[IRON DM] Winter '04 Tournament (IRON DM ANNOUNCED!)

[el-remmen]

Concede. . . Drop Out

Toe-MAY-Toe. . . Toe-MAH-Toe. . .

My point was based on that fact that Dave was not going to post anything at all - thus insuring ZENLD won - which in my eyes means that if Paka had advanced he could have entered anything and still had better chance of winning.

But I don't see it as a matter of being pissed off at Dave, but rather just pissed off at the situation. . .

 

[Paka]

Dave, I was rooting for ya, pulling for you. I feel the frustration that a football fan has when their team plays poorly. You gave up and that was frustrating to watch. Especially frustrating when we were neck and neck in the first round.

This is so not a big deal, just a fun diversion.

Let us reflect on that for a moment and take a series of deep breaths while considering how little this all matters.

 

[Dave Turner]

Concede. . . Drop Out

Toe-MAY-Toe. . . Toe-MAH-Toe. . .

My point was based on that fact that Dave was not going to post anything at all - thus insuring ZENLD won - which in my eyes means that if Paka had advanced he could have entered anything and still had better chance of winning.

But I don't see it as a matter of being pissed off at Dave, but rather just pissed off at the situation. . .

I'm a philosophy major, so I like to argue.

My understanding of the rules of the tournament made the distinction between not posting anything versus posting an incomplete entry a moot one. If I had known that even an incomplete entry could win the round, I probably would have posted what I had. In my previous Iron DM appearance, my utterly contrived use of an ingredient was tantamount to not including it and the judgment made it clear that my entry had no legitimate chance at victory.

Paka could only have had a better chance of winning if he had advanced a complete entry, not simply anything at all. After all, if entering anything was allowable, my partial entry would have stood a chance. But by the same token, if I had advanced a complete entry, then I too would have had a better chance of winning than I did. The fact that I did not initially post my incomplete entry didn't ensure Zenld's win. My failure to generate a complete entry at all is what ensured his victory.

In the end, I can appreciate Paka's frustration over my collapse. It makes his defeat sting more, since my second round collapse makes it seem as though he was beaten by the "lucky man" rather than the "better man". In a contest of skill such as this, we prefer to think that talent rather than fortune was the source of our failure.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Semi-Final Round - Third Match-Up: Wulf Ratbane vs. CarpeDavid

Ingredients
-----------------
Will o’ (the) Wisp
Flooded Quarry
Broken Ones
Brigands on a Pilgrimage
Magic Wig
Exultation

THE LONG FROST
an adventure for low to mid level heroes

Background
This Greyhawk adventure takes place on Oerth near the famed Hanging Glacier of Alisedran. This location is significant as it is one of the few places where the goddess Loviatar—though not of Greyhawk—is able to exert her influence over this world. Loviatar is a Finnish goddess, the Mistress of Pain, and her domains are pain, suffering, and evil, along with the merciless and unpredicatable aspects of cold and water.

Near the glacier there lies a small village, prosperous as small villages go, primarily for its quarry. Volcanic action from below, glacial action from above, and the rich gold, cobalt, and iron deposits combined to create a beautiful, colorful striated rock that was prized by builders across the Flaeness. The quarry supported the town for many years until the miners struck a volcanic steam vent that quickly flooded the quarry with warm, mineral-rich water. The flooded quarry is no longer active; steam and fog fill the air and its banks are steep and slick. Few now would dare to venture too near the quarry.

Worse things than steam and mist arose—and still rise—from that deep fissure in the glacier.

The village leader was a barbarian Jarl named Geldulf. Geldulf had the good fortune to marry a much younger woman, the buxom golden-haired Aino. But as the quarry business dried up, so too did Geldulf’s wealth and prestige, and with it Aino’s devotion to her older husband. She soon regretted her marriage and her misspent youth and beauty. She would go often to the quarry to bemoan her fate and curse her husband, who, though older, was not yet so grey as to release her from her vows anytime soon.

The essence of Loviatar took advantage of Aino’s weakness and vanity, and whispered promises to her.

Skin as pale as snow, hair as bright as starlight, evermore…

This thought stuck with Aino, haunted her. She prayed at the quarry, every day—How?—until one day her prayer was answered:

Bring a young girl here… For every tortured scream, another year…

Geldulf meanwhile was busy trying to save his village, which had fallen on hard times. To keep his people from abandoning him, the barbarian and his men soon turned to old pursuits: raiding and pillaging the nearby farming communities of the lowlands. He traveled far and was gone often, but returned home often enough to keep his people fed and content—and, of course, to appreciate the beauty of his young wife.

