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

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="seasong" data-source="post: 451462" data-attributes="member: 5137">Miniature keepPotion of GlibnessChampion ogre fightersNostalgiaTome of Hushed RumorsMindless TentacleA few preliminary notes: My use of nostalgia was somewhat subtle, so I'll just point it out here: Baron Malsteffan is a nostalgist for old marvels, Urgid's in particular. His nostalgia (and desire for same) is what drives him to take the fantastic risk of imprisoning the (rather dangerous) PCs, thus leading to the action part of the adventure.Also, I wanted to edit this some more, but I've been sick with a sore throat and pounding head since yesterday, so I want to sleep more than I want to edit, and I'm posting this rather early. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f641.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":(" title="Frown    :("  data-smilie="3"data-shortname=":(" /> Anyway, I accept the responsibility for and consequences of my laziness <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />.The Baron's Toys (level scalable from ~7 to ~13)Summary: The PCs stumble across The Most Dangerous Game, writ small.Preparatory TidbitsIn the grand tradition of modules and scenarios everywhere, a pair of brand new nasties.Special Spell: Shrink Person (Sor/Wiz 6)This functions identically to shrink item, but the target is one Medium-sized or smaller creature per level (Large creatures count as two Mediums, Huge creatures can not be shrunk in this manner). Stats are otherwise the same as shrink item. This is the source spell for Urgid's Miniature Keep.Special Spell: Black Tentacle Sigil (Sor/Wiz 3)An unholy combination of Evard's Black Tentacles and Sepia Snake Sigil. It functions just like Sepia Snake Sigil, but when activated, a single Evard's Black Tentacle comes out of the scroll and grabs the closest person to the scroll (usually the reader). There is no save, but the tentacle must make a successful grappling attack. The tentacle lasts for an hour per level (in this scenario, it is cast at 10th level), but will only grapple the first target it latches on to.BackgroundUrgid the Great was a mad old wizard who spent his life creating strange marvels of magic before dying, fifty years ago, at the hands of an experiment gone awry. This adventure focuses on a few of his more obscure marvels, and the aristocrat who acquired one of them.It all began when the PCs acquired a musty pair of tomes in one of their many adventures elsewhere. Stitched into the leather binding of each is a single magical sigil: Remember on the first, and Forget on the second. Despite the dire sound of that, the books do not do anything to the reader, but merely present text in a steady, elegant script. The author is Urgid, of course, and the title page of each contains a dedication "To that forgetful old bastard, me."Remember (subtitled Tome of Lost Thoughts on the inside page) contains short, one-line entries, each one a memory or passing thought from the reader's past. They are out of context, often obscure, and rarely useful... but very compelling to read. Although there is no magical effect, readers have been known to lose days of their life to reading through past memories and vignettes written in an elegant hand.Forget (subtitled Tome of Hushed Rumors on the inside page) also contains short, one-line entries... but each one is a local rumor. Some are silly, like "Bridgette likes Brunweld", but others are important, or even sinister... The book does not check for accuracy, but simply faithfully transcribes the rumors.Note: Some PCs simply are not curious, and won't take any time to read either of the books. Target the one who is curious, or make the first rumor they read valuable (possibly leading to an easy treasure that you don't mind giving them) or juicy. This will generally get them to check it every so often.As the PCs are passing through a small barony, one of the rumors is written in red ink rather than black: "Baron Malsteffan has been kidnapping people and putting them in a gladiatorial dungeon for kicks". There is no further explanation, and the next entry on Baron Malsteffan is nearly three pages deeper, and in the normal black, saying "Baron Malsteffan drinks too much."Note: The reason for the red ink is simple and reasonably innocent: Urgid enchanted the book to show red if the rumor involved him in some way... in this case, the "dungeon" is something he created.Baron Malsteffan is a decadent, sadistic aristocrat who really shouldn't have the status he has, but he manages to keep his pleasures reasonably hidden, and he inherited a great deal of treasure from his father, so there's not usually much stopping him. As for his pleasures, Malsteffan only really likes three things: cruelty, alcohol, and antique toys of mechanical and magical nature. In the latter, he is a great collector of a number of things, and a subtle connoisseur of the works of Urgid, Daern, Whitefeather and other wizardly toymakers. His only true regret in life is that the best makers have passed away, preventing him from chaining them to a lab where they could produce such things for him forever.He is not a particularly nice connoisseur.One of his prizes, acquired only a year or two ago, is a 1/12th scale model keep, which measures almost twelve feet across, four feet deep, and two feet high. The gate at the front has "URGID'S KEEP" written in bold letters. It is accurate in every detail, and remarkably compelling. This alone would delight the Baron, but it has an additional property: when a certain password is spoken in its presence, anyone standing immediately in front of the keep shrinks to 1/12th scale themselves, and can then enter the keep normally. A second, different password unshrinks the person. A maximum of 12 people per day can be shrunk in this fashion, but there is no limit over time.Our goodly Baron has, indeed, been kidnapping people and promising them freedom if they can acquire a scroll located on an alter in center of the keep. While that's basically a lie, he keeps a sizable stash of potions of glibness to help his victims swallow the story.To defend the scroll, he has hired the services of a pair of champion ogrish fighters (scale to your party's power level) who stand guard over it. In return, he pays them a fair amount, lets them out on weekends, and provides 1/12th scales feasts and the occasional peasant girl. It's an easy life for them. He has also placed black tentacle sigils on important doorways, and the scroll itself has a black tentacle sigil cast on it, which Baron Malsteffan will renew when he needs to.He has also stocked the dungeon with a number of other beasties, but nothing as powerful or intelligent as the ogres.Action & ResolutionGoing to the Authorities: Unfortunately, the only authorities above the Baron are also outside of the Baron's lands... and the rumor won't show up in the book while somewhere else. Plus, the book does not confirm rumors, it only repeats them. The PCs will need to acquire evidence, and plenty of it, which will probably mean visiting the Baron.Oh Help Me Sir!: Peasants may approach the PCs to help them. They have dark suspicions about the Baron (which is why the rumor showed up), and will pay what they can to hire the PCs.Visiting the Baron: The Baron is generally friendly with adventurers. Firstly, they have been known to bring him delightful treasures (and he would be very interested in either of Urgid's tomes). Secondly, they won't be missed if he adds them to his miniatures collection. If the latter seems probable (and if he finds out they have the tomes, or that they suspect him, it is), he will invite them to see his "marvelous collection of rare and unusual items". When he's showing them the keep, he'll shrink them, suck down a potion of glibness (disguised as a glass of wine, which he is known for), and then explain the "find the scroll and freedom" thing. Once they're in the keep, he'll arrange for the ogres to acquire the tomes from them.While shrunk, everything that is also shrunk operates normally for the PCs, but interations with the larger world are more difficult. All damage is 1/12th normal (so a 6th level PC's fireball will do 1d3 damage to the Baron) and vice versa (a 1d2 stomp by the Baron is the equivalent of 6d4), all movement is converted from feet to inches (20 inch move for dwarves), and so on.Getting out: The password to unshrink is "Urgid's Miniature Keep". This can be discovered by accident, the DM may leave hints in a keep library book, or the PCs may simply guess it based on the gate at the front of the keep. Regardless, anyone inside the keep is teleported out and then unshrunk - other PCs will not know that they were unshrunk immediately.Baron Malsteffan: A reasonably powerful wizard in his own right, Malsteffan will present a reasonable fight, but will yield before he is killed. At that point, he would willingly sign a confession, then attempt to flee before the authorities come for him. If the PCs kill him (with or without a confession), they're going to be in trouble with the higher authorities - he's still an aristocrat, after all.Information Spells: The Baron is paranoid enough to protect himself rather well. However, he has not really shielded the passwords of the miniature keep, so clever PCs may discover it in this manner. Discovering the truth about the Baron, however, is considerably more difficult.TwistsMore than my other scenarios, the hushed rumor aspect really begs for some additional twists to throw in:Baron Malsteffan isn't what he seems, only more so: He could be an ogre magi, a necromancer using peasant bodies for his experiments, a 1/2 fiend, etc.The real Baron Malsteffan: A sadistic doppleganger replaced the real Baron, and has twisted his innocent love of toys into something sinister. The real Baron is trapped in the keep, desparately hiding from the ogres. He's afraid to unshrink, because the doppleganger is waiting for him, but when the PCs find him, he's willing to unshrink with them (so he'll be defended)."Champions": The ogre "champions" are as alcoholic as their employer. Peasants are all well and good, but they have no intention of fighting seasoned adventurers. Instead, they offer up the password to get out in return for a promise that they can loot the Baron's estate.Ogre Games: Baron Malsteffan isn't responsible for any of it. In fact, the ogres moved in on their own, and he is completely unaware of their presence in his toy, or the fact that they've been sneaking out in the dead of night and kidnapping people for fun. In this instance, the ogres should be extremely tough to beat, but the good Baron will give the PCs both passwords right from the start, for a more traditional "in, out, in" dungeon crawl with the ogres at the end of it.</blockquote>

Verification