D&D 5E Lost City of Barakus: Campaign Discussion and Advice

[S'mon]

Awsome. Good to know. I'v played a few other FGG products (Slumbering Tsar and a few Quests of Doom) and find them in general to be fairly mercilous and deadly. So the plan is to start at 3rd lv and go to 9th lv. I hadn't consider max HP though, thanks. Also I'm qurious adout fate points. How do they work?

I used the rules from OGL Conan - spend a Fate Point to be 'left for dead' instead of dying, or otherwise get a lucky break. I think they started with 3 and occasionally got more but they weren't spent very often, mostly in the first 2-3 levels.

Barakus is less deadly than other Nec/FG adventures after a few levels, but level 1 of the Lost City is very deadly for level 1 PCs, as is the wilderness. The 'half XP' rule worked well. If I were running it in 5e I would maybe start at 1st but aim to get the PCs to 3rd with a couple sessions of newbie/tutorial adventure before going full sandbox at 3rd.

 

[Neil the Knight]

A villain who spans the campaign and is the arch nemesis of the party will need his own climactic end. The way I see this unfolding is at The Stone of Madness just out side of the gate to Devrons prison. Because the gate only allows people with non evil alignments to pass (even neutral alignments are subjected to a Cha save) Asgaroth will be trying to find a way to bypass the magic gate. One of my challenges will be to make this encounter distinct from the coming final showdown with Devron. Though one is divine and the other arcane they are both high level magic users and it would be easy to get stuck in a rut when it comes to tactics. Also I will need this Encounter to feel distinct and special from all the other times the party has run into Asgaroth.

One possibility is to incorporate a time sensitive challenge into the encounter. Say have Asgaroth trying to complete a ritual that would allow him to pass through the gate and reach Devron (possibly with the helm of power if I wanted this encounter to really count for something). The book has two Guardians of Madness (Helmed Horrors) for the encounter in this room so I would keep those. Also the Stone of Madness, which floats in the centre of the room is quite strong here so characters are needing to make "madness" saving throws every hour or become curse with madness. All in all this would already be a decently challenging encounter for the party but I want to ramp it up a touch, and to keep the fight from becoming stale or stagnant i will have it occur in phases.

As I mentioned I'll add in Asgaroth preforming a ritual that would allow him access to Devrons prison. Wile the ritual is occurring, instead of the Guardians of Madness I will insert my own Archons of Madness; Fury, Frenzy and Furor. They are Paragon monsters which begin as Helmed Horrors then transform into Earth (Fury), Air (Frenzy) and Fire (Furor) elementals. I got the idea for these monsters and the multiphase boss fight from the Angry GM http://theangrygm.com/elemental-boogaloo/ additionally that artical will help explain paragon monsters.

So the first phase will be the party going up against three Helmed Horrors wile Asgaroth is trying to complete the ritual. The second phase will be the Party up against three Frenzied Elementals with, most likely, Asgaroth still trying to complete the ritual.

To stop the ritual the party will need to complete three successful spell casting ability contests against Asgaroth (A player and Asgaroth each roll a d20 and add their spell casting ability modifier.) Before he completes 5 spell casting ability checks.

Once the ritual is broken a wave of rejuvenating enery will explode across the room and all the characters will gain the benifit of a short rest. At this point the third phase will begin with Asgaroth pulling together all the loose pieces of armour that fell off the Archons of Madness and creates a giant construct of magical armour around himself rightfully named Juggernaut Asgaroth. I am considering using either the stats for an Iron Golum or a Fire Giant Dreadnaught.

By using mainly physical attack based creatures this will feel distinct enough from any of the other showdowns with Asgaroth and also the coming show down with Devron.

 

[werecorpse]

I am currently running Barakhus and the party has just reached 4th level. Just focussing on the actual lost city dungeon I have a few issues.
My group quickly identified that the dungeon is such that they need to go room by room searching everywhere to collect the various maguffins (three keys, three flames, sword) to get to Devron. This is a bit of an old school mission statement (explore the dungeon because it's there). They have already started to question if he's still locked up down there why they would use the keys to confront him? Once they see that the ward is intact they will probably just take the keys (to make sure no one else gets to the ward) and leave.
In fact why hasn't some other monster just randomly wandered off with one of the keys?

If some evil bad guy wants to free him they need to get the three keys, kill the guardians in the stone room while not going mad and duck round behind the stone (plenty of room) open the door and head down to the ward. Once there they can get no further unless they charm a good peasant and through trial and error tell what lies to tell when he goes through the ward. From the other side he just says Devron's dead and it's all good (or evil really)

In fact why does Devron have the imposter pretend to be an elf trapped underground for years? How does he survive? Why not have him be a fake Devron and attack the PC's ? Then if it wins it can leave one good person alive to drop the ward, if it dies the PC's will celebrate a bit of an anticlimactic victory and leave with some loot (dropping the ward).

