Iron DM "Home Game" Revival

[mmadsen]

Sorry, Psion. I knew I was setting myself up when I said "momentarily", but I lost access to EN World until just now. I welcome everyone to share their thoughts, and I'll be back with my thoughts momentarily. I hope. This time.

 

[mmadsen]

Re: Re: Iron DM "Home Game" Revival

I'll present my gut reactions and nit-picky thoughts as I go.

Desperate, the kuo-toa turns to Plilapl, a renegade priest cast out of the clan years ago for following a god of death.

Why would the Kuo-Toa cast out a Death Priest?

While in seclusion, Plilapl developed a method to create a powerful creature called a bone colossus that could turn the tide of the battle.

Nice image.

There, Plilapl creates ghouls to start attacking locals and gathering bones so he can collect the components to create a bone colossus on the surface.

I like this scavenger hunt.

So their wizards made a pact with the elemental courts to send several earth elemantals to the surface to search out and destroy the remaining kuo-toa, scrying to track the enemy and keep up with their progress.

I like the remote-control elementals too.

The kuo-toa flee from the elementals and eventually learn that the elementals cannot reach them near the site of an ancient shrine due to a permanent hallow effect. Unfortunately, neither can Plilapl create undead -- or a bone colossus on the site due to the same effect that protects him from the elementals.

Nice. The evil Kuo-Toa are (ironically) protected from the elementals by staying on holy ground -- only they're powerless too. I really like that.

Plilapl discovers an ancient artifact, the Crucible of Darkenss, interred on the site.

Heh? Gut instinct: this does not work for me. Perhaps some slight tweak can make it work, because I like the next bit:

If he can get the magical key that will open the crucible, it will dispel the hallow effect and unleash an equally powerful unhallow effect.

Again, I like the reversal, but I need a better story for why the long-gone priests of good just left that in the safe under the church.

This will continue to repel the elementals, but allow his ghouls to enter the shrine as well, and allow Plilapl to finish his bone colossus.

Technically, can't undead can just cruise into hallowed holy ground? They're not summoned/conjured, are they?

Character levels/scaling the adventure: Plilapl will need to be an 11th level cleric (so he has access to create undead and can create ghouls); characters of 7th or 8th level would be about right. For higher level characters, use larger elementals, advanced ghouls, and increase Plilapl's levels. Plilapl only has wis 16, otherwise he could gain access to create greater undead and create better creatures than ghouls.

Nice mechanical details.

Character Hooks:

- The characters are travelling though the area when they discover the massacre at the village of Highloch
- The characters are hired or begged to help repel a menace in the sewers of a famous shrine, and are asked to meet a representative of the shrine in highloch

Sewers of a shrine? Why would a shrine have sewers? Crypts and catacombs, certainly, but a sewer system?

Anyway, many people are critical of hooks. I think the default -- they discover the massacre -- works just fine. If they're high enough level for the adventure, then they should be intrigued (and not scared off) by a massacre and roaming earth elementals.

I'll get to the adventure flow next.

 

[mmadsen]

Re: Re: Iron DM "Home Game" Revival

Part I: Village of Highloch

The characters arrive in the village of Highloch and find it abandoned. There are signs of a massacre (blood, etc.) but no bodies.

The players meet an earth elemental shambling through town (sent by the gnomes to look for the kuo-toa). The elemental will not attack the party if not provoked, but will defend itself.

If the players do not attack, they can follow the elemental. The elemental will soon leave town to pursue the ghouls. PCs with scry may notice that there is a scrying sensor is near the elemental (the gnome wizards are controlling the elemental through a scrying connection.)

If the players destroy the elemental, they can find a distinctively inscribed amulet embedded in its body; this amulet is a focus for the scrying. A character with identify can discern the function of the amulet.

Characters searching the village will find ghoul tracks leaving the village, as well as tracks of fleeing villagers leading to the shrine.

Again, this strikes me as a perfectly good hook, and I like the imagery.

Part II: Ghoul camp

"And this one time, at ghoul camp..." Sorry.

Characters following the elemental or tracking the ghouls will find that they have congregated in a copse near the village. As they approach, characters who make a spot check may notice some figures (ghouls) leaving the ghoul camp with armloads of something (bones).

Characters who enter the camp and spy on the ghouls will notice that they are chewing the meat off of the bones and then leaving the camp with the bones.

Can/will ghouls follow instructions like that, to not eat the bones? My gut reaction is that they need some kind of overseer to keep them in check.

If the characters follow the elemental, the elemental will immediately engage the ghouls.

I don't know why, but I like the image of unswerving earth elementals tearing ghouls apart, dashing them against the rocks, etc.