It was some time—and seven missing girls—before justice caught up to Aino. Geldulf’s hands were tied, and his justice swift. Over the cries of his young bride, the truth of Aino’s vanity and the awful details of her unholy pact were discovered. For her vanity, Geldulf took her scalp, and for her evil deeds, she was stoned and driven naked and screaming into the snow.

Geldulf keeps his bride’s golden hair with him to this day. Sometimes at night, he can hear the screams of his bride on the chill wind. The hair grows still, strong and golden.

ENTER THE PCs
This adventure is rather tightly bound to a specific locale and a specific climate, but once the PCs are in such a climate, where a comfortable hearth and a warm meal are in short supply, one need only place a village in their path to start them on the adventure.

1) The PCs arrive in a neighboring village shortly after a raid by Geldulf and his barbarian brigands. The town begs their aid in tracking Geldulf down and bringing him to justice once and for all. This is a fairly straightforward approach.

2) The PCs arrive in Geldulf’s own village just before Geldulf’s return. Lodging is available but food is scarce (at least until Geldulf returns). The PCs can easily tell that there’s no farming or grazing to be done on the rocky patch of ground where the village sits, and when Geldulf and his men return (bloodied, but draped in booty) it will be fairly obvious how the village meets its needs. The PCs may note that the villagers do not seem particularly proud of their Jarl, and they accept looted food and drink reluctantly.

If the PCs inquire, they will easily discover that the villagers would gladly be rid of Geldulf and move on to other towns. Geldulf keeps the town together by force: Anyone who tries to leave is hunted down, whipped cruelly, bound painfully, and dragged back to the village. (Some tell of being whipped or bound with rope made of golden braids, rope that bites, chafes, and burns with indescribable pain.)

Eventually, the PCs may hear the tale of Geldulf and Aino (“Twas a turning point for Geldulf…”), and the villagers will beg them for help.

While the PCs are gathering this information, Geldulf and a small band of his most loyal men will take up their torches, mount up, and disappear into the night again, headed towards the old quarry.

If the PCs are tracking Geldulf from another village, they may pass through his village (as above) to hear the story and reinforce the need for justice, or they may track him directly to the quarry.

WILL-O-WISP
After being driven from the village, Aino managed to stagger up to the old quarry, where she soon expired. Loviatar kept the letter of her bargain: Aino's evil spirit now haunts the area as a will-o-wisp with pale flesh and electric “hair” as bright as starlight (though of course she can turn invisible or alter the color of her glow as needed). At times, when she is feeling particularly capricious (such as watching a victim sink into the water), she can even manifest her horrible twisted countenance, sending shivers down the viewer's spine and standing their hair on end.

The fog and steam from the warm quarry, the wind, and the driving snow make vision difficult, and if the party is tracking Geldulf, Aino will try to lure them close to the edge of the quarry. PCs who follow the wisp may slip at the edge of the quarry (Balance checks and Swim checks all around!).

THE BROKEN ONES
Perhaps more dangerous than the will-o-wisp are the seven water-logged and mineral-crusted wights who also haunt the quarry. These are the remains of the seven girls brought here and tortured by Aino, and subsequently animated by the evil will of Loviatar. They still appear as young girls, none older than about sixteen-- but their arms and legs are broken and twisted, the flesh of their young breasts ripped, their ears torn off, their eyes plucked out, their faces smashed and mangled. Worse yet, each girl’s abdomen has been cut open. They will stagger forward out of the darkness, clutching at their bellies, trying to hold in the several large rocks that Aino used to sink them to the bottom of the quarry. If necessary they will pull rocks from their bellies to hurl them at the PCs. The Broken Ones will try to grapple PCs who stray too close to the slippery edge and drag them to the bottom of the quarry.

As servants of Loviatar, the Broken Ones will not harm Geldulf or any other devotees of the Mistress of Pain.

THE BRIGANDS
Geldulf and his men have been perverted through contact with Aino’s cursed hair, which Geldulf usually wears on his hip. In battle, he wears it under his helmet, and swears that he can feel the pain of every blow he strikes. When worn in this way, every blow Geldulf strikes, no matter the weapon, gains the wicked enhancement (+2d6 damage to the enemy, +1d6 damage to the wielder). Geldulf also has a mighty longbow made of tusk and bone, strung with Aino’s bright golden hair, which similarly gains the wicked enhancement. Geldulf has also used the ever-growing hair to make twisted rope, a whip for meting out punishment, even boot laces for himself and his men.