Better yet Devron should just spend every round charming or suggesting to good PC's and telling them to "return to your home and tell everyone who asks that Devron is dead". One failed save and he's outa there. He might then go whole hog to get the helm but either way it's a better plan that the elf gambit.

edit: I've figured out the flaw in this plan Devron (the muppet) doesn't have charm person or suggestion so needs to rely on the imposter for these abilities. So he needs to have the imposter try twice while invisible then it's all out to capture a good person and keep them here long enough to charm to speak the words that will lift the ward.

Plus if he escapes but doesn't get the helm you've got a decent mid level villain who has the party is trying to keep the helm away from.

edit: also No lich should wear their phylactery. Devron should bury his somewhere so that if he is killed & the party doesn't realise they need to find a phylactery he will be free when he is restored to unlife

also the final question. "Is he dead?" A. He's a lich of course he's dead, B. I can see my players answering that question with a question "Who?"

dont nut get me wrong I enjoy the dungeon, I just think some more thought needs to go into why anyone good tries to confront Devron and how he reacts

 

[S'mon]

Devron has a 1e style pylactery (ie worn) - Old School Feel.

I agree there isn't really much reason to seek him out, other than to loot his body.

 

[werecorpse]

What? I had forgotten that - have to check that by digging out my old 1e monster manual and turning to page 51 iirc. Ahh that book has such great inspirational material.

When my group get there he'll be following 5e rules and I hope a campaign villain will be born - I figure he's gonna be a madman like an undead joker after all his time with the stone of madness : )

Btw my reason for why the party is going after him is that one of them has drawn the ire of a succubus they freed from another adventure (forge of fury) and she has been into his dreams convincing him the evil beneath Barakus is about to rise and must be stopped as part of her three part plan (thought/word/deed) to corrupt his soul as is written up in the great succubus write up in the 5e MM.

 

[Neil the Knight]

I am currently running Barakhus and the party has just reached 4th level. Just focussing on the actual lost city dungeon I have a few issues.
My group quickly identified that the dungeon is such that they need to go room by room searching everywhere to collect the various maguffins (three keys, three flames, sword) to get to Devron. This is a bit of an old school mission statement (explore the dungeon because it's there).

FGG's mission statement is "5th edition rules. First eddition feel". Not that this book is 5e but you get the picture.

They have already started to question if he's still locked up down there why they would use the keys to confront him? Once they see that the ward is intact they will probably just take the keys (to make sure no one else gets to the ward) and leave.

I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that one of the books suggestions is to have Devron in possession of the Book of Korbus. This would mean that when the characters put on the Ring of Rajick it would compel at least one of them through its Geas function to go face Devron and get the book back.

In fact why hasn't some other monster just randomly wandered off with one of the keys?

If some evil bad guy wants to free him they need to get the three keys

Your right I kinda over looked the keys to even get down to the portal. I suppose then either I can put him in possession of one of the keys. Possibly the one that belongs to the mummy on lv 2 and have a show down with him on the bridge that spans the chasm just outside where the mummy is meant to be. Or have him jump the party once they've collected all three, gone down into the secret passage back up on the 1st lv and retrieved the master key to acsess the 5th lv, Devrons Prison.
If I have him steal the master key when he ambushes them, then I can still run the final encounter I had planned around the Stone of Madness.

kill the guardians in the stone room while not going mad and duck round behind the stone (plenty of room) open the door and head down to the ward. Once there they can get no further unless they charm a good peasant and through trial and error tell what lies to tell when he goes through the ward. From the other side he just says Devron's dead and it's all good (or evil really)

I probobly won't fiddle around with these details cause it doesn't particularly lend itself to a climactic end with Asgaroth

In fact why does Devron have the imposter pretend to be an elf trapped underground for years? How does he survive?

The doppelganger is undead

Why not have him be a fake Devron and attack the PC's ? Then if it wins it can leave one good person alive to drop the ward, if it dies the PC's will celebrate a bit of an anticlimactic victory and leave with some loot (dropping the ward).

The only problem with this is the Doppelganger reverts back into his true form when slain so once the encounter was over the party would figure it out pritty quickly. But i do like the idea better than whats in the book. This would mitigates the need for large amounts of RP to try and get the party to believe the Doppelganger.

Better yet Devron should just spend every round charming or suggesting to good PC's and telling them to "return to your home and tell everyone who asks that Devron is dead". One failed save and he's outa there. He might then go whole hog to get the helm but either way it's a better plan that the elf gambit.

