Psionic Dog
2010-10-22, 03:11 PM
50 years ago the zombies last rose.
And now there back.
Zombie Marathon
Danger: Do not feed the Zombies a small sign posted in front of the portal solemnly reads. There the the local earl and county mayor shake each hand and hand you the "Rod of Closure" as they call it. After a refreshingly short speech is given ("Thank you for your help. There's a 30,000 gp bonus for the group if you succeed. Don't get eaten.") you step through the portal.
On the far side you find a sparkling cavern with a faint hint of a glow from illumines fungi scattered across the cavern roof and walls. Pretty as it is, those of you who can't see by starlight (low light vision/dark vision) can't see much beyond your own light sources. In the dimmer areas cave mushrooms grow, and in the brighter patches moss and ferns have taken root. As caves go this one isn't so bad... or wouldn't be if it weren't for the the steady drip of water drumming out the time until undead horrors emerge from the unearthly mists.
The Juicy Details:
On days 1-5 the PC's face CR 7 attacks generated by combining three CR 4 groupings, with one attack in every second wave being CR 8 and made of two CR 5 groupings and a CR 4 group.
On days 6-10 the PC's face CR 8 attacks generated by combining three CR 5 groupings, with one attack in every second wave being CR 9 and made of 2 CR 5 groups and 3 CR 4 groups.
The CR 5 groups will remain a surprise to add dramatic tension to your early mini-boss encounters, but below is the CR 4 table for your planing convenience.
{table]#|CR 4 Groupings
1|1x Huge Fiendish Viper
2| 4x Spider Swarms
3| 12x Dire Rats
4| 1x Vampire Spawn
5| 1x L2 Kobold Sourcer Ghost*
6| 4x Ghouls
7| 1x Minotaur Zombie
8| 4x Troglodyte Zombies
9| 8x Human Commoner Zombies
10| 2x Owlbear Skeletons
11| 4x Wolf Skeletons
12| 12x Human Skeletons[/table]
*L2 Kobold Ghost Sourcer:
HP 18 AC: 17
[(6), 15, - , 12, 8, 19]
Always Manifested, Corrupting Gaze (DC 15 Fort), Frightful Moan (DC 15 Will)
Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Ray of Frost, Daze, Read Magic, Detect Magic, Resistance
The Map:
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x184/sublightrun/ZombieBattleField.png
Each square is 10x10 ft.
The Obsidian Road:
Somehow they forgot to mention this feature: A 12 ft wide fussed obsidian once smooth road leading from the portal out into the black mists.
Vegetation:
Nothing grows on the road, but everywhere else has a 50% chance of having cave mushrooms in dimmer areas or cave moss and ferns if brighter areas. No where is the vegetation thick enough to provide anything bigger than a mouse with concealment.
The Black Mists:
The fuzzy purple bar on the left. The mooks appear here.
The Pond:
Sky-blue = shallow water.
Dark-teal = deep water. The pool is 9 ft deep at the deepest point.
The Berm:
15 ft tall with a 10ft wide flat top and 10ft wide slopes. Once the berm may have been a slippery sandy-shale, but with time the gravel as fussed. DC 10 climb check required to scale, except at the stairs (C-17)
The Grand Portal:
Located at far right. If the portal opens and a mook walks through rocks fall and everyone dies.
The Pedestal: (H-27)
4 ft tall with steps on the western side. From here the Rod of Sealing can close the portal for 1 hour. Multiple uses over lap, so the villagers suggest you renew he seal every half hour to be safe.
Tower blueprints
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x184/sublightrun/Tower.png The tower is actually only 35 ft wide, although it is the full promised 25 ft tall. The tower map is on a 5x5 ft square scale.
Doors are marked by wide rectangles.
Arrows slits are marked by narrow solid-dark rectangles. These arrow slits have been widened to allow for slings at the cost of only a +6 AC cover bonus to the defender. The arrow slits also come with 1/2" thick shutters that can be closed over them.
The Front Door:
These double doors are together 10ft wide and 12 ft tall. The front door is built from 2.5" thick oak, and has 25 HP with a Hardness 5 when the double backing bars are set it has a DC 23 to break. The door is flush with the outer walls so that attackers will not have a doorway to take cover within.
1st Floor (on left)
The ground floor has a 15 ft ceiling (less rafters) to accommodate large sized creatures. The walls are 3ft thick masonry with no windows on the ground floor, but there are 8 tiny barred vent for ventilation near the ceiling with wire mesh to prevent even a rat from slipping through. Vents are marked by the pale small rectangles.
