Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="not-so-newguy" data-source="post: 9201359" data-attributes="member: 6786140">The stuff below is my layout for the next three adventures. As with all plans, good or bad, it is subject to change. This all takes place near Hammerfast in the Nentir Vale. Questions, criticism, and feedback welcomed.OverviewOur group has 5 players playing 2 PCs each for a total of 10 PCs. This helped avoid the unfortunate situation of having a player without a character because it died early in the session. However, now that most of the group is 2nd/3rd level, it’s not working so well. The party is a little bit overpowered since I use premade adventures typically designed for 4-6 PCs. More importantly, the game gets muddled and complicated with players tracking multiple characters.So, I’m trying to limit each player to a single character now. The trick is trying to come up with a good alibi for leaving half of the party behind. My solution for the next several sessions is to give the party two adventures that occur roughly simultaneously in game time. The first adventure is for lower leveled adventurers but is more complex and may take 2-3 sessions. The second adventure is simpler; it may only take a single session. Both adventures are taken from “Off the Beaten Path: Forest Excursions.”After those adventures are finished, we’ll probably move onto “AL 5: Stars in the Darkness.” In this case, I have a different solution to limiting players to a single character. It’s a big, bold, and weird adventure set in “a conceptual space” which I changed to the Feywild. The Feywild can only be accessed through a ritual led by an NPC druid. The PCs’ bodies remain in the “normal” world while their consciousness manifests in the Feywild. The druid can only transport 5 people to the Feywild at a time. 1st AdventureThis adventure is several mini adventures linked together. The Trade Guild is offering a 50gp reward to anyone that can resolve the problem near a hamlet called Soldier’s Rest. Several people have gone missing. Judging by the buzzing sound in a nearby cavern, stirges are the suspected culprits. Soldier’s Rest is located south of Hammerfast along the Iron Road.Mini adventure #1, Cave of the Blood Suckers: After exterminating some stirges in a cave, the party discovers a treasure map.Mini adventure #2, Grave of the Grey Soldier: Assuming the party follows the treasure map, they find a grave concealed by overgrowth. They find a journal and a bronze key. Journal describes a tomb with treasure and the bronze key opens the tomb.Mini adventure #3, Tomb of the Undying Hero: A seven room dungeon contains some treasure, traps, and undead.Mini adventure #4 (optional), Waterfall of Dreams. This waterfall is near the tombs in mini adventure #3. Most of the Grey Soldier’s treasure is hidden in a cave behind the waterfall and guarded by Water Nymphs.2nd AdventureNews of this occurs several hours after the first group of PCs leave for Soldier’s Rest in the 1st Adventure. Merchants are refusing to travel from Fallcrest to Hammerfast due to an Otuygh roaming around the Trade Road. Foresters have spotted the thing just west of The Fiveleague House. Merchants of the Trade Guild are offering 500gp and a spyglass as a reward. 2 potions of Neutralize Disease given up front.Mini Adventure #1, Swarming Harbingers of Filth. This is an extended encounter with an Otuygh and its swarm of carrion bug buddies.Mini Adventure #2 (optional), The Stone Pillars of Hallmoerth. A large, granite structure is discovered shortly after the encounter with the Otuygh. It’s a rectangular cube twenty feet high, ten feet to each side, with a steel door facing the group. It’s an optional deadly puzzle adventure.3rd AdventureAL 5 Stars in the DarknessPremise: Eons ago, the Eladrin* were starherds, shepherds who aided the stars and guided them on their courses. For there were creatures in the heavens that were hostile to the stars, which fed on them, and which sought to increase Chaos by ending the order of the night skies. One such creature was Urstah the Star-Drinker, a sentient black hole.The Star-Drinker consumes stars. When minor stars disappear, few notice save astrologers and gods. When major stars disappear, they take the Luck of worlds with them. In “Stars in the Darkness,” as the PC’s Luck begins to suffer, portents and signs point to a cavern found in the root system of the legendary Celestial Tree. The Celestial Tree exists only in the Feywild, specifically on an island in Lake Nen within the Feywild. That is where the PCs must go if they want to rescue their lucky stars and restore their Luck; before Urstah drinks the essence of those stars, and the character’s Luck is gone forever.*The Eladrin are precursors to Elves.Staging: This adventure will be introduced during the 2 previous unrelated adventures. At the appropriate moment within each separate adventure, the character with the highest Intelligence in the party will notice that a small constellation is missing.  This gets further reinforced when the party returns to Hammerfast, and it becomes a subject of conversation and tavern speculation.Very shortly after their return, the stars that affect a character’s Luck begin to disappear. Once every month (frequency may change), roll 1d30 and compare the result to Table 1-2: Luck Score, on page 19 of the core rulebook. Any character with the birth augur indicated gains a permanent –2 penalty to Luck until their related star is freed. If the character is a Thief or Halfling, this Luck cannot be recovered as is normal for those classes. Only when the related star is again in the heavens will this Luck be restored. This does not prevent characters from gaining other Luck bonuses, however. Every month, another important star disappears, and another character may be affected.At the beginning of this adventure, a minimum of three stars affecting Luck are trapped within the caves. They are held in Area 19. Several other lesser stars are trapped as well. The judge is given a description for the star related to each birth augur and should decide exactly which of these areas holds which important star.As the Lucky Stars disappear, a Seer of Ildavir/Melora arrives in Hammerfast and starts preaching that the sky is falling to a gathering crowd in the Gate Ward. He calls for 5 brave souls to pass into the Feywild and return the Stars to their proper place in the sky. All 10 of the PCs will accompany the Seer to the shores of Lake Nen. Once there, the Druid will perform the ritual to transport 5 PCs to Feywild island. If a PC dies while in the Feywild, then that person can be replaced by a PC in the “normal” world.</blockquote>

Verification