Will Doyle
Explorer
Historically, Kings and Princes were often involved in front line fighting.
In fact, they still are: Prince Harry Heads Home From War Zone - Prince Harry : People.com
P1 - King of the Trollhaunt Warrens (Spoilers)
- Thread starter Infiniti2000
- Start date
Historically, Kings and Princes were often involved in front line fighting.
In fact, they still are: Prince Harry Heads Home From War Zone - Prince Harry : People.com
Will Doyle
Explorer
A few random thoughts:
Personally I like the idea of tribute. Living next to a fey crossing is dangerous. In keeping with the Feywild's mysterious - and fickle - nature, I like the idea of Moonstair sending envoys through with offerings. Fish and craft goods perhaps. In return, the enigmatic Fey don't steal away their children, bewitch their husbands, or spoil their harvests. Being one of these envoys could be extremely dangerous: many don't return. Maybe Rualiss selects them in a monthly lottery?
Although the town gets its name from those outcrops, I hadn't imagined you'd actually climb them one by one. In my game, I'm ruling that the final outcrop has perilously steep steps carved into its rockface. Rualiss rows his envoys out there when the moon is full, and they clamber up to the moon door.
This said, I think the idea of a misty bridge appearing at night is really cool
Aldyth is a serene priestess of Avandra. Her throat was cut years ago by the trolls, and she can no longer speak - instead, she writes everything down on a chalkboard. However, if a player dies and is raised by her, they'll hear her voice calling them from the Shadowfell...
I think it's also cool if Dethos was a scribe here. So we can get a bit of foreshadowing around him.
Use him to build up the sinister side of the Feywild. He tells them about the tributes made to the city beyond the moon door, and tells the tale of the town's long-lost ferryman. Every time he crossed the river at twilight, Baern was tempted by a beautiful woman who floated just beneath the surface. In time, she asked him to marry her. But Baern's heart had always belonged to a girl in the town, and that day he had just given her an engagement ring. The water girl was furious. Baern was married, but when he first crossed the river with his beloved, the water girl pulled her beneath the waters and drowned her. Baern went through the moon door in a rage, and was never seen again.
I like that he's got scope for being a persistent villain, using his shapeshifting to spy on the people of Moonstair and uncover their weaknesses for the coming raid. Make him fly off from the first fight and come back again later.
This could actually work with this:
Make Location 11 an ancient Vardar ritual chamber (the empty cave off Location 10): and home of the Oni Mage. There's a teleportation circle here that's keyed to the one in the temple at Moonstair. Give the Oni mage ritual components, and scrolls if your PCs don't know Linked Portal. Passing through this circle could also be how the Oni Mage captured Dethos for Skalmad?
Finally, regarding the tedium of fighting loads of trolls, I've been having fun giving them different kit. Some of them carry huge ballistas with chained bolts: when these guys move, I place a medium ballista mini adjacent to them (so they're also carrying mobile blocking terrain). As a ranged basic, they can fire the ballista. If it hits, it does high damage (I use single target limited attack damage, appropriate for level), and then a secondary attack versus Fortitude. If it beats that, it pulls the target up to 10 squares and then immobilises them (save ends).
I've also been having fun giving some trolls padded, unwieldy alchemical suits that reduce their Reflex defense and speed, but give them Resist 15 fire.
Personally I like the idea of tribute. Living next to a fey crossing is dangerous. In keeping with the Feywild's mysterious - and fickle - nature, I like the idea of Moonstair sending envoys through with offerings. Fish and craft goods perhaps. In return, the enigmatic Fey don't steal away their children, bewitch their husbands, or spoil their harvests. Being one of these envoys could be extremely dangerous: many don't return. Maybe Rualiss selects them in a monthly lottery?
Although the town gets its name from those outcrops, I hadn't imagined you'd actually climb them one by one. In my game, I'm ruling that the final outcrop has perilously steep steps carved into its rockface. Rualiss rows his envoys out there when the moon is full, and they clamber up to the moon door.
This said, I think the idea of a misty bridge appearing at night is really cool
Aldyth is a serene priestess of Avandra. Her throat was cut years ago by the trolls, and she can no longer speak - instead, she writes everything down on a chalkboard. However, if a player dies and is raised by her, they'll hear her voice calling them from the Shadowfell...