Geldulf began coming to the quarry shortly after driving Aino out of the village, to find solace in the solitude. Though he does not know the name of the spirit who guides him in this place, he has nevertheless become a devotee of Loviatar—and will remain so unless freed from curse. After every successful raiding trip, Geldulf and his men make a pilgrimage to the quarry, to throw a portion of their rewards into the water, and to rest and recover in the warm mineral salts. They are unaware of The Broken Ones who inhabit this place, though they have seen the will-o-wisp from time to time. Perhaps instinctively, Geldulf will do it no harm and does his best to avoid it.

If the PCs are clever they may be able to catch Geldulf and his men here while they are bathing, though Geldulf usually leaves at least two armed guards on the bank, and they swim in shifts. Geldulf is never without Aino’s magic wig.

If the PCs attack, Geldulf (and his men) will surely rage. Geldulf in particular delights in combat. If the PCs catch him unarmored, they will get a major clue here: each time he strikes a blow, deep bruises flash across Geldulf’s body as well as his enemy. Rather than appearing concerned by this, Geldulf will bellow with exultation, not only each time he wounds himself, but each time he is wounded. It is impossible for him to conceal his delight in pain. Geldulf’s exultant raging and ranting grows in intensity until the PCs realize the very real possibility that he will bring down a significant portion of the snowy mountain on top of everyone. If he is dropped (dead or unconscious), he will let out a mighty bellow that will surely do exactly that.

To win this fight safely, the PCs must find a way to subdue him: hold person, calm emotions, command (surrender) and the like will surely end his rage. At the DMs option, healing magic, a positive energy burst, or other acts of goodness and kindness may have the same effect, if the PCs seem genuine in their intent.

As soon as Geldulf is relieved of Aino’s hair—which he will not do willingly except under the most amazing circumstances (such as a Diplomatic PC desperately trying to redeem him)—he will seem to shrink, grow old, and very repentant.

On the other hand, bad things may start to happen to the PC who now possesses the hair…

LOOSE STRINGS
There are a number of ways to conclude or extend this adventure.

1) The PCs must destroy Aino’s hair. The DM may rule that the hair is a minor artifact and resists any attempt to destroy it, at least until it has exhausted the negative energy it has absorbed from the pain inflicted around it. A new pilgrimage of kindness and mercy—as opposed to merciless justice—may do the trick. The hair will wither and turn grey as the journey goes on, eventually turning to white dust and blowing away as the journey is concluded.

2) The PCs may have to find and seal the fissure at the bottom of the quarry.

3) In this twist inspired by “The Ring,” there may be no way to rid oneself of Loviatar’s curse. Even if the hair is destroyed, the only way to be rid of the curse is for the burden to be shouldered by another (as the PCs did for Geldulf). A character who takes the wig from Geldulf and destroys it may seem fine for a time, until the PC goes wild in a display of remarkable cruelty. At this point the other PCs may notice the brilliant blond roots sprouting from their ally’s head…

Ingredient Recap:

Will o’ (the) Wisp-- Aino's spirit
Flooded Quarry-- the locale: the quarry, the warm springs, the glacier, lots of snow and atmosphere, and a fine place for Loviatar to manifest
Broken Ones-- Aino's young victims
Brigands on a Pilgrimage-- Geldulf and his pain lovin' cronies
Magic Wig-- Aino's hair
Exultation-- Geldulf's pleasure from pain; a clue and an avalanche hazard

 

[Dave Turner]

Dave, I was rooting for ya, pulling for you. I feel the frustration that a football fan has when their team plays poorly. You gave up and that was frustrating to watch. Especially frustrating when we were neck and neck in the first round.

This is so not a big deal, just a fun diversion.

Let us reflect on that for a moment and take a series of deep breaths while considering how little this all matters.

Ultimately, you're right, Paka. It's a silly Internet tournament.

I just want to make it clear, especially for your sake, that I didn't give up. I was fighting with my entry right till the end. If I had more time, I would have ironed out my issues and finished the entry. I'm sorry that I let my "fans" down, if you know what I mean.

EDIT: Ok, final word. After dinner and some reflection, I've come around to what Paka is saying. Instead of conceding, I could have Zenld for an extension, since there was a clear precedent for late entries already. Although it might have seemed like I couldn't have won at the time, I still had options available which I did not pursue. That is giving up. Lesson learned and I won't repeat that mistake. Cheers to you, Paka.

 

[Paka]

deleted

enough

 

[cstyle]

Thanks cstyle - you really didn't have to do that.