I've figured out the flaw in this plan Devron (the muppet) doesn't have charm person or suggestion so needs to rely on the imposter for these abilities.

You could just change his spell list. The guy has had thousands of years to plan his escape. I'm sure he could of taught himself a couple spells. Personally I'm splitting the difference between his spells available to him in LCoB and those in MM.

so needs to rely on the imposter for these abilities. So he needs to have the imposter try twice while invisible then it's all out to capture a good person and keep them here long enough to charm to speak the words that will lift the ward.

Though I am not a fan of it, if I do stick with "the elf gambit" as you put it, do you have any advice on how to successfully run a Charm Person or Suggestion spell on a player without the whole party knowing.

also No lich should wear their phylactery. Devron should bury his somewhere so that if he is killed & the party doesn't realise they need to find a phylactery he will be free when he is restored to unlife

Your right it is totally stupid for the guy to have the only thing that can actually wipe him from existence on his person. I will be playing with an experienced group of guys who will know about the phylactery so I will probobly try to incorporate it into the final phase of the battle with Devron. Possibly have it in a separate chamber protected by some sort of ward that manifests it self in the shape of Devrons head. (Cause what Boss fight is complete without fighting a floating head) possibly some kinda reskinned Beholder

When my group get there he'll be following 5e rules and I hope a campaign villain will be born - I figure he's gonna be a madman like an undead joker after all his time with the stone of madness : )

I like the imagery of this but I would guess he would be imune to the stone of Madness seeing as he created it. But most Beings live or undead are bound to go mad after being imprisoned for thousands of years.

Btw my reason for why the party is going after him is that one of them has drawn the ire of a succubus they freed from another adventure (forge of fury) and she has been into his dreams convincing him the evil beneath Barakus is about to rise and must be stopped as part of her three part plan (thought/word/deed) to corrupt his soul as is written up in the great succubus write up in the 5e MM.

I also like your succubus idea. Do you have any suggestions on good ways to run the Geas from the Ring of Rajick

 

[werecorpse]

I don't have much in the way of forum posting cutting & pasting skills so excuse my ill set out response.

1. Yes I get that necromancer is deliberately old school - but my players have been at this d&d lark for 30+ years and have got used to a better reason for adventure than "because it's there". I know my adventure is losing its allure when too many of them start asking "why are we here?".

2. I didn't really address your Asgaroth idea in my initial post, I was just commenting on my experiences, sorry. I think the ring of Rajick is a good lure to get them through the ward. I think if they have had some foreshadowing that Asgaroth is trying to free "the darkness beneath Barakhus" then that gives them another reason and foreshadows the bad guy. The adventure itself requires a room by room to find the three keys & the three flames. If you assume that Asgaroth has already got the three keys then you have to think what damage would he have done to the dungeon in getting them? This begins to get complicated. You could just say that Asgaroth has some ancient text with other Intel & believes (rightly or wrongly-doesn't matter he will be interrupted) he can get around the door without the keys so has just gone straight there - hence the ritual. Of course in doing the ritual he is exposing himself to the stone of madness but his ego presumably tells him he can resist that.

3. I know the imposter is undead but he is pretending to the PC's to be an elf trapped down here for 3 years. The players are going to ask how he survived. Maybe if the lich has the Book of Korbus he will give it to the imposter and it could also give him access to create food and water? (Or the imposter could lie and say that it grants him sustenance? Or something else does, like the ring from 3.5e?). He'll need to come up with some reason he just dewing walk out while the ward is intact. Good PC's can. (Remember they don't know he's undead). Maybe say now that he killed Devron he can't leave until the ward is down - it's a tough lie and as I say I would almost guarantee my players will see through it and be even more on guard than a more simple plan. Truthfully once the players find out they can leave with the warding still up they are gonna likely just say that Devron's still alive anyway. Why drop the ward?

4. I will change the lich to update him to 5e (including hiding his phylactery) but I won't give him those charm suggestion spells. - tbh if you did it would be an easy win for the lich. Just hide and every round charm person until everyone fails then ask someone to tell the ward he is destroyed & he leaves. He doesn't have a particular axe to grind with the PC's (apart from the usual hatred of the living of course) so can wait until his prison is broken and he is miles away before plotting the destruction of the mortals who had witnessed him being embarrassed.

5. He didn't create the stone of madness he summoned it forth. It's a thing even lich's don't usually mess with. It was an act of desperation to destroy Barakhus and cost Devron a bunch of levels (although he could have resisted that if he had still had his magic hat). It worked. I would have it be from the far realm maybe. In my world you aren't immune to the blasphemous things you summon forth to destroy your enemies. In my world (in which I am also mashing in Shackled City) it's associated with Adimarchus the demon prince of madness. In my world Devron is mad.

