Piquette[/B] is a halfling farmer and new mother who sells her crops at a stall in Dolgan’s Hollow market. [B]Claydon[/B] is a wine importer and smuggler from Rottersgate. He works with the Rottersgate poor to deliver illegal blood to Dolgan’s Hollow. He has been successful at it for nearly twenty years but wants to retire. His son [B]Mattew [/B]doesn’t want to deal with small-town vampires and has been leaking information to Malinar’s agents. These[B] Five Encounters[/B] can be played in any order the DM chooses (with the final battle at the end), but the order presented here is designed to build stakes and introduce important NPCs in inverse order of importance. [B] Swamp Creature[/B] – The halfling farmer Piquette has a glorious crop of fresh vegetables this season. She’d be the most successful vendor in Dolgan’s Hollow Market this year if she weren’t struggling with two problems: Her husband Boltan has gone missing, and their son Dav, an infant, has stopped eating, and won’t stop crying. She begs the party for their help. Through investigating the disappearance, the party will eventually find themselves at Murky Lake, at the deepest part of the wide valley, where they will encounter a swamp creature. At first they should assume that the creature ate poor Boltan, but it flees from battle. Though it struggles to speak, eventually they should discover that it IS Boltan, who was infected by a spoor while gathering swamp cabbage. He has been secretly fertilizing his wife’s garden (hence the glorious color of her greens) but he made the mistake of touching his child – who is now infected – and can now only be sustained by swamp gasses. Both can be cured with [I]remove curse[/I] or other powerful magic, or the child can go live with his father in the swamp (transforming after three days into a swamp creature). If the party are locals, they may wish to help Piquette for her sake. If they are working for Malinar, they are in town to search for vampires. A swamp monster is not a vampire, but it will do for now. [B]Location: Murky Lake Swamp[/B] – The lowest part of the wide valley about two miles from Dolgan’s Hollow. The shoreline has a lot of spots for a swamp creature to hide and is dotted with rocks and trees that hide pitfalls and quagmires. [B] Missing Ring[/B] – A wereraven stole Ludz’ mayoral ring. The former mendicant, now mayor of Dugan’s Hollow, left his ring on his desk in the attic of the Smiling Cat Inn and when he returned, it was gone. The responsibility that was given to him when the town made him mayor sobered him up, so it has a lot of sentimental value. He hires the party to find it for him. Eventually they will discover it at the nest of a wereraven in the hills to the east. She gave it to her unruly brood of chicks, who tend to stay in raven or hybrid form. While they are distracted by shiny things, they are quite dangerous when provoked. If the party is working for Malinar, they will help to ingratiate themselves with the town mayor while looking for vampires. [B]Location: Hillside Raven’s Nest[/B] – A rocky outcropping with a gravel trail leading up to it. The nest is on a ledge near a 30 ft. drop onto jagged rocks. Cover is sparse and the wereravens know the area well. [B] Smuggler’s Cache[/B] – When the blood is delivered to Dolgan’s Hollow, it is left outside town in a regular spot under an elven tapestry. Zannifer brought the old tapestry with her when she fled the elven lands. It is a beautiful work of art that shifts colors with changes of the light. It also makes for excellent forest camouflage. Though diminished now by stains and weathering the tapestry has historical significance and great value to the elves and Malinar would see it returned. If the party is working for Zannifer, she sends the party to pick up the delivery and they are ambushed by Malinar’s agents. If they are working for Malinar, they have come to ambush the vampires that arrive to pick up the shipment. [B]Location: Hollow’s Forest Glen[/B] – A secluded clearing four miles out of Dolgan’s Hollow. Superstitious drivers refuse to go closer. The Cache is beside a fallen log, under a weathered tapestry that looks much like the forest around it. The treeline provides much cover for an ambush. [B] Blood Smugglers[/B] – In the nearby port city of Rottersgate, Ludz facilitated a deal with a wine importer named Claydon. Already heavily involved with smuggling, they fill empty wine bottles with human blood (purchased willingly from the poor of Rottersgate) and smuggle it through the city’s gates (both to avoid wine tariffs and because transporting blood is illegal, due to its connection to questionable acts such as necromancy.) The encounter occurs just before dawn where bottles of blood are being loaded onto a wagon for transport to Dolgan’s Hollow. Claydon’s son has betrayed his father by informing Malinar of the location. The party is either working for Zannifer to ensure the arrival of the shipment, or for Malinar to destroy it and anyone involved. [B]Location: Rottersgate Alley[/B] – A steep cobbled alley next to a warehouse, with a wagon and two horses, crates, and a corner that leads onto a main road. Claydon and Mattew are there, as well as two workers. [B] Final Confrontation[/B] – Until now, Malinar has sent agents to do his work for him. His agents have now confirmed that his quarry has settled in Dolgan’s Hollow, so he arrives himself with a small army. The monster-hunters confront Zannifer and her coven at the mayoral manor house, where the vampires have taken residence (while Ludz moved his office to the Inn’s attic). The party can join in on either side, tipping the scales of the encounter one way or the other. [B]Location: Mayoral Manor[/B] – An old manor house with a large tree out front and a low wall with an iron gate. A road loops around the tree and it has a second floor with a balcony.[/spoiler] [/QUOTE]
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