Xeratos
2013-03-11, 11:11 PM
First, what edition are you playing?
I wrote this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=272929) as a 3.5 adventure. It's probably going to be either one really long session or two regular sized ones. I really liked the concept for the world, and I hope to one day expand on it and write more for it.
Here's something else for you to possibly try out. I believe it was written for a party of lvl 6-7 people (again, 3.5). The group I ran through it thoroughly enjoyed it. I literally copy/pasted this out of my personal notes, so it's possible there are some sections that refer to the players I wrote it for, but I'm sure a smooth and canny DM such as yourself could modify it.
Hades Ridge
http://www.alabasterink.com/WP/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Hades-Ridge-Map.jpg
Cited Dungeon Rules:
Fall Damage- 1d6 per 10 feet, DMG page 303
Extreme Heat Damage- 1d6 per minute, DMG page 303
Sickened- -2 to attack rolls, damage rolls, skill/ability checks, DMG page 301
Nauseated- Only action able to take is single move action per round, DMG page 301
Sunder Attempt- Attack of Opportunity against user, opposed rolls, win = full damage,
PHB page 158
Disarm Attempt- Opposed attack roll, +4 for using two-handed weapon, PHB, page 155
Trip Attempt- unarmed melee touch attack, opposed strength vs str or dex, losing roll
lets defender try to trip attacker instead, PHB, page 158
Outer Ridge
The party finally reaches Hades Ridge that afternoon. The place is as described, with stinging winds and unbelievable heat. Without the aid of magical protection, the heat is overwhelming, and deals 5 points of fire damage every round. Even with a resist energy spell, the winds still scour across the party, limiting visibility and making it difficult to move around.
Eventually, with much difficulty and a climb check (dc 16), everyone makes it to the base of the ridge to begin searching for cave entrance to the lair. It’s a grueling process, but they do locate what appears to be an entrance (search check dc 20).
Steam Vent
The entrance is a narrow split in the stone wall, barely wide enough to squeeze through. Strangely enough, unlike the scoured rock landscape of the rest of Hades Ridge, the rock inside the split is damp, though drying quickly near the edges. The split isn’t wide enough for more than one person to go at a time, and quickly dips down, forcing the party to climb down a shaft as they descend further underground.
About half way through, a hissing sound can be heard coming from below, and a wave of scalding hot steam blasts through the shaft, dealing 4d6 points of fire damage and forcing everyone to make a reflex save (dc 12) to avoid losing their grip on the stone and tumbling down.
Geyser Room
At the bottom of the shaft, the room opens up below into a stream of boiling water. A tumble check (dc 10) allows a party member to leap away from the shaft through open air to land on the side of the stream. Otherwise anyone falling into it sustains 10d6 points of fire damage per round spent submerged.
The room is roughly circular in shape and 50 feet wide at its widest, bisected through the middle by a stream of boiling water 15 feet wide at its narrowest. Thin glowing lines of orange bisect each other as they cross the walls, providing dim illumination.
At the far east side, a staff made of wood floats in the air. Six brilliant rubies float around it, each connected to the staff by a beam of red light. Its bottom drags the water and causes a constant mist of steam to escape into the air. Every few minutes, a burst of water floods out of a small hole in the wall behind it, completely submerging the staff and fogging the entire room over in steam, which quickly dissipates as it shoots through the vent above it.
When the party enters the room, the staff trembles slightly, and a figure coalesces in the air above it. It strides across the surface of the boiling water and approaches the party, not menacingly, but calmly and inquisitively.
Standing about six feet in height, the figure appears to be a male human with hair made of flames. He is wearing plated metal armor decorated with intricate patterns of burnished orange-red gold. A long, rich red cloak hangs from his shoulders. As he moves, the red lines connecting the gems to the staff move to him instead. His name is Ashkazar, Lord of the Burning Seas.
The staff is known as the Staff of Wayward Elements, a medium that allows mortal casters to communicate with the Elemental Plane. Saestra used its magic as a spring board to capture elementals, then further used their power to snare the Fire Lord himself.
Ashkazar is bound as a prisoner inside Hades Ridge, a site of elemental power, to be used as nothing more than a water heater. He is furious at his debasement and humiliation, and gladly offers a deal to the party. Saestra’s consort, a human warrior, wields a greatsword imbued with the power of frost. If the party can lay claim to it, its power can be used to shatter the six gems holding the lesser fire elementals, and free him in the process.