6. As for running charm person - well in 5e it just makes the person regard the caster as a friendly acquaintance
So that's not great for the bad guys but at least it gets one player on side. With my group I would pass them a note or take them outside and tell them they are charmed and they regard this guy as a friendly acquaintance. I would also say that they remember him from their past. He was an adventurer they looked up to as a kid, he lived near their village, he came and told them stories of adventure, was friends with their uncle etc. He is an old friend. He disappeared a few years ago and they never knew what happened with him - the player should be told to back up his story etc
With suggestion it's easier I would just pass them a note which says "you must now to the best of your ability do only the following " go back through the ward head home, and tell anyone you meet or thing that asks that Devron is dead and destroyed" once you have done this task you may then act normally again. " This should mean on the players next turn they just move as best they can toward the ward - if not stopped they will be asked the question, give the answer & the ward will be dropped. They will then continue to head home. Devron IMO will as soon as he sees the ward drop command a minion to run through as a test - then flee as fast as he can.

6. Running the geas I would assume it's the spell from the PHB cast as a 9th level spell (or at least 7th). I would give the players a fair bit of latitude on being able to rest etc. I always worry that these sort of spells take away player agency which IMO is crucial. But as long as they are trying to get into the warded room they are complying with their mystical obligations. If you need to give them a searing headache to remind them it's not optional, so be it.

edit: in answer to my own question as to why haven't the keys been taken I'm going to have them magically teleport back to their safekeeping boxes on the islands on level 1 if removed from Barakhus for more than 1 week.

 

[Neil the Knight]

1. Yes I get that necromancer is deliberately old school - but my players have been at this d&d lark for 30+ years and have got used to a better reason for adventure than "because it's there". I know my adventure is losing its allure when too many of them start asking "why are we here?".

Especially when you start comparing some of the material published in 5e to the AD&D stuff it's like night and day.

2. I didn't really address your Asgaroth idea in my initial post, I was just commenting on my experiences, sorry. I think the ring of Rajick is a good lure to get them through the ward. I think if they have had some foreshadowing that Asgaroth is trying to free "the darkness beneath Barakhus" then that gives them another reason and foreshadows the bad guy. The adventure itself requires a room by room to find the three keys & the three flames. If you assume that Asgaroth has already got the three keys then you have to think what damage would he have done to the dungeon in getting them? This begins to get complicated. You could just say that Asgaroth has some ancient text with other Intel & believes (rightly or wrongly-doesn't matter he will be interrupted) he can get around the door without the keys so has just gone straight there - hence the ritual. Of course in doing the ritual he is exposing himself to the stone of madness but his ego presumably tells him he can resist that.

"The darkness beneith Barakus" love that phase. Totally stealing it.
As you say you kinda need to go room by room in the Dungeon, or risk the pain of missing some thing. Some of the most important things are in the most unassuming places around Barakus. It's hard cause this can lead to an old school stale and stagnant routine of "listen at the door, open the door, fire ball the room, mop up services perception checks untill we find all the treasure".
Ya I don't want to give Asgaroth all the keys cause then the players are really justified in asking " why did we search all those rooms" but one I think is reasonable and I was looking for a good way to add in a encounter with Asgaroth in Barakus any way. And as you point out o don't want to have to rewrite three quarters of the rooms. The three flames are needed to get the sword which is used to kill Devron so I won't have him bother with any of those.
Your next suggestion about him going strait for the door I like too. The ancient text or time he possesses can be from The Mad Gods Key adventure I discussed before. Allows me to keep the encounter IV planned pritty much intact.
He's already kinda mad.....a little more mad just makes him a more compelling villain.

3. I know the imposter is undead but he is pretending to the PC's to be an elf trapped down here for 3 years. The players are going to ask how he survived. Maybe if the lich has the Book of Korbus he will give it to the imposter and it could also give him access to create food and water? (Or the imposter could lie and say that it grants him sustenance? Or something else does, like the ring from 3.5e?). He'll need to come up with some reason he just dewing walk out while the ward is intact. Good PC's can. (Remember they don't know he's undead). Maybe say now that he killed Devron he can't leave until the ward is down - it's a tough lie and as I say I would almost guarantee my players will see through it and be even more on guard than a more simple plan. Truthfully once the players find out they can leave with the warding still up they are gonna likely just say that Devron's still alive anyway. Why drop the ward?