I think it's also cool if Dethos was a scribe here. So we can get a bit of foreshadowing around him.
Use him to build up the sinister side of the Feywild. He tells them about the tributes made to the city beyond the moon door, and tells the tale of the town's long-lost ferryman. Every time he crossed the river at twilight, Baern was tempted by a beautiful woman who floated just beneath the surface. In time, she asked him to marry her. But Baern's heart had always belonged to a girl in the town, and that day he had just given her an engagement ring. The water girl was furious. Baern was married, but when he first crossed the river with his beloved, the water girl pulled her beneath the waters and drowned her. Baern went through the moon door in a rage, and was never seen again.
I like that he's got scope for being a persistent villain, using his shapeshifting to spy on the people of Moonstair and uncover their weaknesses for the coming raid. Make him fly off from the first fight and come back again later.
This could actually work with this:
Make Location 11 an ancient Vardar ritual chamber (the empty cave off Location 10): and home of the Oni Mage. There's a teleportation circle here that's keyed to the one in the temple at Moonstair. Give the Oni mage ritual components, and scrolls if your PCs don't know Linked Portal. Passing through this circle could also be how the Oni Mage captured Dethos for Skalmad?
Finally, regarding the tedium of fighting loads of trolls, I've been having fun giving them different kit. Some of them carry huge ballistas with chained bolts: when these guys move, I place a medium ballista mini adjacent to them (so they're also carrying mobile blocking terrain). As a ranged basic, they can fire the ballista. If it hits, it does high damage (I use single target limited attack damage, appropriate for level), and then a secondary attack versus Fortitude. If it beats that, it pulls the target up to 10 squares and then immobilises them (save ends).
I've also been having fun giving some trolls padded, unwieldy alchemical suits that reduce their Reflex defense and speed, but give them Resist 15 fire.
Infiniti2000
First Post
A set of very well tended wooden bridges with stone supports connects the islands leading to the Moondoor. These bridges resemble a large boardwalk and several shops are stationed on some of the larger connecting islands (sweet shops, souvenirs, etc.).
Infiniti2000
First Post
This group of troglodytes has modified their tribe symbol from an eye to an eye enclosed by a stalagmite, though that might be difficult to discern. The roper would happily talk to anyone speaking primordial, but basically tell them he's glad for fresh (non-trog, non-troll) meat. Maybe if the heroes leave one member or promise to bring someone?
Infiniti2000
First Post
Norgg refers to himself in the third person and knows all of the skulls by name. If the PCs talk to him, he asks for their names and then stares at each, measuring their skulls visually. He frequently switches between giant and common, even in the middle of sentences. The bear is quite happy with Norgg as he gets all the leftovers and Norgg gets the skull. The bear warns adventurers to stay away from him, Norgg, and the skulls.
Infiniti2000
First Post
The bargain could be a prelude to Revenge of the Giants, in which case, no. The galeb duhr does not willingly give up. He will, however, try again later and may try to convince any goliaths to join him.
Infiniti2000
First Post
This would be a good opportunity to provide the players information that they might have missed from past failures. In particular, he might mention that Skalmad can't be permanently killed. He can also tell the heroes about Dethos the Scribe and clue the party in on his role in the Trollhaunt.
Infiniti2000
First Post
I had come up with a few preliminary ideas, but nothing set in stone yet.
For those who care, I've updated the second document to include all answers so far found in this thread. Thanks to all who are contributing!
Infiniti2000
First Post
I've updated the document in the second post, answering several more of the questions. I'm guessing by the lack of responses, not as many people are any longer interested in P1. But, I'll be running this starting in the next couple of months, so any help is appreciated.
Hey [MENTION=31734]Infiniti2000[/MENTION] - Chris Perkins is redoing the entire Against the Giants series in Dungeon - starting with the levels 12-14 adventure Steading of the Hill Giant Chief. Granted, since it's being pieced out each month, you might not be able to tie everything like a bow off the bat (and I don't even recall if you have Dungeon or not). Anyways, SotHGC has gotten lots of positive feedback so you might want to check it out as an alternative to RotG.
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