1: Vestibule
At least, that's what it once was. Some paranoid renovator in centuries past added three arrow slits pointed at the door to make this room an extra line of defense.
2: Stables.
A place for mounts to sleep, and either a carriage or a large guest to sleep. The room contains two ruff stalls and two stale bales of hay.
3: Storage room.
Also contains stairs leading upwards. Someone left a short bow, 40 arrows, 40 torches, a flint-steel, and 5 days of firewood here.
The 2nd Floor (on right)
The second floor outer walls are thinner (a foot thick) and contain 11 arrow-slits in the place of windows.
4: Kitchen.
This corner room has a small wood-stove, table, a small spice rack, and other basic equipment to feed 6-12 men.
5: Common Room
This room contains a pair of spindle chairs and a ladder bolted to the wall leading up to a trapdoor in the roof. A continual flame keeps this room perpetually lit.
6: Office
This room contains a simple desk, a modest chair, and a book shelf. All empty except for the odd cobweb.
7: Officer Bedroom
This room contains a simple tapestry, a small dresser, and a pair of bunked beds (no bedding) for the tower commander(s).
8: Armory
Nothing remains except for a weapon rack.
9: Barracks
Living quarters for the common soldier this has 3 pairs of bunked beds (no bedding), a broken cabinet, and a bucket.
The Roof:
The flat-topped roof is 35ft to a side and surrounded by a low wall (2.5 ft tall, 1 ft thick masonry) and is accessed by a trap door with ladder. There is also a noted hemp rope coiled neatly in a corner with on end attached to an iron bracket in the roof.
Interior walls and flooring are 6" thick masonry, and interior doors are 1.5" thick wood with simple locks.
Doors: Hardness 5:
Front: 25 hp, 23 Break DC
Interior/Trapdoor: 15 hp, 18 Break DC
Shutters: 5 hp, 15 break DC.
Walls: hardness 8:
Ground Floor outer: 360 hp, DC 40 break
2nd floor outer: 120 hp, DC 30 break
Interior/Floors: 90 hp, DC 25 break
Current Time: T-2days
Party Status:
All healthy and rested.
Old links lost.
No expendables used.
Old Map for Reference:
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x184/sublightrun/Battle%20Maps/ZombieBattleFieldC1.png
And now there back.
Zombie Marathon
Danger: Do not feed the Zombies a small sign posted in front of the portal solemnly reads. There the the local earl and county mayor shake each hand and hand you the "Rod of Closure" as they call it. After a refreshingly short speech is given ("Thank you for your help. There's a 30,000 gp bonus for the group if you succeed. Don't get eaten.") you step through the portal.
On the far side you find a sparkling cavern with a faint hint of a glow from illumines fungi scattered across the cavern roof and walls. Pretty as it is, those of you who can't see by starlight (low light vision/dark vision) can't see much beyond your own light sources. In the dimmer areas cave mushrooms grow, and in the brighter patches moss and ferns have taken root. As caves go this one isn't so bad... or wouldn't be if it weren't for the the steady drip of water drumming out the time until undead horrors emerge from the unearthly mists.
The Juicy Details:
On days 1-5 the PC's face CR 7 attacks generated by combining three CR 4 groupings, with one attack in every second wave being CR 8 and made of two CR 5 groupings and a CR 4 group.
On days 6-10 the PC's face CR 8 attacks generated by combining three CR 5 groupings, with one attack in every second wave being CR 9 and made of 2 CR 5 groups and 3 CR 4 groups.
The CR 5 groups will remain a surprise to add dramatic tension to your early mini-boss encounters, but below is the CR 4 table for your planing convenience.
{table]#|CR 4 Groupings
1|1x Huge Fiendish Viper
2| 4x Spider Swarms
3| 12x Dire Rats
4| 1x Vampire Spawn
5| 1x L2 Kobold Sourcer Ghost*
6| 4x Ghouls
7| 1x Minotaur Zombie
8| 4x Troglodyte Zombies
9| 8x Human Commoner Zombies
10| 2x Owlbear Skeletons
11| 4x Wolf Skeletons
12| 12x Human Skeletons[/table]
*L2 Kobold Ghost Sourcer:
HP 18 AC: 17
[(6), 15, - , 12, 8, 19]
Always Manifested, Corrupting Gaze (DC 15 Fort), Frightful Moan (DC 15 Will)
Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Ray of Frost, Daze, Read Magic, Detect Magic, Resistance
The Map:
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x184/sublightrun/ZombieBattleField.png
Each square is 10x10 ft.