Part III: Unholy water

Characters who follow the ghouls leaving camp with bones will notice that they go to a fast running stream upstream of the shrine and toss the bones in the water. After doing this for a while, earth elementals will appear and attack the ghouls, but the ghouls will flee. Characters who make spot checks (or go swimming) will notice some creatures (kuo-toa) retrieving bones in the water.

I couldn't help but ask, wouldn't a raft/barge make it easier to carry piles of bones? OK, it's not as cool and mysterious for story purposes, but I can't imagine gathering up bones thrown into a fast-running stream.

Part IV: Last stand on holy ground

Players that go to the shrine (motivated by following the tracks of fleeing villagers) will notice that around the perimeter of the hallow effect, several earth elementals circle listlessly. The earth elementals will not attack the PCs unless attacked.

Again, nice image.

The PCs can see that there are many villagers taking refuge in the shrine. If the PCs enter and speak to the locals and priests, they can discover:
- Everyone who stays in the shrine is getting sick (the ghouls are spreading a sickness with the bones they are casting into the water supply of the shrine.)
- The priests think they have seen strange creatures in the water beneath the shrine. Two even saw two of the creatures shambling about the yard (the kuo-toa have learned of the key and are looking for it.)
- One priest found the door to an ancient vault beneath the shrine broken open. They fear unless it is secured, the Crucible of Darkness will fall into the wrong hands.

This just doesn't feel...right to me. First, clean-picked bones in a fast-running river don't seem like a disease threat to me. Second, water beneath the shrine? Did they build the ancient vault beneath the water table? And did they not notice man-sized tunnels in the rock going to the river (or wherever the Kuo-Toa entered)?

I guess I'm warming a bit to the whole Crucible of Darkness thing, but why would the Kuo-Toa suspect it's under the shrine?

They players may descend into the vault. They will find the crucible as well as many collected bones, but any kuo-toa will flee into the water if confronted.

Again, I'm having trouble imagining a crypt with water flowing through it, and I don't see how you'd not notice that your sanctum sanctorum is open to the outside world.

A day after they arrive, a priest will turn up dead, floating in the water (The priest was caught and killed, after being interrogated about the location of the key) The priest is on hallowed ground so the ghouls do not approach.

He turns up dead, floating in the fast-moving stream? But on hallowed ground?

That night the kuo-toa will storm the ground level of the shrine and steal the key. If they succeed in getting it, they will open the crucible of darkness. If that happens, the ghouls will storm the grounds of the shrine, killing innocents. Then Plilapl will start the ritual to create the bone colossus.

I like all that.

If PCs need help, the gnomes might use sending to send them hints or have the earth elementals help them.

The earth elementals seem like an elegant way to scale the adventure -- just add more powerful allies!

 

[seasong]

Just some thoughts on temples, crypts, rivers, caves and sewers.

The original sewers for most population centers were simply a constructed half-tube covering a creek, stream or river, with streets and buildings built over the top, with some holes built in for people to dump stuff into. Everything was then carried downstream (so, er, it wasn't the bones making people sick...).

As time went by and problems occurred (such as blockages, flooding, 'water spouts' and more people), people would add gates and flow valves, dig extra channels, dig deeper channels, build small reservoirs to give extra water during dry spells, and so on. Eventually, this becomes sewers.

ANY population center that is near water and doesn't somehow prefer to dump their waste on the ground has a sewer.

A crypt is a basement, writ large. Someone comes along, digs a big whopping hole, fills in the boundaries with stone and plaster, builds lots of support arches, and then puts some kind of building on top. They're hideously expensive, and the bigger ones are prone to leaks from the water table. However, they're also the best security money can buy, barring fanatically dedicated diggers - since they are usually covered by the building they are under, you have to go through the building first, before facing any defenses in the crypt itself. Most crypts were used for the storage of relics and other valuables.

A building with a crypt usually has a single-channel sewer, which is walled off from everything else. This was often on the same level as the rest of the crypt, so it would sometimes resemble a long hallway that no one could get into.

Some religious sites were chosen for the caves underneath, which made for an incredibly cheaper crypt. However, a cave also reduces the security somewhat. Most crypts of this nature would explore as much of the caves as possible, and then wall off everything that they couldn't get to (or that they couldn't acquire the land on top of).

So there are plenty of good ways for the kuo-toa to break in to the crypt, and plenty of good reasons for the infernally dark thingy to be in the crypt in the first place.

And if they broke in from a river/sewer hall, that goes a long way to explaining why the crypt has become more of a lake.

 

[Psion]

Re: Re: Re: Iron DM "Home Game" Revival

Why would the Kuo-Toa cast out a Death Priest?

Because the prevailing kuo-toa deity is Blidooploopl.

