Lost Elvish City Adventure

[Aholibamah]

How can we blend all this? I think what I'll try to do is use elements of the Lost City module--basically in a forgotten city (in the Lost City one it is underground but I won't have all of it like that) there are factions of the elves remaining, while most of them are in a dreamlike state. Each follows the code of an ancient hero, save for one faction following the Great Old One. So...how to work the rest?

Let's say that the Thousand Children idea is related to the faction who follow the Great Old One, and that they are in the majority. The others are perhaps on the outskirts of the city, beneath it or in other ways marginalized. One of these groups is the wingless dragons. What I need is some reason for conflict--tradition perhaps? They've forgotten why they are there, it has been lost to antiquity?

Of course this means that the pcs have to discover that there is a faction that wants to fully wake the Great Old One or open the gate or whatever...

 

[Thanael]

Oerth Journal #22 has a great Lost Elvish City Adventure: "UNTIL THE STARBREAK" by Rick Duicarthan Miller. It is a bit higher level than you specified, though.

It details the legend of Darnakurian’s Doom:

The legend of Darnakurian’s Doom is known to only the wisest of sages. This tale of madness and betrayal centers on the prince of the grey elves, the son of Queen Sharafere, Darnakurian. He was a peerless enchanter, but he felt powerless against the might of the Ur-Flannae’s forces. So, he began to feverishly research into forbidden lore to create a weapon to defeat his foes. All the while, strange voices from beyond gave him the guidance he needed. He did not know who the voices were, but he did not care, so long as the weapon was being made. When he forged the dread sword Hunger, he sealed the fate of his entire people. The blade possessed Darnakurian, leading him to slay all his kin and destroying his city. Darnakurian still exists, locked within his keep in frozen stasis with Hunger, but he is well guarded. A group of elves known only as the Sentinels have sworn to keep the evil sword and its possessed prince locked away for eternity. These defenders have for centuries kept their solemn vigil.

 

[Prince Atom]

TWK: I think those small flightless dragons are called Felldrakes. http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mm2_gallery/88268_620_49.jpg
(one on the left is a Crested Felldrake)

I quite like the idea of the dragons being added, I think my pcs will find that fascinating. Here's a question as an aside: they are MM2 beasties, so is that worth picking up? I really just have the basic books.

It depends how much time you have to devote to the game. The MM2 has a lot of classic monsters from D&D, and plenty of new ones, but it was written before 3.5 came out, so I know some people (myself included) who would feel the need to update the stats, which could take up to an hour, never mind the time you need to advance the felldrake to become a credible challenge for the party.

Considering the amount of time you have to try and find a copy, since I believe it's out of print, and the money you have to spend on it, you might find it quicker and cheaper to make up your own stats using the rules in the 3.5 MM. Just make up a Medium dragon without flight or a breath weapon, and you can call it a felldrake and the party probably won't notice the difference.

But that's your decision. I don't know your circumstances. I think the MM2 is worth having a copy of, but that may be largely because I'm a collector as well as a D&D player.

Good luck!
TWK

 

[freyar]

It depends how much time you have to devote to the game. The MM2 has a lot of classic monsters from D&D, and plenty of new ones, but it was written before 3.5 came out, so I know some people (myself included) who would feel the need to update the stats, which could take up to an hour, never mind the time you need to advance the felldrake to become a credible challenge for the party.

FWIW, you don't have to do the 3.5 update of MM2 monsters yourself. WotC has a condensed form of the updates for a number of 3.0 books right here.

 

[Aholibamah]

Wow, is that ever a big help as well! Thanks very much--I didn't even realize Oerth Journal existed. I'd probably modify the adventure a fair bit but I really like that.

What I think I might do is have the sword Hunger meant to destroy the heart of the Great Old One beneath the city--whether making it was a tricked sent by dreams by that entity or whether it was just a mistake has yet to be decided--but basically it went bad and posessed Darnakurian.

In the Lost City there is supposed to be a place called the Isle of Death. I will probably make that the home of Darnakurian--perhaps there is a similar curse over it that prevents him from leaving. A sort of demi plane within the demi plane.