Say did you too have problems with keeping one particular ingredient tame enough for Eric's Grandmother? I kept butting up against this gray area where I had to use euphemism after euphemism.

Np. A victory like that is no victory at all. If I lose, so be it.

Suprisingly, I was having more trouble describing without blushing the Bullette shells that alternately sucked and blowed than I had with the orgy!

 

[el-remmen]

I just hit page three of my judgment of the second semi-final round.

But time for bed.

Look for it some time before noon tomorrow.

 

[carpedavid]

Semi-Final Round - Third Match-Up: Wulf Ratbane vs. CarpeDavid

Ingredients
-----------------
Will o’ (the) Wisp
Flooded Quarry
Broken Ones
Brigands on a Pilgrimage
Magic Wig
Exultation

Quicklime
A short adventure for four 10-12th level characters.

I used to be a nymph once - long, long ago. I idled on white sandy shores and played with the dolphins and porpoises. I bathed in my tidal pool and befriended each starfish and minnow. Then the men came with their dwarves and mined the limestone hill to build their town. They dammed up the natural springs that spilled fresh water into my pool and let the runoff from their digging seep into the groundwater.

The lime destroyed my pool and poisoned me. My strength ebbed, my beauty faded, and my magic disappeared. For a while, I thought I might die, but then something much worse happened. The poison warped and twisted my body, turning me into a hag. A hag! A creature of darkness, horrible to look upon, condemned to haunt the darkest sea caves and foulest bogs.

Ashamed of my new form, I left that place and studied the dark arts, obsessed with finding a way to bring life back to my beloved pool. I experimented on men that I would find lost in the wood, stitching them together once I had broken their bodies. My broken ones showed me that I could restore life once it had been destroyed.

Then one day, I found a most curious artifact in the possession of my latest victim: a wig that, once worn, would perpetually alter the appearance of the wearer. I was overjoyed - now my beauty could be restored and I would no longer have to hide in the darkness. My exultation filled the forest, making the trees shake and the flowers tremble. I released my servants from their bondage and returned to the world of men…

--From the diary of Anaïs​

Background
Over three years ago, Anaïs returned to Concord Hill, the town mentioned in her diary. Posing as a pretty, young widower, she set up shop as an apothecary, and spent most of her free time in the ruined tidal pools, searching for a way to restore them.
Three months ago, some young members of the Silver Pheasant Trading Company, a small thieves' guild based in Concord Hill, broke into several houses in violation of a standing agreement with the town's government. Among the items stolen was a magical, appearance-changing wig. The guild set out that night to make the rounds of the neighboring towns, and the wig went with them.

Furious that she was no longer able to hide her appearance, Anaïs fled the town. She stumbled into the abandoned quarry outside town, and was surprised to find that a temple to Argent, the god of plunder. She tore through the temple, easily slaying all of the priests, and tore down the dams holding back the natural springs. As water swept through the quarry, she began to plot her revenge. She recruited a string of will o' wisps to lure townspeople to the quarry, so that she could begin to construct a group of her broken ones.

When the head of the Silver Pheasant led his group of brigands to the temple three months later, to give thanks for a very lucrative expedition, he didn't expect to find the abandoned quarry filled with water; he didn't expect will o' wisps to lead some of his company to their watery graves; and witnessing a creature stitched together from the bodies of temple priests and townsfolk (with his own brother's grinning head on top) emerge from the depths - well, that he didn't expect at all.

NPCs
Bertrand Brussle is a brigand, a braggart, and a rogue, but is also quite intelligent and ambitious. He started his career as a petty thief, but, on his 20th birthday, founded the Silver Pheasant Trading Company. Conceived as a way to grow out of the world of pick pocketing and cat burglary, the Silver Pheasant engages in the smuggling of illicit goods throughout the area.
In order to protect his new guild, Bertrand struck up a non-aggression pact with his uncle, the mayor of Concord Hill. In exchange for refraining from committing crimes within the town, his organization would be granted safe passage. Once his fledgling organization began to grow, he helped his brother build a temple to the god of plunder in the abandoned quarry outside of town.

As the head of a growing crime ring, Bertrand is notably paranoid of everyone around him. He suspects that his uncle sabotaged the quarry, though, in retaliation for the violation of the pact. He is wary of setting foot in town until he finds out what's really going on, and is hiding with his band in the woods to the south of the quarry.

Bertrand is a 4th level rogue.

Nebish Brussle was a priest of the god of plunder. He was the brother of Bertrand, but is now a major part of several flesh golems. He was a 5th level cleric when he was killed.

