Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 9669830" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/lmMgNJb.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 565px" />Everybody Dies on a Squid takes place in the city of Waterdeep in the Forgotten Realms, where the PCs are members of the city watch investigating an unannounced ship that docked in the harbor during the middle of the night. The ship’s crew are cultists serving a mind flayer colony, who hopes to unleash an infected dragon upon the city of Waterdeep. The dragon has the essence of an elder brain bound to its form, granting it powerful psionic abilities on top of draconic might. But an unexpected storm blew one of the cult ships off course, leaving the villains understaffed and thus are seeking to buy time by claiming that they’re a plague ship should interlopers investigate. A warning bell at the end of a pier can be rung to alert the rest of the city watch in the event of trouble.The adventure’s entirety takes place on the docks, with the ship (called the Crimson Squid) being a four-story, ten-room structure. The dockmaster doesn’t believe the captain’s plague story, instead thinking that they’re either smuggling goods or trying to avoid paying tariffs. The party has a variety of means of infiltrating the ship, and crew members will be hostile unless a PC gives them the proper password only cult members know (or sufficiently bluff their way into not giving it up). Captain Samira is more agreeable initially, and if she cannot convince the PCs to leave she will invite them to her personal quarters where she plans to attack them. The characters can realize something’s amiss by various clues, such as the elder brain dragon’s psionic aura causing a randomly-determined mental instability if the PCs rest while on the ship, a lack of ammunition for the cannons onboard, the captain’s personal log talking about vague plans to destroy Waterdeep, seeing a large shape in the cargo hold via peering through a hatch above it, or convincing cultists to lead the PCs down to the hold to receive a blessing from “her.”The canvas-covered object is actually the elder brain dragon, which will wake up via one of two ways: if a character moves adjacent to it to inspect it, or if the warning bell on the pier is rung. It easily smashes through the ship once awakened, although the physical barriers and tight quarters have it move at half speed while within the ship. The “win scenario” for this adventure is if the warning bell is rung, as this will allow the higher-level NPCs in Waterdeep to mount a defense and prevent the dragon from infecting the entire city. The survivable version of this adventure has the elder brain dragon escape without attacking the PCs, as it views the PCs as not worth the effort to kill.Thoughts: I do like how the adventure is a sort of meta-commentary on the Forgotten Realms, where the doomed PCs are the ones meant to alert the “real heroes” of trouble that their puny 1st-level selves cannot overcome. The one downside is that the adventure might wrap up a little too soon if the bell is rung too early. Say if a fight breaks out on the deck and a PC uses a ranged weapon or spell to ring the bell. I rate it a 7/10.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/2KC5CNq.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 544px" />Everybody Dies in a Den of Snakes is another Faerûn-based adventure, taking place in the nation of Najara in the Forest of Wyrms. The forest is home to a long-running war between naga and yuan-ti fighting over land and resources. Tired of generations of battle, the naga and yuan-ti are sending representatives to a peace summit. One of the naga representatives is Safar, who guards over an artifact known as the Solant Mote in the village of Jadeite, which ensures that supernatural evil cannot be summoned in the area and is thus safeguarded at the top of a spiral tree. The yuan-ti, however, have an ulterior agenda: repurpose the Solant Mote to summon Demogorgon into the world to defeat the naga!The PCs are in the village of Jadeite when the adventure starts, in discussion with a half-elf resident by the name of Cora who hopes to regale visitors of the area’s history as a tour guide. This way, she can give out a boxed-text infodump on the brief background of the kingdom. Safar is going on an expedition to the yuanti- settlement of Serpent’s Cowl, escorted by several veteran warriors. While a militia is present, there is worry of the weakened defenses. Via a tabaxi intermediary by the name of Lotus, Safar appoints the PCs to watch over the artifact in her absence.The party has some time to look around the spiral tree to boost its defenses, such as repairing a broken mangonel (basically a miniature trebuchet) or learning of a secret hollowed out portion of a tree to hide the Solant Mote by examining a tapestry displaying an illustrated history of Jadeite. While studying said tapestry, the magical light emitted from the Mote begins to flicker downwards, warning the party that someone is trying to steal it! The culprit is a yuan-ti infiltrator by the name of Morvana who will surrender easily, but if she escapes then Lotus will capture her. Morvina will lie about her intentions for trying to steal the Solant Mote, claiming that the yuan-ti need it to seal an evil contained in Serpent’s Cowl, and her bluff can be called via appropriate skill checks. Additionally, a combined successful Perception and Religion checks reveal that she’s wearing a necklace that is the holy symbol of Demogorgon.And just like that, an ill omen of legions of wild animals rushing out of the forest indicates that the Prince of Demons has been summoned to the Material Plane! The PCs are tasked with protecting the relic and village while Lotus leaves to alert Safar. Demogorgon’s arrival can be delayed via various activities and successful skill checks: firing the mangonel siege weapon (which doesn’t hurt the demon lord but does cause one head to mock the struck one), giving an inspiring speech to the village militia, pretending to hide the Mote elsewhere to confuse the demon lord, using the mote’s reflective light to temporarily blind Demogorgon, and social skill checks to trick the demon’s heads into arguing with each other.Once Demogorgon arrives, he will offer to spare the PCs if they surrender (a lie) before climbing the spiral tree to devour and thus destroy the Solant Mote. He can also destroy a level to cause it to collapse by dealing 50 damage to said level. Either way, it should take the demon a total of 3 rounds