Ya so many things about the Doppelganger are off. It's to complex for me and I can for see me doing all this prep then the party not going for any of it and just fire balling him for and giggles. I am going to have the Doppelganger pretend to be Devron as you suggested, possibly with the Book of Kobus, that way the players will maybe feel as though they accomplished what they came down here for. Chop the lackluster battle up to the fact that Devron didn't have his helm. If they open the portal then Devron rushes out, if not maybe leave clues that the phylactery is behind the secret door that leads off area 5-2 which leads the party strait to Devron.

4. I will change the lich to update him to 5e (including hiding his phylactery) but I won't give him those charm suggestion spells. - tbh if you did it would be an easy win for the lich. Just hide and every round charm person until everyone fails then ask someone to tell the ward he is destroyed & he leaves. He doesn't have a particular axe to grind with the PC's (apart from the usual hatred of the living of course) so can wait until his prison is broken and he is miles away before plotting the destruction of the mortals who had witnessed him being embarrassed.

Good point. Good point

5 . He didn't create the stone of madness he summoned it forth. It's a thing even lich's don't usually mess with. It was an act of desperation to destroy Barakhus and cost Devron a bunch of levels (although he could have resisted that if he had still had his magic hat). It worked. I would have it be from the far realm maybe. In my world you aren't immune to the blasphemous things you summon forth to destroy your enemies. In my world (in which I am also mashing in Shackled City) it's associated with Adimarchus the demon prince of madness. In my world Devron is mad.

Ahh yes rereading it you are right about how the stone came to be.
The players in this game are a touch lower lv but I do like how 5e added in that when you loose concentration on something like Conjure Elemental, Conjure Fay, and the stronger demon summoning ones from UA the thing you summoned doesn't just disappear but basically becomes wild.

in answer to my own question as to why haven't the keys been taken I'm going to have them magically teleport back to their safekeeping boxes on the islands on level 1 if removed from Barakhus for more than 1 week.

I like it!


Otherwise thanks for the advice

 

[Neil the Knight]

Let's expand on my idea of tying Asgaroth in with the Slaving Priestess and where the party will go from there. As I mentioned before the idea here is not necessarily to have Elan Kanto involved directly with Asgaroth and his cult but have Dash Montrose selling the slaves to Asgaroth who is in turn, taking them to a seaside keep and transforming them into undead.

The Slaving Priestess is fairly sandboxy, with the PC's able to investigate and confront Elan Kanto from multiple angles, and i am content leaving the adventure as is, but ultimately it is inevitable they end up at the docks where the prisoners are to be sold to Dash Montrose.

I plan to have Dash play the part of a simple middle man who's job it is to take the prisoners, on his barge, from the city to the cultists waiting upon a boat named the Cofre Del Mar hidden under the cover of night in the bay.

The book says:
"The docks are a perfectly suitable place for the characters to have their final encounter with Elan and her minions, especially if she is preparing to deliver the slaves to Dash and his men. If the party comes to the docks by design to foil Elan's plans, then Elan and her acolytes, and all her men are present. Perhaps the characters arrive just as the delivery is being made. The slavers, it should be noted, want nothing to do with a pitched battle, and as soon as they spot a melee on the docks, they pull up anchor and begin heading out."


The scene they set lends it self to a particularly exiting chase down the docks. I am imagining having a barge creep along the river and the party following it. whether they have cause a commotion, and alerted Dash will determine the speed of the boat. As they chase the barge they will need to make rolls to determine weather they run into any obstacles or not, as described in the running a chase in the DMG. The players will have opportunities to hop apon the barge if they wish, weather it be leaping from a peir jutting out into the river or dropping down from a over hanging bridge.

At this point I plan to to blend in a second adventure named Hunt for the Cofre Del Mar, from Oerth Journal 19.

The adventure synopsis:
"The PCs enter Northanchor and with the deed to the ship, The Swordfish. Only to learn that it was stolen from the docks recently and a ship called the Cofre Del Mar is terrorizing Dunhead Bay. The PCs may also learn from the local Thieves' Guild that several ship builders were kidnapped around the same time as the theft of Swordfish and one of them escaped. The Guild has been hiding him at his request ever since he returned. If the PCs successfully talk their way into a meeting with the old shipbuilder, they learn that Swordfish and the Cofre Del Mar are one and the same. To lay claim to the deed of the Swordfish the PCs must set out on a privateer named the Golden Wave to hunt for the notorious Cofre Del Mar and capture it. After investigating a sinking cog, a harpy's aerie, and surviving a harrowing attack by a sea hydra, the PCs come face to face with the Cofre Del Maraud and her crew in a ship-to-ship battle. Should the PCs be defeated, they are sure to suffer the same fate as the crews of all the other ships attacked. If victorious, Dunhead Bay is safe once again from these attacks and the PCs can assert their claim to the Swordfish. The PCs also find clues aboard the Cofre Del Mar that lead them into the Iron Hills to put a stop to the evil mining operation and defeat the rest of the diabolical adventurers behind recent events."