Willem Brussle is the mayor of Concord Hill. A balding, portly man in his late 40s, Willem is a born politician. He blusters when he doesn't immediately know the answer to a question, will attempt to talk over people who ask difficult questions, and is suspicious of everyone he meets. He is the uncle of Bertrand, and had been quietly tolerating the Silver Pheasant for several years.

However, he is now worried that his nephew is seeking to take control of the town by eliminating key townspeople. He wants the Silver Pheasant eliminated, and hopes that the PCs will do so in the search for the missing people. He does not know of the temple to Argent in the abandoned quarry.

Willem is a 5th level expert with the following scores: Bluff +10, Sense Motive +10, and Diplomacy +10.

Anaïs was once was a nymph, but the construction of the town disrupted the flow of groundwater and poisoned her tide pool with lime, turning her into a sea hag. She has spent the past few decades studying necromancy in an attempt to find a method of restoring life to her tide pool.

She thought she had successfully blended into the world of men, but her hopes were shattered when her wig was stolen. She wants revenge against those who exiled her once again to the darkness, but more than anything else, she wants to be a nymph. She simply wants to be able to exult nature again. Her current plans are to build enough flesh golems, her "broken ones," to destroy the town and return the land to its natural state.

She is not so completely consumed by hate that she would not be willing to negotiate a treaty. Treat her initial attitude as hostile for purposes of a diplomacy check. However, if a gift of her missing wig is made, her attitude will immediately shift one step toward friendly.

If attacked, she will use her constructs and 20 HD of miscellaneous animated undead to defend herself. If pressed, she will flee toward the ocean.

Anaïs is an 8th level necromancer, with the barred schools of conjuration and illusion.

Hooks
Depending on what side of the law the PCs like to be on, there are several ways to get them involved:

1. The mayor may approach them to investigate the recent disappearance of some townspeople. He will inform them that he suspects the Silver Pheasant Trading Company, a local thieves' guild, of kidnapping the townsfolk.
2. Bertrand may use the wig of disguise to brave the town and contact the PCs. He wants to reclaim the Temple of Argent and find out what really happened to his brother. He will point the finger at his uncle, accusing him of filling in the quarry and hiring someone to fill it with monsters. He is well aware that whatever is going on there is far beyond his capability to handle, and will make direct appeals to any rogues in the group, beseeching them to help a brother in faith.
3. If the group contains a druid or ranger, he may be investigating the recent environmental changes and appearance of will o' wisps by the quarry.

Concord Hill
Concord Hill is a relatively new town of 1500 people, built 50 years ago atop a grapevine-covered hill that overlooks the Maliamia Ocean. The shore is about a 30-minute walk from the center of town, and the path through the grass-covered hillside has been worn bare by decades of townspeople.
Most houses were built using limestone from the nearby quarry, so the whole town gleams white in the summer sun. In warm weather, the inns in town fill with visitors to the beach, while in the winter, little happens.

If the PCs begin their investigation in the town, they can find out the following:

Gather Information check DC:
10 - The six people who disappeared are Anaïs, the apothecary; Nevil, a councilman; Marnie, a baker; Emmaline, the butcher's wife; Sevrin, a farmer; and Jacob, a hunter.
15 - Anaïs disappeared a full month before anyone else.
25 - Each of the other five missing townsfolk had some sort of run-in with Anaïs within the last year.
Gather Information check DC:
10 - The nephew of the current mayor runs the Silver Pheasant Trading Company.
20 - Every three months, the Silver Pheasant makes a tour of the surrounding towns - trading illicit goods and plundering when they can.
25 - The guild has been granted safe harbor by the mayor in exchange for agreeing not to steal from the town.
30 - The guild has built a temple to the god of plunder in the abandoned quarry outside of town.

Gather Information check DC:
15 - Jacob, the hunter that disappeared, spotted what he described as a "hag" in the forest about six months ago.
20 - On the night that the Silver Pheasant left town, a horrific twisted old woman was seen roaming about town. Several townspeople report being nearly frightened to death.

Bardic Knowledge (or Knowledge (Local)) check DC:
25 - The tide pool by the sea used to be home to a nymph. She disappeared within a year of the town being built.
30 - The nymph's name was Anaïs.

Knowledge (Nature) DC:
10 - Sea hags are nasty, mean creatures that live in or near despoiled oceans and lakes.
20 - Sea hags have a twisted, horrific appearance that can nearly frighten someone to death.
25 - Sea hags can be created when a Nymph's environment is despoiled.