Ashkazar summons a trio of steam mephitis to ferry the party across the boiling stream. He warns them that Saestra and her consort are both powerful, and not to be caught unaware. They have allied with a delver, a creature that lives underground and feeds on rock, gems, and other minerals. Delvers especially love gemstones, and this one has developed a taste for petrified flesh.
Split Level Room
This chamber is huge, easily large enough that parts of it are lost in the darkness. The party enters on a ledge overlooking the rest of the chamber, though they can not see the whole thing. The climb down the ledge is difficult and dangerous. The broken stone is fully 60 feet high, and rivulets of water emerge from rifts in the stone, coating the ledge and making it slippery.
Vents in the wall also discharge sulfur in the air, giving the room a nauseous smell and forcing the party to make a fortitude save (dc 18) or become sickened. Players who fail by more than 4 are instead nauseated for one round, once every five rounds. The wall itself is a climb check (dc 26) to make it to the bottom.
The ground floor is broken and jagged, with puddles of sulfurous stagnant standing water everywhere. The smell is almost as nauseating as the bursts of sulfur coming directly from the wall.
Herbory
The entrance is sealed by a well-fitted, 10 foot wide steel door. The door has no handle, but set into its center is a gold wrought hooded viper. It is depicted coiled around several softly glowing gemstones, colored blue, red, green, and black. To open the door, the party needs the keystone necklace from Saestra. The correct code is green, black, black, red, green. Incorrectly entering the code causes the viper to come to life and spit venom at the person touching the door, dealing 3d8 points of acid damage.
Inside, the herbory itself is a split level room, with the north east corner being dominated by a ledge about 10 feet high. Steaming hot water runs over the south edge of the ledge in a waterfall to pool on the ground before draining into an underwater passage.
The herbory is filled with a thick stemmed leafy plant. The stems are a bright orange, and the leaves, which are easily a foot across each, have red veins running through them, and start as a dark orange and fade to yellow near the edges. Crawling across the wall, clinging to the cracks in the stone, are fat vines so dark as to be almost black.
Growing near the pools of water are clusters of strange, long stemmed plants, each almost four feet in height. They have thick, wood colored stems and are topped with short, spiky leaves. On the ledge, where the water is still bubbling, the plants have small purple and white blossoms scattered through their leaves.
A wide cave, its mouth draped with vines, dominates the west wall. It only goes a short way in before turning to the south. At the end of that bend is a heavy iron portcullis closed down to the floor. A chain can be seen running from its top through the feeding chamber and around another bend out the other side, past a second portcullis, which is raised up.
Hidden in the back of the herbory amidst the thick, leafy growth is a massive six-headed pyrohydra (spot DC 16 to notice). It is extremely aggressive and attacks the party as soon as they enter the room.
Encounter
Six-headed Pyrohydra CR: 7 pg 156
Tactics
The pyrohydra has no tactics beyond straight-forward assault. It attacks whatever is within reach and worries not at all about any damage it takes. Each head breathes individually every 1d4 rounds, with a reflex save (dc 18) for half damage.
A sunder attempt made against the hydra allows it an attack roll at a +16 bonus. The pyrohydra’s combat reflexes feat allows it to use all of its heads for its attacks of opportunity, which it gets 2 of per round.
Feeding Chamber
This is a square room with two iron portcullises at either entrance. The north one is closed, but the south one is raised. Thick iron chains, easily two inches in diameter, run from dual cranks around the south bend and through a series of pulleys and holes cut into the stone above the portcullises. Each crank operates an individual portcullis.
The purpose of this room is to feed Saestra’s pet pyrohydra. The unfortunate victim is placed in the feeding chamber, usually while still alive, and the south portcullis is lowered. After the room is barred off, the north portcullis is raised, allowing access to the herbory. The pyrohydra, long since conditioned to the sounds of moving portcullises, quickly rushes in and devours its hapless victim.
This has the secondary benefit of allowing Saestra to hold the pyrohydra inside the feeding chamber whenever she needs to get into the herbory to harvest more Haibancu Blossoms.
Unlike the other rooms, the hallway leading to the feeding chamber has no door barring it. If the party opens the portcullises, the hydra rushes in too attack. Its bulk makes it too wide to squeeze through the south hall though, so there’s no possibility of it escaping into the rest of the lair.