Without reading the whole adventure it may be a touch confusing but I will set all the city part of the adventure around the docks of Endhome and use the remaining seafaring part of the adventure as a story arch to get the party to Asgaroth seaside keep.

The first half of the adventure involves the party gathering information on the Cofre Del Mar in Endhome. They find themselves at the office of the harbour master and face to face with another one of Endhome gangs, The Black Water Company who control the docks.

In the second half of the adventure the party sets out to sea on a privateers ship, The Golden Wave, with a full crew of 10 Marines, 20 Sailers, Captain Morrow and his first mate. The module has four set encounters and I plan to add a 5th

First encounter is at the sight of an abandoned fishing cog, that was attacked by the Cofre Del Mar, named the Mermaids Kiss. To investigate the scene the party must load up into a skiff and head over. Before they even arrive at the cog they are swarmed by hungry sharks in a feeding frenzy from the Mermaids Kiss hold of dead fish. I don't know how many of you have played Assassins Creed Black Flag but there is a part of the game where you can go whaling with a harpoon. I imagine this encounter kind of like that. Some if not all the party will need to take up harpoons (javalins) and fend off the sharks. If they don't the sharks will capsize the boat and the party will need to try and fight them in the water which will not go their way (remember most weapons have disadvantage to attack under water). One of the ways to make this interesting would be to have the sharks take bites and bump the skiff throughout the fight forcing those on bord to make acrobatics. Checks. Any other suggestions on how to make this encounter not just a battle?

The second encounter is the Harpies nest where the party possibly find them selves compelled to try and swim to and Climb a spire of rock jutting out from the sea. Of course the Harpies who nest at the top of this spire have convinced the poor souls that it is a good idea to swim over and attempt to scale the rock. If they make it over and get to within 10ft of the top the Harpies ambush the climbers trying to hurl them back down onto the sharp rocks below. I like this encounter. It involves, swim checks, Climb checks then a battle with most characters hanging on to a cliff face. Harpies them selves aren't to tough but you add in all the environmental factors and you've got your self quite a battle.

The third encounter is where the ship comes face to face with a Hydra, a classic sea monster battle. I would probably begin with only having one of its heads above water at a time, keeping its distance and using its reach to try and pull members of the crew, including the party off the deck. Then two heads would pop up, then tree, then four and so on until it was evident this is a Hydra.

At this point the beast would clamber onto the side of the ship which tilts the deck making it very hard and treturous for the party to stay out of the water once more. This keep the battle from becoming just a hack and slash and adds a fair bit of intrigue.

The fourth encounter will be the one I'm adding in and it can occur any time before the 5th and final encounter. Last year I was a player in a game that involved an elaborate mining cart chase down a frozen tunnel with a pair of Rezmoraze at our heels. The epic scene ended with a climactic finish across a collapsing rail bridge. At the beginning of the final scene the DM awarded each player 3 hero points and got us each to draw a que card he had written up. The cue card described how your part of the cart had crashed and what was happening immediately around you. The ensuing rounds you needed to describe how you were going to scramble your way to safety, he would determine what kind of roll was required for such a feat and each of us had a choice to use our hero points to augment those rolls. But it wasn't simply you get to roll some extra dice and add it on, we needed to describe the circumstances in which our characters would manage some thing they normally couldn't.

For example lets say you began the encounter hurled out of your cart, hanging from the bottom of the bridge by a rail truss. To get to safety, you were attempting to swing your way across but OH no you fail your acrobatics check and slip. You can use a hero point to pull out your whip and try to catch the next beam down (Indiana Jones style) which would involve a roll to hit against some thing like an AC 10. Or you can blow two hero dice to automatically succeed on the attempt.

The scene i will set is a sudden storm will whip up on the seas, and its all hands on deck. There will be three stations they can help out on. I haven't completely thought it through yet but let's say one up in the riging of the sails, the second on the deck buttoning down the hatches, and third below deck securing cargo. (If you have any idea what actually needs to be done on a ship when a storm hits, please chime in) Each player will be given three hero points and each station a challenge. Maybe a large wave sweeps the deck and everyone needs to make a Athletics check or be swept off board. The same wave presumably rocks the boat considerably causing those up in the riging to make a strength check or be flung into the sea. Finally those below deck will need to operate the pump or risk drowning. Depending on the players successes and innovation a number of crew may be lost to Davie Jones locker.