With the exception of Anaïs, each of the missing townsfolk had a spouse. They will let the PCs search their houses. To search Anaïs' house, they PCs will need the permission of the mayor.

Search DC:
20 - Buried in the front yard of each house is a small eye fashioned from lead. The eye radiates faint enchantment magic, and, if identified, reveals that it was the vessel for a Lesser Geas spell.
25 - In Anaïs' house, the PCs will find her diary, which contains the excerpt from the beginning of this adventure.

The Woods
Directly to the south of the quarry are the woods where Bertrand is hiding with the remaining members of his company. If the PCs encounter him at the behest of the mayor, he will inform them of the activities at the quarry, and will allow the PCs to search his camp to prove that he does not currently have any captives.

Bertrand currently has 20 rogues remaining in his service (ten 1st level, seven 2nd level, and three 3rd level).

The Quarry

1. Outside - acting as agents of Anaïs, a string of will o' wisps attempts to lure townspeople into the flooded quarry. If the PCs approach the quarry, the will o' wisps will attempt to lead them into several pit traps that Anaïs has set.
   
   Spiked Pit Trap (80 Ft. Deep): CR 5; mechanical; location trigger, manual reset; DC 20 Reflex save avoids; 80 ft. deep (8d6, fall), pit spikes (Atk +10 melee, 1d4 spikes for 1d4+5 each); Search DC 20; Disable Device DC 20. Market Price: 5,000 gp.
   
   If threatened, the four will o' wisps will attack.
   
2. The Quarry - Over one hundred feet deep and three hundred feet in diameter, the quarry is now filled to the top with increasingly murky water. A stone path winds down the interior of the quarry, leading to the temple at the bottom. Vision, even with some method of illumination, is reduced to 1d8×10 ft.
   
   Rockslides are common in the quarry, now that the water is actively dissolving the limestone. Every round spent in the water, there is a cumulative 10% chance that the PCs will be in the way of some falling rock. Treat this like a natural Falling Block Trap: CR 5; Atk +15 melee (6d6); multiple targets (can strike all characters in two adjacent specified squares).
   
   Between the entrance to the quarry and the temple are 4 flesh golems - Anaïs' "broken ones." They will fight to destruction to prevent unwelcome visitors from reaching the temple.
   
3. The Temple of Argent - Situated in the middle of the quarry, this round structure has a reinforced wooden roof, and thick, stone walls. It is 60 ft in diameter, and has iron doors at each of the cardinal directions. Six months ago, it was unhallowed by Nebish Brussle from a scroll acquired by the Silver Pheasant. The unhallow spell has the following effects: the entire temple is guarded by a magic circle against good, all good creatures entering the area are affected by dispel magic (caster level 5), and all turning checks against undead suffer a -4 penalty.
   
   Anaïs now makes the temple her home. She has animated 20 HD worth of skeletons and zombies out of the priests, townspeople, rogues, and random wanderers that fell victim to her lesser geas eyes and the will o' wisps.

Resolution
There are several possible resolutions to this adventure:

1. The short route - the PCs brave the will o' wisps, the broken ones, the falling rocks, and the temple of Argent, and destroy Anaïs. Case closed. The brigands get their temple back, the mayor learns of the fate of the missing townspeople, and the PCs can rest easy, knowing that they dispatched a dangerous necromancer.
2. The middle route - the PCs learn about her transformation, and attempt to negotiate with her. She is willing to give back the temple and leave the town permanently if her wig is returned. This will take investigation on the part of the PCs and a desire to right a past wrong. If she is successfully negotiated with, Anaïs will go into exile, but will continue her studies of necromancy, in hopes that someday she will be powerful enough to restore her pool.
3. The long road: exultation - Anaïs used to be a nymph. Her sole reason for existence was the exultation of nature. In order to return her to this state, the PCs will have to find a way to repair the damage done to her tidal pool. This should involve, at the very least, filling in the quarry so that the limestone no longer is exposed to the elements, rerouting the natural springs that fed her pool, and rebuilding the destroyed ecosystem (perhaps by luring back the proper creatures). This is an extremely difficult endeavor, and any group attempting it should be well rewarded.

Ingredient Review

• Will o’ (the) Wisp - servants of Anaïs, the will o wisps attempt to lead the townspeople to their doom.
• Flooded Quarry - the location of the temple of the god of plunder.
• Broken Ones - the flesh golems created by Anaïs as servants.
• Brigands on a Pilgrimage - the Silver Pheasant Trading Company returns from its travels in order to give thanks to the god of plunder.
• Magic Wig - the wig of disguise stolen from Anaïs. It is the secondary goal of the adventure.
• Exultation - The goal of the adventure. Ambitious PCs have the opportunity to restore the true nature of a creature whose only reason for existence is the exultation of nature.
  