W.K: thanks for the idea, that's helpful. I think I may prefer to make up my own stats for them, since I myself am not a collector. I prefer to just have the one drawer of books and so I move outside of that very rarely, only when it's a must have item. (I also have along with the basic set stuff for the Midnight Campaign and for Conan D20)

 

[Prince Atom]

Okay, the question about making the updates has been answered. Thanks for the info, freyar. I didn't know about that site.

As far as "Is the MM2 worth it to pick up?" I didn't have my books with me earlier, but now I'm home from my workage and I can give you a short rundown of monsters in MM2 to help you decide.

Classic monsters include:

Banshee
Catoblepas
Death Knight
Elemental Weird
Fomorian
Grell
Hook Horror
Ixitxachitl
Myconid
Needlefolk
Thri-kreen
Yugoloth

There are more, but I've only listed a dozen here for space concerns.

Just for your edification.

TWK

 

[Aholibamah]

Thanks very much. What I think I'll do is keep an eye out for it when I frequent bookstores (used and also my main gaming store always has a stock of out of date materials) but I won't really hunt the thing down. And yes, I am edified.

BTW I have the CoC adventure "Tatters of the King" so I might work with that since it has a lot of elements that are similar to "Lost City" in that the inhabitants wear masks and are in a dreamlike state. Still puttering away at it.

 

[Aholibamah]

the adventure so far:

The pcs have the following hooks

1. Scholars approach them requesting escort--following a particular path in a heavily forested wilderness will lead to landmarks that somehow magically enable finding this lost city, which is said to be the resting place of magical items and lore of great antiquity.

2. The pcs stumble upon it while on a journey following the same landmarks by pure chance/destiny accident.

(or others as necessary)

Upon arrival they discover that this city seems to have been in ancient times carved smoothly out of living rock and tree so that it has a strange smoothness and elegance. It is at first eerie and seems uninhabited, but this is only because the number of inhabitants has dwindled.

The people living there wear masks. These are almost entirely elves, most of whom live lives of a strangely artistic bent. A population of servant creatures (I'm not sure what these are yet, but lesser fae of some kind who are not very intelligent) provide food and drink and any necessary maintenance, leaving the masked citizens free of all cares. They spend their days either in delusions brought on by hallucinogens or else in pursuit of philosophies, poetry, music, dance and theatre.

On the outskirts of the city are felldrakes, which were driven out, and are wary and suspicious of strangers. These small wingless dragons as far as the present day elves are concerned are dangerous predators, though in fact they were raised as defenders. The felldrakes are among the only creatures in the area though that have some idea of what's really going on. There is a curse preventing them from re-entering; if the pcs break it they can receive help from them.

There are also three factions of outsiders, descendants of heroes who have long ago forgotten their purpose and have become rivals, fighting for the privilege of protecting an artifact locked away in an ancient building. This is an ancient sword that is a weapon of enormous power but also of great evil. Part of the adventure is this: the pcs must find a way to prevent one of the factions from getting it and ignoranly invoking its power again.

Finally there are the strange priests of the Great Old One beneath the city. The city is locked in its demi-plane to prevent this Great Old One from waking, but the inhabitants have long forgotten that. Even the priests do not remember, they only know that the Great Old One must be appeased. The pcs discover that the priests' actions are not appeasement but a process of wakening that will unleash the Great Old One unless they are stopped.

 

[Aholibamah]

A few modifications I'm making. The factions are going to be at their original levels for the Lost City adventure, signifying the dream of peace and lack of real open conflict in the city. So the rogues, mages and clerics that make up the factions are at most about 5th level; they're actually rather ineffective, more like playful secret societies.

The felldrakes directly serve each faction and secretly act to prevent open war among them.

When the pcs arrive it will be during the Festival of Masks, and everyone is supposed to wear them. If the pcs don costumes they will be able to slip through the city camouflaged.

 

[Phlebas]

I was planning somehting similar a while back (lost city with few survivors 'found' by the PC's)

"Something" would throw the city back in time (with the PC's along for the ride) to a moment in the past where the PC's actions would either damm the city or rescue it. The pc's would only know the result when they get back to their own time.

dunno whether you can incorporate it but i always wanted to use it ("Faint echoes of activity suddenly get louder. around you the vines fade away and the statues sharpen in features. riotous colours replace the sun bleached canvas and all around the hubbub of voices comes into focus....")