You ask what is all the meaningless loss of poor NPC sailer life for. Well now we reach the 5th and final encounter, the show down with the Cofre Del Mar. This unfolds as a ship to ship battle, some thing I have no experience in but am super excited to try. In charge of the Cofre Del Mar is one of Asgaroths lackies named Gravewind. He has had much success with his battle plan before and has no reason to change it for this encounter. The battle begins with the Cofre Del Mar sneaking up to the Golden Wave under the cover of night. A volley of flaming arrows is fired, by lobotomized orcs from the deck of the Cofre Del Mar, when the ships are 500 ft apart and the Cofre Del Mar continues its barrage (20 rounds in total) until it is right up next to the Golden Wave. These will start small fires in the sails and riging. The crew will need to act quickly to put them out. The more crew there are the more successfully they will be.

When the ships are side by side grappling hooks and grappling planks are deployed to connect the two ships. Over the planks Gravewind send ghouls to paralyze as many of the crew as possible. Mean wile the orcs continue to fire their arrows keeping the Marie's and the sailers bussy.

Weather the ghouls are successful or being held at bay by the party, next Gravewind sends forth, the Cofre Del Mar's captain, first mate and a handful of zombies to board the Goldenwave and depending on how the battle is going either drag the paralized victims back to the Cofre Del Mar or help to push the attack. If things begin to go poorly for Gravewind he heads below deck of the Cofre Del Mar and shouts for his acolyte, Ramises, to bring the skeletal rowers into the fray.

Obviously this is a large scale battle and I would apply mass combat rules to the orcs firing flaming arrows and crew of the Goldenwave. Captain Morrow and his first mate will take on the captain and first mate of the Cofre Del Mar. This helps set the scene of a chaotic, full scale naval battle but will allow the Party to mainly worry about the ghouls and Gravewind himself. This task will be made easier if the party can mitigate the loss of the crews life through the various encounters leading up to this one.

Assuming the party is victorious not only will they have control of the Cofre Del Mar but will also find a map leading to Asgaroth seaside keep along with clues as to what he is doing with the poor souls he is enslaving.

On top of all this I thought of adding in a wilderness survival / resource management challenge. The Golden Wave would begin with a certain amount of rations. If the rations run out the players and the crew would be at risk of becoming exhausted. I would encourage the PCs to use some of the non combat related aspects of their character to help mitigate this. Things like using survival skills to help navigate reducing the risk of getting lost and using up more rations, maybe some one has proficiency in carpenters tools and they can help to increase the sturdiness of the boat which helps some thing not break during the storm lowering the risk of rations being flung overboard. The bard can perform for the sailers which raises moral and staves off exhaustion for a short wile or the Druid can speak with dolphins who warn them of the Hydra giving the crew more time to prepare.

Is the survival challenge on top of everything els to much? What is Asgaroth motivation for enslaving and turning all these people into undead? Does he have a hidden mining operation beneith his seaside keep? What is he mining for? Gold,Gems? Cause you know running a cult ain't cheep. Or is he trying to retrieve a rare substance left behind by a meteorite will help him free Devron? If there are any published adventures that fit this bill let me know. I looked into Pits of Azak-Zil but can't find it available any where.

 

[Neil the Knight]

This week i have been working on fleshing out both the wilderness survival / resource management challenge and the storm / Hydra encounter wile aboard the Golden Wave in The Hunt for Cofre Del Mar portion of the campaign.

Before we go any further I have to admit that I have taken most of the following ideas from my DM, who goes by the handle Luz on these forums, and our on going Blackmoor game (Crystal Shard/ PotA).

At the beginning of the journey the Golden Wave will be loaded with enough fresh water and food for ten days, and wile on the ship the players will be expected to pull their weigh. First the players will need to decide whether they work night shift or day shift. Next I will encourage each of them to use their imaginations to choose a job on board, if they are totally stumped I will step in with a few suggestions. Depending on their specialties a player may choose to be on watch duty up in the crows nest. If they have proficiency in navigators tools or sea vehicle, possibly working steering the ship. Cooks utensils, gally. No matter what your job is, everyone on duty for that shift (including the NPC's as a single group) will need to make a group check, with at least 50% sucsess, or become lost. Becoming lost means you spend more time sailing, more chances for random encounters and more resources consumed. Some one could even possibly use a charisma check to boost moral and give everyone on that shift advantage on their survival checks.

The point is to try and encourage the characters to look beyond their characters combat abilities. If the party does not get lost then they will encounter the Cofre Del Mar 7 days into their journey. If they are caught out on the sea with no rations, they will begin to gain one level of exhaustion a day. Which makes it harder for them to sucseed on their group checks, which in turn makes for a longer journey back home, leading to more exhaustion and so on.