to reach the top of the tree where the Mote is located. The adventure doesn’t say a specific number of rounds before Safar’s party arrives back in town, but once that happens the naga will be able to banish the demon lord. This event will be immortalized on the tapestry, along with the PCs in their best moments. The survivable version of this adventure makes Demogoron merely a manifestation of the demon lord, who automatically fades away if kept away from the mote for the unmentioned time limit.Thoughts: While I like the idea and set-up of a “tower defense” adventure in delaying a demon lord, the adventure is notably lacking a set time duration for Demogorgon’s arrival and then Safar’s, which is unfortunate. Additionally, while the NPCs advise against moving the mote save in the most dire of circumstances, the mote’s size and weight isn’t explicitly given. I can imagine a player asking if they can tie the artifact to a familiar to fly off with it. As demogorgon doesn’t have a fly speed and his gaze attacks reach to 120 feet, even an owl can outmaneuver the demon lord via the Dash action. Due to this, the adventure feels much more constrained and lacking in choice than the others, making it rate an average 5/10.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/plOA8Ye.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="width: 602px" />Everybody Dies in the Heart of the Storm takes place in the Crystalmist Mountains in the setting of Greyhawk, but given how generic said world is the book informs that this adventure can easily be placed in the mountain ranges of other example settings. The PCs are members of the Vael Society, an evil-aligned mage’s guild specializing in acquiring magical items for wealth and power. Madame Rathmore, the guildmaster, learned of a relic known as the Heart of the Storm held in a floating tower in the Crystalmist Mountains. After an interview process among various other hopeful members, the PCs are hired to retrieve it. The tower is believed abandoned, but in reality it is home to a storm giant quintessent by the name of Ogmoth, who acts as the Heart’s guardian against thieves such as the PCs.The adventure begins during an interview with Madame Rathmore, attended by an orc bodyguard and various other guild members also wishing to prove themselves to her. Rathmore will give the PCs the mission, and present to them a teleportation circle that will conveniently transport them to the base of the floating tower.Due to her elemental bond with the surrounding weather, Ogmoth is automatically aware of everything the PCs do once they teleport there. Save for the throne room, the tower has no map or keyed room numbers, instead using general descriptions and theater of the mind. The first obstacle the PCs must overcome is making their way across a pseudo-bridge of floating rocks to the entry arch, and a trio of elementals known as storm children can be talked into helping the PCs cross by presenting the task as a fun game. Once they pass the arch,* the party will be teleported into individual cages with numbered plaques hanging over an expansive storm. Each cage has multiple levers with numbered plaques corresponding to the other cages. A nearby golden door with magical script that can be read by anyone presents a “test,” claiming that a life must be sacrificed to obtain the Heart of the Storm, and that the sacrifice is chosen by a majority vote. Once read, a pseudo-clock appears, made of glowing gems that slowly darken over time. And then, the cages slowly descend…*Or fall off the bridge, where they’re saved by Ogmoth who takes the form of a strong wind that pushes them into the tower as though the walls are immaterial.The test is actually meant to discern the morality of intruders, as the storm is illusory and anyone who falls will hit the ground that isn’t far below the cages. The “right” way to win is for nobody to pull the levers, and a DC 20 Insight check tells a character that storm giants aren’t usually evil, so they wouldn’t ordinarily make “sadistic choice” kind of trap. If a sacrifice is chosen, the illusion will fade as the rest of the cages lower and open. The party can then proceed through a golden doorway transporting them to Ogmoth’s throne room and the Heart’s location. Ogmoth’s initial disposition to the PCs will depend on how they dealt with the prior test. However, upon learning of their intention to steal the Heart, she will be irate, saying that the “Heart” is actually the remains of her dearly departed wife, and will move to kill them. As 1st-level PCs are unlikely to be able to transport a Huge-sized corpse, a snatch-and-grab is out of the question. PCs can safely escape by leaping off the tower onto the storm children elementals if befriended earlier, although the Vael Society has no tolerance for failure and will attack and kill the PCs should they make their way back to the teleportation circle. The survivable version of the adventure doesn’t have Ogmoth directly manifest and attack. Instead, she leaves that to two ogrillion ogres. Should the party overcome them, the storm giant will give them a Gem of Brightness along with a warning to never return, and the Vale Society accepts this as the “heart” and thus a successful mission.Thoughts: As the floating rock bridge and cage test aren’t actually lethal, the only real risk in this adventure is at the end when they confront Ogmoth the storm giant. While this helps speed otherwise-fragile 1st-level PCs to the proper climactic TPK, it ends up feeling extremely railroady as their choices don’t really matter. While all of these adventures are short and linear, there should be some tangible penalty or risk, even if death doesn’t occur in these smaller encounters. I thus rate this adventure a 3/10.Thoughts So Far: Of these three, Everybody Dies on a Squid is my favorite in serving as a rather fun and passable adventure. Den of Snakes has potential, although the round-based timer for Safar’s cavalry coming in needs to be determined by the DM. If it were up to me, I’d make it 8-10 rounds: let’s presume demogorgon takes 2 rounds to do his surrender offer. He takes 3 rounds to reach the mote, and the skill challenge for delaying his arrival can add several more rounds on top. I’m not a fan of the Heart of the Storm, although I do appreciate the adventure making use of a high-CR good-aligned monster as an adversary, which you don’t see very often in modules.Join us next time as we die at the claws of a dracolich, while fighting an ooze in a bathhouse, and hunting a dragon turtle!</blockquote>

Verification