Workshop
The entrance is sealed by a well-fitted, 5 foot wide steel door. There is no handle, but set into the center is a silver image of a striking adder, its fangs gleaming wickedly. Studded in a line down its back are four gems, each glowing softly. They are colored blue, red, green, and black. To open the door, the party needs the keystone necklace from Saestra. The correct code is blue, black, green, black, red, blue. Touching the gems in the wrong order causes the adder to spring to life and lash out at the person touching the door, dealing 2d6 point of damage and forcing a fortitude save (dc 14) or take 1d4 points of strength damage.
Inside the workshop a large forge has been set up. This room is where Saestra’s hired craftsmen do their metal working for her, and it is equipped as such. She brings in a trio of duergar smiths whenever she wants something designed, such as the chain and portcullis system in the feeding chamber, the steel doors fitted throughout her lair (she did the enchantments herself), and many of the special racks in her alchemy lab.
The room is currently unoccupied and empty. Everything has been cleaned and set away to hand on pegs or rest in drawers in the workshop’s large steel table.
Holding Area
This room has been gated off with a simple, non-magical locked door. It is a plain, unfurnished square chamber designed to hold future food for both the pyrohydra and the delver. It commonly contains live goblins and other creatures, as well as several petrified victims. Right now, nothing is currently living in it, but two statues, one of a goblin and the other an orc, stand in the corner.
Living Quarters
A steel door much like the others sits in the entryway (a hissing rattler is on its surface), but this one is slightly ajar. Inside, the sounds of two people coupled in passion can be heard. Upon entering the room, the party sights a naked human man reclined against a huge bed while a slender woman whose skin is a dusty brown kneels in front of him. Snakes sprout from her scalp and writhe around, stroking the man’s stomach, thighs, and who knows what else.
Both spring to their feet upon the party’s entrance. The man leaps across the bed to snatch up a greatsword from the wall nearby, and the woman turns to attack the party.
Encounter
Saestra and Kato CR: 8 n/a
Tactics
Kato focuses on defensive fighting, making good use of combat expertise. His primary goal is to hold the party back and prevent them from reaching Saestra while she works her magic. He focuses on tripping his opponent, striking them while they are prone.
Saestra starts combat with a baleful polymorph on the most dangerous looking party member, likely the first person she sees casting a spell. She follows up with either a ray of enfeeblement against whoever Kato is fighting or a mirror image spell depending on whether anyone manages to hit her. She then turns her petrifying gaze on the remaining party members, and resorts to her wand as a last resort to any who resist it.
The south corner of the room is dominated by the bed with a nightstand near it and a wardrobe on the wall past that. The north wall is dominated by a large writing desk and filing cabinet. Both are filled to the brim with account ledgers and other documents relating to Saestra’s smuggling business, including things like client lists. A scroll rack on the south wall contains dozens of penned arcane scrolls.
Scattered across the floor are various pieces of clothing, personal trinkets, and armor bits. A necklace made of four colored stones on a silver chain (the keystone necklace) is under a robe. Tucked into a pocket in the man’s shirt is a scrap of paper. It reads the following:
R- GURU, F- UBGBRU, H- GBBRG, C- URBUG
On the north wall, back corner, is a steel door emblazoned with a knot of writhing snakes. Each one has a diamond shaped gem on its head that glows a different color. There are no clues available as to the correct order to touch the keystone necklace to them, but a speak with dead spell cast on Saestra’s body will force her to reveal the order, which is blue, black, red, green.
Incorrectly entering the sequence causes the snakes to spring to life and bite the hand of the person touching the door. The bites do 1d4 damage each (there are 6 of them), and each forces a fortitude save (dc 14) or take 1d4 strength damage.
Alchemy Lab
A typical lab, the only thing of any special note is a hidden cubby on the back wall that contains a locked steel box. Inside are packets of twisted paper filled with a powdery substance. This is the distilled essence of the Haibancu Blossom. A cursory inspection of the room reveals the objective of the party’s quest sitting on a work table. The night stone doesn’t glow, but instead seems to suck in the light around it, leaving the room in a state of perpetual gloom.
Several blossoms in various states of preparedness are scattered across the lab, some hung on braided cloth lines, others stewing in liquid, and a few, brittle and dried, next to a mortar and pestle.
Treasury
Locked by a steel door with a cobra on it, the treasury contains Saestra’s accumulated wealth. To get past the door, the party must input the code of blue, red, black, blue, green. Incorrectly entering the code causes the cobra to come to life and bite the person touching the door for 3d6 points of damage and make a fortitude save (dc 14) or take 2d6 points of strength damage.