 

[el-remmen]

Semi-Final Round - Third Match-Up: Wulf Ratbane vs. CarpeDavid

Oh jeez, you all had to make it hard for me again. I hate the close ones.

But let's jump right into it, shall we?

The major problem with Wulf's entry is that it seems like a big set up for what is essentially just one encounter - and that encounter doesn't exactly sizzle, though as usual Wulf makes up for this with great and ingenius inidividual use of the provided ingredients.

On the other side of the coin, CarpeDavid's entry has more for the PCs to interact with in their investigations and explorations, but his use of the ingredients is overall slightly weaker than Wulf's.

In these situations making a decision is really hard, and typically it is the decisions in these kinds of judgments that end up pissing someone off, but you can't go through life making everyone happy, and when you're IRON DM Judge, you often do eactly the opposite, so you might as well revel in it.

Wulf Ratbane's scenario has a folktale type feel, something like a cautionary tale a bard might tell in the meadhall on a stormy night, and I like that about it - but in terms of the set-up I see problems all over the place - first of all with timing, the adventure says things like "If the PCs are clever they may be able to catch Geldulf and his men here while they are bathing, - How does the GM determine this aside from just deciding the party gets there when the brigands are bathing? How does that translate into PC cleverness? I mean, we can make some assumptions about the timing of things (like the brigands only bathe during the day), but still, the possible timeframes are pretty big and in the end it is up to DM fiat - which typically I have no problem with, when there are a bunch of scenes leading up to the main encounter, or several possible choices by the PCs that lead to a "staged" moment - but that is not the case in this scenario.

If the DM decides the party arrives before Geldulf and his raiders return then I guess they could be "clever" in hiding out in order to follow them to the quarry - but they'd have to know to follow them somewhere first, and that once they are followed there they'd bathe - and it is not clear if the townsfolk would know about the bathing or not. The little development of the relationship between Geldulf and the townsfolk leads me to believe they wouldn't because of his tyrannical ways and unwillingness to let people leave or do their own thing. And also there is no indication that anything untoward or mystical is going on - at this point in the story this is just another pack of raiders to be dealt with - so it is not like they'd even have reason to be curious about "what is going on at the quarry".

In "The Long Frost" the party shows up, finds out about the brigands and then goes to quarry to deal with them. Seems awfully linear to me, and linear means boring. I never would have thought that such a scenario with its wonderful trappings and feel could still come off as boring - but somehow Wulf succeeded.

But that is not to say that the individual elements of Wulf's entry are not wonderful as usual. I love the cursed hair of Geldulf's dead wife, and I love the exultation in pain as fits perfectly well with Loviatar who wants nothing more than for people to suffer and it seems this down on its luck town has plenty of that (though I would have made the damage done to the person weilding the "wig" be subdual - as that is recovered from faster and if Geldulf knocks himself out and is taken prisoner the potential for more pain and suffering would be even greater, espeically if the wig is taken from him and he desperately wants it back even as a PC (or someone else) is cursed by it.

Actually, looking at Wulf's entry again, I guess there is more than one encounter to be had in this adventure, but while they are linked to the adventure by way of the background, the will-o'-wisp and the wights (a kind of weak use of the "broken ones" ingredient, by the way) don't really seem to matter much or present much a danger to anyone unless they actually visit the now stripped and flooded quarry - while the cursed brigands are more of a danger and concern to the PCs, those abroad, and other villages (and even to the village they serve as well - how long will Loviatar be satisfied with the amount of pain being caused in her name and starts demanding sacrifices, or how long until some other group comes to put everyone in the village, brigand or not, to the torch and sword?)

Also, I am doubtful of how much of a pilgrimage it is for the brigands to visit the quarry - a pilgrimage implies some kind of long difficult journey for sacred reasons - but if the quarry was the town's former source of income - it could not be that far or that disciplined a journey.

At least Wulf's entry has some good follow-up options for the scenario. I particularly like the pilgramage of kindness and mercy to break the curse of the wig.

So how does, CarpeDavid do?

First of all, what is it with the contestants of the is particular tourney and all the damn intro/background info? The journal entry at the beginning was a little much, especially since I cannot imagine either a hag or a nymph keeping a journal or writing much of anything. But the set-up is still great. Anais is an interesting character, as her change in demeanor and visage is directly analogous to the destruction of the environment - it seems that CD as well, whether by intention or inadvertantly made his adventure into a bit of a cautionary tale, as the greed and hubris of men brings destruction among them.