Again, I like the reversal, but I need a better story for why the long-gone priests of good just left that in the safe under the church.

Huh? The priests aren't gone.

Technically, can't undead can just cruise into hallowed holy ground?

Yup. However, not a big loss to the plot... they might not go near the elementals, and the priest's turning is improved in the area.

Sewers of a shrine? Why would a shrine have sewers? Crypts and catacombs, certainly, but a sewer system?

More accurately, there are waterways beneath the shrine.

 

[Psion]

Re: Re: Re: Iron DM "Home Game" Revival

Can/will ghouls follow instructions like that, to not eat the bones?

I sort of assumed by default that they didn't eat bones. However, ghouls aren't mindless. You could throw in some ghasts (or spellstitched or other undead) as leaders if needed.

I couldn't help but ask, wouldn't a raft/barge make it easier to carry piles of bones? OK, it's not as cool and mysterious for story purposes, but I can't imagine gathering up bones thrown into a fast-running stream.

Kuo-toa are aquatic, so I didn't see rafts, nor did I see ghouls manning rafts (shrug). Perhaps the kuo-toa don't collect them until they arrive in a confluence near the shrine. I was going for the "fast running" to get the message across that the bones would wash downstream.

This just doesn't feel...right to me. First, clean-picked bones in a fast-running river don't seem like a disease threat to me. Second, water beneath the shrine? Did they build the ancient vault beneath the water table? And did they not notice man-sized tunnels in the rock going to the river (or wherever the Kuo-Toa entered)?

It's not like ants swarmed over the bones -- I didn't assume the ghouls were picking every last shard of flesh off.

Moving one, I simply assumed that the shrine was built near a waterway, with some channels directed beneath it for drinking water and refuse disposal purposes.

I guess I'm warming a bit to the whole Crucible of Darkness thing, but why would the Kuo-Toa suspect it's under the shrine?

They didn't. They discovered it.

If you want a stronger link, you might assume that the kuo-toa cleric used divination spells to discover it.

He turns up dead, floating in the fast-moving stream? But on hallowed ground?

I never said the waterway beneath the shrine was fast moving. I said a stream upstream of the shrines waterway was fast moving. You are reading things I didn't write.

And why would "hallowed ground" stop that?

 

[mmadsen]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Iron DM "Home Game" Revival

Because the prevailing kuo-toa deity is Blidooploopl.

It seemed odd to me that a society worshipping Blibdoolpoolp (Domains: Destruction, Evil, Water) would throw out someone woshipping a Death God. That seemed like the kind of thing a good society would do. From their perspective though, he could easily be a heretic.

Huh? The priests aren't gone.

Sorry. I meant whoever left it there generations ago. I'm presuming the crucible's old, like most magical plot devices.

Yup. However, not a big loss to the plot... they might not go near the elementals, and the priest's turning is improved in the area.

I actually like your version of hallow; it's just a rules technicality that it doesn't do what it should (like keep Vampires out of churches).

 

[Psion]

It seemed odd to me that a society worshipping Blibdoolpoolp (Domains: Destruction, Evil, Water) would throw out someone woshipping a Death God.

Well, I suppose it doesn't HAVE to be a death deity... it was sort of my initial assumption because the priest would have to create undead... but any cleric can create undead.

However, for the purposes of the backstory, I sort of like it better. It seems more the norm for a loner to be the one who proceeds with crazed experiments with potentially powerful results.

From their perspective though, he could easily be a heretic.

Just so.

I'm presuming the crucible's old, like most magical plot devices.

Sure. The crucible might well be old, but it may be one of the sacred duties of the ancient order to look after it. I didn't go into too much detail on the background of the shrine, in part because of the nature of the iron man thingy (strive for brevity) and in part because if I am designing for someone else to play, those are the types of details I like to leave loose (nothing seems to screw up adaptability as handily as religion.)

Anyway, thanks for the comments.

 

[mmadsen]

I didn't go into too much detail on the background of the shrine, in part because of the nature of the iron man thingy (strive for brevity) and in part because if I am designing for someone else to play, those are the types of details I like to leave loose (nothing seems to screw up adaptability as handily as religion.)

I agree with your basic philosophy.

Anyway, thanks for the comments.

You're very welcome. I hope they were constructive. Anyone else want to comment? Anyone want to comment on my scenario? Anyone want to post their own scenario? Get to it!

 

[mmadsen]

Well, in incognito's thread, seasong and ladyofdragons have presented their scenarios using these six ingredients:

Mountains
Unable to be Flanked
Teleport
Ravid
Cold Slaves
Ghost Touch Spiked Gauntlet

Since incognito has passed judgement -- seasong won -- that ingredient list is now open for the home game. Who's up for it?