In stead of doing both separately an idea i had was to combine the Hydra encounter with the luck /hero point mechanic I described in the storm encounter from my last post.

The encounter would occure during the night shift. A natural heavy fog would roll in (possibly not the first time this has occurred to make it less alarming). Wile trying to navigate out of the fog the Golden Wave would strike a submerged Aquatic Hydra. The monster would stay submerged and after a few turns to shake off the stun it would begin to pick people off the deck one by one, or at least giving them a good chomp. After a few rounds of this, the Hydra will rear its 8 ugly heads, at which point either the captain or the fist mate will have no intention of sticking around and order all hands on deck for full speed away. Before speeding away the Hydra will take a few chunks out of the hull of the ship.

This will begin a chase sequence, but not the type described before on the docks with the barge. To remain out of the reach of the Hydra the party will have to come up with innovative solutions to help the ship moving fast. Either take to the riging and help unfurl the sails, go below deck to patch up the hole the Hydra made and pump out the water, Or they can try to disrupt the hydras advance with attacks off the bow. The Hydra if it catches up will be trying to bite at both any one on deck and also the ships hull.

Eventually the sea monster dives below the surface and one round later pops up on the side of the ship, tipping the entire boat on a 45° angle. This would beginning the third phase and each PC would receive luck points equal to their level (probobly about 5) that may be used on their turn. A player must decide whether they will use some or none of their luck points before any die rolls or other actions are made.
Luck points may be used like so:

1 luck point - advantage on any one d20 roll
2 luck points - auto success on any one d20 roll
3 luck points - improvise an action or feat normally beyond the characters means; something heroic. DM's discretion

When spending luck points, it must be accompanied with a colorful explanation. Without a good explanation the roll will automatically fail.

Each player depending on their location will face a unique challenge. Wile the players are dealing with each of their mishaps the Hydra will be tied up fighting the crew but if anyone ends up in the water the Hydra will hone in on them. Because of the severity of the situation casting a spell requires a DC 10 + spell level concentration check. If it fails is treated as a magic fumble. Players can avoid this by using luck points.

Up the mast:
When the ship tips, the player is flung threw the air towards the sea. The only thing stoping him from being flung into the water is a section of Woden beam in the characters path. He may let the beam catch his fall (suffering a broken arm) or spend luck points to grab the beam without injury. On the following round at the beginning of his turn the beam snaps. The PC must Grasp at the splintered stump of the beam with his good hand, which digs sharp splinters into him for 1d4 points of damage per round. A DC 18 str saving throw is required to pull himself up and a DC 10 Con save to avoid letting go.

On deck:
Two PC's are thrown, smashing into one another and then onto the deck before getting tangled up in one another and tumbling towards the ocean. The first PC is upside down, being held by the second PC who's cloak has caught on the ships steering wheel but it's ripping rapidly. Both are dazed from the fall and may only move or take an action but not both and neither may take a bonus action. Dex saves and checks have disadvantage. At the end of the following round the cloak rips and both players fall into the ocean if they can not work together to come up with a solution.

Below deck:
Wile below deck fixing the hole, the rocking of the ship causes a stack of supplies to come loose and tumble down pinning the players leg, inflicting terrible trauma as he struggles. He may Sacrifice the foot or use luck points to free himself. At the beginning of the next turn more crates threaten to burry the PC unless he makes a DC 15 Str Athletics check to throw the crates off him and a DC 15 Dex save (with disadvantage if foot is broken) to avoid further falling debris. If he doesn't manage to avoid this he takes massive bludgeoning damage, and the Str check to get out becomes DC 25.

Pump room:
When the ship tilts it takes on a huge amount of water. It comes crashing down on the PC from above. The crushing weight of the water stuns the player and it is so sudden and unexpected that unless he uses luck points he can not get a full breath and begins drowning at the beginning of his turn. The room is full of water and unless the pump is operated with a successful DC 18 Athletics check water will continue to fill higher decks. Water fills at a rate of a 1/4 deck per round, and the pump clears 1/2 a deck per round (so the water level only goes down by a 1/4 deck). Until the Hydra is pushed off the deck the ship continues to take on water.

Once the party is out of its various predicaments they will need to kill or at least fend off the Hydra. Wile the sea monster remains on the deck and the ship tilted any walking around the ship is difficult terrain. Any running, as in a dash, requires a successful Acrobatics check or fall towards the lowest part of the ship. If your on the top deck this means into the water but it also means there are plenty of hanging ropes, ringing and masts to swing from.