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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Neil the Knight" data-source="post: 7019889" data-attributes="member: 6801269">One of the truly great things about The Lost City of Barakus is that within its pages are not only a massive dungeon but also a living breathing fully fleshed out city. In this city are noble families, old and new, that are all trying to either elevate or maintain their status as one of the great houses of Endhome.Though LCoB gives us a lot of material to work with, it also doesn't spell out any direct conflicts between the waring factions. For that I want to enlist the help of another module, The Sons of Gruumsh. There are a few reasons i want to play this adventure. One is I used just the upper Citadel portion of this adventure as Cragmaw Castle in the Lost Mines of Phandelver adventure and had a blast with it. Second I want to bring some depth to the noble families of Endhome and this adventure features some great political intrigue between waring factions.So here's the run down:"The adventure begins as the PC's arrive in the city of Melvaunt. Believing the PC's are eager for gold and politically impartial, Woarsten Nanther, patriarch of the house Nanther and father of Oreal, has called them to the city to locate his errant son and bring him home. Is up to the PC's to discover and follow Oreal's Trail while avoiding as much of the Intrigue-Laden politics of the city as possible. The search for the noble heirs eventually lead the characters into the wilds of Thar. There they confront treacherous terrain and salvaged denizens. They discover an ambush site and one of the companions dead. The orc signs are clear and the trail leads to the Citadel of Xul-Jarak.The orog leader Thrull has declared himself warlord of Thar. To mark this mighty event Jurrg has contrived a ritual to give Thrull the blessing of Gruumsh himself. Representatives from various tribes that have not pledged fealty to the orog have come to witness the occasion and determine where Thrull is worthy to command them. More important to the PC's the ritual execution of the captured Scions is an intricate part of Jurrg's ceremony. The PC's must negotiate the Citadel of Xul-Jarak and the dungeon complex beneath it to reach the Scions, and then pry the captives from Thrull's crutches. If they succeed they Stave off civil war in Melvaunt and undermine if not destroy Thrulls plans of Conquest.Even after returning to Melvaunt, the PC's are not safe. A band of orc cutthroats have successfully infiltrated Melvaunt. Gruumsh hungers for the heroes' blood."This is a 5th lv adventure so i probably wouldn't drop the hook until about half way along the campaign, and unlike most of what I have discussed so far it will be its own story arc, not involving Asgaroth or Devron. That said i dont just want the families to appear in the middle of the campaign but active parts throughout.The Waring Nobels of Melevalant would be easy to slot into Endhome with a little bit of tweaking. Replace Nathar with Gaspar, Leiyraghon with Quinchino, Marsk with Pool and even Natale with Pulanti (but more on that later). The remaining families are just added in as minor factions.I plan to do a full write up of each family a little later but I will touch on two of the major factions involved for this adventure. First is the Gaspar family who will take the place of the Nathar's as the quest givers or the patron faction. It just so happens that the party will have crossed paths with this family before as the benefactor of the merchant they escorted to the city. In one of my first posts I hinted at the party having a run in with the Greentree Bandits. I have now decided that they will be working for the Quinchino's disrupting the other noble families caravans. This will initiate the Greentree bandit side quest and if they are successful, will gain the party notoriety with the Gaspar's, later leading them to seek out the party for this adventure. Second are the Quinchino's, who will be taking the place of the Leiyraghon's as the antagonist faction in this adventure. Just like the Gaspar's, and hinted above, the party will be already familiar with this dubious family. They are looking for any way to under cut the other noble families to elevate themselves. So far in the campaign the party will have come across two of the Quinchino's plots. The Greentree Bandits who are disrupting other families caravans, and the Wererats who are raiding warehouses and disrupting sewer upgrades in the city (instead of kidnapping victems for the Pulanti as it suggests in LCoB). Non of which will produce any solid evidence against the Quinchio's but will tip the party off about their mischievous business ethics. Now, Fernando Quinchino has struck up an deal with the orcs of Xul-Jarak. It was him who fed the Scions miss information (including his incompetent younger brother) that led them to be captured by the orcs. The orcs get the sacrifices needed to complete their ceramony and Fernando is promised lordship over the city after the orcs conquer it. With that a new reoccurring villain is born (but once again, more on that later).The wilds of Thar will take place North West from the city, off the given map. The party would follow fools pass off the map and there they would encounter the ambush sight. Then they would head due north off the trail into the mountains to find Xul-Jarak.When the scouting party is encountered one of the dying orcs will boast that "The blood spear ritual has begun and Thrull will soon be marked by the unblinking eye", or something to that effect to let the party know they are on the clock.The Citadel and the Dungeon complex give endless possibilities to try out all the different types of orcs and goblinoids from Voldos guide, and the up coming Ultimate Bestiary from Nord Games. The module has almost all of the inhabitants of the Citadel as orcs but I will most likely mix up the visiting emissaries with gnolls, bugbears and hobgoblins.The map carved into the bottom of the sarcophaguses of King Kursk one Tusk, leading to his actual tomb will lead the party to the upper caverns of Barakus. This ties the orcs of Xul-Jarak with the former orc tribe who used to inhabit those halls as mentioned in LCoB.Like most other boss fights I've discussed I dont just want this encounter to seem like a slug fest. I will probobly use the stats for an orc chieftain for Thrull and If the ritual is complete, he would gain abilities similar to that of an oath of treachery paladin (UA). If the alarm in the lower levels arn't raised, as the party gets closer to the ceramony chamber, they can begin to make out Jurrg's chanting (she is listing of Thrull's horrific deeds) indicating the ritial is underway. Once close enough The party will notice that the scions are all chained to the pillars in the chamber, Thrull is lying on pedestal in middle of room, bear chested with war paint all over him and Jurrg has the blood spear in her hands chanting away. From this point the party has 5 rounds before the first scion is sacrificed and following that every 3 rounds another will die. Thrull's minions will try to keep the party at bay wile the lengthy ritual is complete. If at any point Jurrg's concentration is broken (like concentrating on a spell) or any of the scions are freed the ritual fails.If that occurs, that will send Thrull into a rage and he will call his pet bassalisk into the fray.Lastly there is the epilog of the adventure where Fernando Quinchino invites the party to dinner, in celebration of rescuing his youngest brother. Fernando, being devious and calculating, is trying to turn the defeat of the orcs at Xul-Jarak into a win for himself by setting an ambush for the party, his ailing father and his younger brother. Part way through the dinner Fernando excuses himself from the dining room and bars all the doors. Dazzlag, Thulls brother and a company of orcs (Red fangs of Shargaas) flood the upper balcony. They open with a volly that puts an end to the already frail Phillipo Quinchino, then they begin to pepper the party with arrows from above.This will be one of the possible beginnings to the climax of the Quinchino story arc. After fending off the ambush the party will most likely be after Fernando's head. Havnt quite figured out all the details yet but I will keep you up dated.</blockquote>

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