The Descent
The temperature drops noticeably as the party descends this steeply sloped tunnel. Small rivulets of water run down the walls in spots, and the orange glowing lines in the wall disappear about half way through. The tunnel is about 800 feet long and roughly 10 feet wide all the way through.
The Lifts
A complex system of chains, gears, and pulleys sits at the edge of a great chasm. A drop of literally hundreds of feet greets the party. No one is in attendance at the lift, which hangs suspended in open air at the edge of the chasm.
Despite the lack of people, the chains are spinning through the mechanism, dragging the actual lift platform up from the darkness below. Soon enough, a huge square shaped creature with a blunt face and two flipper-like appendages appears on the lift platform. Its body glistens with slime, and it turns its single, hooded eye towards the party as the lift approaches the top of the chasm.
The delver speaks to the party as it drags its bulk off of the lift onto the rock, and is followed by a trio of goblins, each bent under the weight of a large sack. It asks if they have its payment, and, when questioned, becomes impatient and insists on the petrified humans it was promised for the gems.
If the party gets the statues out of the holding area, it happily trades over the sacks carried by the goblins, then rides the lift platform back into the darkness. If the party refuses, the delver demands to speak with Saestra. Before the conversation can go much farther, it realizes that the party isn’t friendly, and attacks.
Encounter
Delver CR: 9 page 39
Tactics
The delver’s only attack is to slam its two flipper-like hands into its opponents. Its caustic slime coating weakens the integrity of metal objects, causing any non-magical metal to melt unless the wearer succeeds a reflex save (dc 22).
Loot:
Saestra and Kato
Ring of Energy Resistance, minor (fire)
Scrolls of Comprehend Languages, Ray of Enfeeblement x2, Bull’s Strength, Invisibility x2, Resist Energy x3, Spider Climb, Deep Slumber, Fly, Polymorph x2, Stoneskin, Break Enchantment, Hold Monster
Wand of Darkness (21 charges)
Wand of Magic Missile- 5th level (minus charges used during combat)
Pearl of Power, 2nd level
Cloak of Charisma +2
Frostbrand
+1 Mithril Breastplate
Ring of Counterspells (Charm Person)
Amulet of Natural Armor +3
Gauntlets of Ogre Strength
Goggles of Night
Treasury
1643 Gold
317 Platinum
3492 Gold value in Gemstones and Worked Precious Metal
+1 Shadow Chain Shirt
+1 Buckler
Mithral Shirt
+1 Keen Rapier
Masterwork Composite Shortbow (2 str)
Boots of the Winterlands
Staff of Wayward Elements
25 Charges, contains the following spells: Burning Hands (1 charge), Scorching Ray (+3 to attack rolls, 2 charges), Fireball (4 charges), generates 1 charge per day
All fire damage spells do +5 damage, even when not cast from staff
Kato
Medium Human (12th level fighter)
HP: 125
Init: +7
Speed: 30
AC: 16 (10 + 3 dex + 3 natural armor)
Attacks: Frostbrand +22 (2d6 + 13 + 1d6 cold)
Full Attack: Frostbrand +22/+17/+12 (2d6 + 13 + 1d6 cold)
Space/Reach: 5 ft. / 5 ft.
Special Attacks: Dispel Lasting fire (1d20 + 14 dispel check vs 11 + caster level)
Special Qualities: Fire Resistance 10
Saves: +11 Fort, + 7 Ref, + 4 Will
Abilities: Str 18, Dex 16, Con 16, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 12
Skills: Climb +20, Ride +19, Swim +20, Intimidate +17
Feats: Weapon Focus, Greater Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, Greater Weapon Specialization, Improved Critical – Great sword, Improved Initiative, Combat Expertise, Improved Disarm, Improved Trip, Dodge, Mobility, Power Attack, Combat Reflexes,
Saestra
Medium Monstrous Humanoid (9th level wizard)
As monster manual entry, page 180, except:
HP: 64
Attack: Wand of Magic Missle (3d4 + 3)
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 18, Wis 12, Cha 15
Skills: Bluff +14, Diplomacy +10, Disguise +16, Intimidate + 14, Knowledge (arcane) +16, Spellcraft +16
Spells per day: 4/6/6/5/4/2
Castable Spells:
Ray of Enfeeblement: touch attack, 1d6 + 4 strength loss for 9 minutes
Mirror Image: 1d4 + 3 duplicate images
Baleful Polymorph: Shape change target, fort save to negate (dc 19), will partial
If you're not playing 3.X, then I'm afraid I can't help you too much. If you are, however, then I hope these help, and I would love to know how they're received by other groups.
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