The Obsidian Road:
Somehow they forgot to mention this feature: A 12 ft wide fussed obsidian once smooth road leading from the portal out into the black mists.
Vegetation:
Nothing grows on the road, but everywhere else has a 50% chance of having cave mushrooms in dimmer areas or cave moss and ferns if brighter areas. No where is the vegetation thick enough to provide anything bigger than a mouse with concealment.
The Black Mists:
The fuzzy purple bar on the left. The mooks appear here.
The Pond:
Sky-blue = shallow water.
Dark-teal = deep water. The pool is 9 ft deep at the deepest point.
The Berm:
15 ft tall with a 10ft wide flat top and 10ft wide slopes. Once the berm may have been a slippery sandy-shale, but with time the gravel as fussed. DC 10 climb check required to scale, except at the stairs (C-17)
The Grand Portal:
Located at far right. If the portal opens and a mook walks through rocks fall and everyone dies.
The Pedestal: (H-27)
4 ft tall with steps on the western side. From here the Rod of Sealing can close the portal for 1 hour. Multiple uses over lap, so the villagers suggest you renew he seal every half hour to be safe.
Tower blueprints
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x184/sublightrun/Tower.png The tower is actually only 35 ft wide, although it is the full promised 25 ft tall. The tower map is on a 5x5 ft square scale.
Doors are marked by wide rectangles.
Arrows slits are marked by narrow solid-dark rectangles. These arrow slits have been widened to allow for slings at the cost of only a +6 AC cover bonus to the defender. The arrow slits also come with 1/2" thick shutters that can be closed over them.
The Front Door:
These double doors are together 10ft wide and 12 ft tall. The front door is built from 2.5" thick oak, and has 25 HP with a Hardness 5 when the double backing bars are set it has a DC 23 to break. The door is flush with the outer walls so that attackers will not have a doorway to take cover within.
1st Floor (on left)
The ground floor has a 15 ft ceiling (less rafters) to accommodate large sized creatures. The walls are 3ft thick masonry with no windows on the ground floor, but there are 8 tiny barred vent for ventilation near the ceiling with wire mesh to prevent even a rat from slipping through. Vents are marked by the pale small rectangles.
1: Vestibule
At least, that's what it once was. Some paranoid renovator in centuries past added three arrow slits pointed at the door to make this room an extra line of defense.
2: Stables.
A place for mounts to sleep, and either a carriage or a large guest to sleep. The room contains two ruff stalls and two stale bales of hay.
3: Storage room.
Also contains stairs leading upwards. Someone left a short bow, 40 arrows, 40 torches, a flint-steel, and 5 days of firewood here.
The 2nd Floor (on right)
The second floor outer walls are thinner (a foot thick) and contain 11 arrow-slits in the place of windows.
4: Kitchen.
This corner room has a small wood-stove, table, a small spice rack, and other basic equipment to feed 6-12 men.
5: Common Room
This room contains a pair of spindle chairs and a ladder bolted to the wall leading up to a trapdoor in the roof. A continual flame keeps this room perpetually lit.
6: Office
This room contains a simple desk, a modest chair, and a book shelf. All empty except for the odd cobweb.
7: Officer Bedroom
This room contains a simple tapestry, a small dresser, and a pair of bunked beds (no bedding) for the tower commander(s).
8: Armory
Nothing remains except for a weapon rack.
9: Barracks
Living quarters for the common soldier this has 3 pairs of bunked beds (no bedding), a broken cabinet, and a bucket.
The Roof:
The flat-topped roof is 35ft to a side and surrounded by a low wall (2.5 ft tall, 1 ft thick masonry) and is accessed by a trap door with ladder. There is also a noted hemp rope coiled neatly in a corner with on end attached to an iron bracket in the roof.
Interior walls and flooring are 6" thick masonry, and interior doors are 1.5" thick wood with simple locks.
Doors: Hardness 5:
Front: 25 hp, 23 Break DC
Interior/Trapdoor: 15 hp, 18 Break DC
Shutters: 5 hp, 15 break DC.
Walls: hardness 8:
Ground Floor outer: 360 hp, DC 40 break
2nd floor outer: 120 hp, DC 30 break
Interior/Floors: 90 hp, DC 25 break
Current Time: T-2days
Party Status:
All healthy and rested.
Old links lost.
No expendables used.
Old Map for Reference:
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x184/sublightrun/Battle%20Maps/ZombieBattleFieldC1.png