But my problem with Anais is that she seems a bit too complacent for a hag, I mean, I get the impression that she would be happy to leave everyone and just live her assumed life with her magic wig (weak ingredient use by the way, about as weak as Wulf's was strong, while it serves a purpose in the adventure, it seems kind of thrown in for convenience) if her wig had not been taken. I'm sorry, but that is just lame. Sea hags are evil, capricious and scheming creatures and I find a hard time accepting a hag that was not doing some pretty serious evil all along. Hell, CarpeDavid would have been better served to just have Anais turned into a metaphorical hag instead of a literal one and driven to evil because how she assumes she will be treated if people can see her for what she looks like, but still having an essentially good heart. Or even better, have her think she is still doing good, but has become increasingly evil in her quest to be restored, thus inadvertantly digging deeper and deeper into her hole to Hell, and while that is implied some, it would have been nice for it to be made more apparent and explained. Perhaps her transformation was not complete - or it is complete and she is deluded, which is always nice - Redeeming someone who already thinks they are good and justified is a lot harder than someone who realizes the consequences of what they have done and is not for all intents and purposes someone who just wants to be left alone. However, there is enough of a nugget of good NPC stuff there for me to still consider her a good character to build the adventure around.

But there is more. CarpeDavid has more than one thing going on in his scenario and the political and criminal activity among the "ruling" family of the town is done well, too. It is this stuff that really pushes the entry ahead of Wulf's because I can envision a lot more PC interaction in town and there seems to be more to figure out and more a quandry about the right course of action.

Yet, he has some weak ingredient use - like the nynph's exultation of nature - while technically an accurate description of a nymph's purpose and joy in life - it really doesn't play a part in the actual adventure. And much like Wulf, the use of pilgrimage was weak - didn't seem like much a pilgrimage to me, especially after the adventure already tells us that the town is a safe passage for the brigand's smuggling. If they smuggle through there, then they aren't really going out of their way to get there are they? At least there is an actual temple to be visited, but the temple itself leads to another question: What is the time-frame for the background events of the adventure, leading up to the current events that the PCs are dealing with? I got the impression at first that the quarry was still active, but later it is described as abandoned, looking back at the journal entry introduction (that had made my eyes glaze over) I saw reference to "long, long ago" - so then it made sense that the quarry could be abandoned, but still the construction of a temple in there and the time and resources it would take wears away at my suspension of disbelief.

Both entries use will-o-the-wisps in a similar way (in the sense of using them to try to lure folks into the quarry), but CarpeDavid's use of the quarry as the inadvertant catalyst of the whole adventure (i.e turning the nymph into a hang) lends more strength to his use of the former, as the will-o-wisps are her servants and thus the irony of Anais using the quarry as a means of killing the people "responsible" for her current state. Yes, his use of quarry was much better than Wulf's. Not to mention he actually gave suggestions of how the quarry is a hazard (rockslides, pits, etc. . .), which is always a good idea.

It was curious that neither contestant used the monsters called "Broken Ones" (I have never seen a 3E version - but one must exist somewhere), but CarpeDavid's replacement (the flesh golems) are slightly superior to Wulf's lame-o girly wights. I mean, mutilated dead-girl wights are great, don't get me wrong and I like the touch of the broken limbs, but I like the actual broken apart and put back together elements of the flesh golems made from the missing people of the town was more like the capital "B" Broken Ones of 2E - though the ability to create all those golems might be a little out of the power of a haf that is supposed to be a challenge for a 10th level party

On the whole, CarpeDavid presents a more interesting and complete environment for his adventure that the PCs can interact with, explore, investigate and return to. As usual, Wulf presents a flavorful scenario, with intriguing elements, but it does not leap out at me as particularly special, and the overall integration of ingredients was not as good as it could have been. Though is wig ingredient is on par with CD's flooded quarry - the both of them deserve no special praise for the rest (though Wulf's exhulatation comes close).

It looks like

Spoiler

Wulf is still suffering from his second round curse, because I have to give this one to CarpeDavid. All else being equal, Carpe's adventure just seems like it'd be more fun and more involved and has the most potential for not only follow-up but for options in the adventure's outcome. It looks like we have another upset. My apologies to Wulf, but

when they are close I gotta call 'em like I see 'em.

Congratulations! The winner moves on the to the double-elimination final round and is guaranteed to get at least 3rd place.