Piedmon_Sama
2007-01-28, 04:43 AM
So this story starts two weeks ago when I was talking to my friends about how we'd never really done a straight-up dungeoncrawl. Well, I decided to fix that and said I'd do a 6th-level mini-campaign centered around a dungeoncrawl. I told everyone we'd meet the next weekend, giving them six days to fit together their characters.
Now, one thing I've been wanting to try out is 25 point buy. In my last campaign we used 28, but I heard 25 was what the game was actually designed to be balanced off of, so that was what I enforced. I also, for the first time, allowed only race/class combos from the Player's Handbook. Normally I say anything goes, but this time I had a concrete idea of the setting before I began the game and I didn't want to have to warp it to accomodate someone's Half-Illithid Drow Psion/Totemist, wheras usually I let the players make the characters they want and then base the world off what their origins suggest.
I don't think I was bad about it. Since I'm normally so permissive, I didn't think they'd mind a few constraints for once. I also allowed feats and spells from the Complete series, the Races series, and the Player's Handbook II, so this wasn't a "core only" campaign by any means. One guy complained bitterly to me everyday and kept asking to make a monstrous character. First he wanted to play a minotaur, then a trumpet archon, then he wanted a succubus cohort.... I told him no everytime, but he just wouldn't give up until practically the day before the game.
I told the guy that the party needed a Skill Monkey, so he decided to play an Elf Ranger since that was a "skillful" class. I neglected to tell him the skills I meant in particular were Trapsense and Disable Device, which left the party in a bad way in regards to traps. But I suppose they'll find that out the hard way....
So the next guy comes up with an Elf Druid. Fair enough. I don't know the Druid class very well, but he should be able to fill out the Healing Battery role. He comes up with an interesting backstory too. But joining our group for this game is a girl who's never played before, so I let her make the first character she wants---an elf druid (surprise, surprise). This is maybe just a wee bit irritating to me since now I have two animal companions stuck onto a party of five, bringing the character total to seven. (Remember, the more people in the party, the longer it takes us to get through a round of combat, the less we get done and the more time we waste.)
But that's not enough. The next guy makes a human wizard as his character, which fine, until he asks to give her the Leadership feat. I said no out of hand, but he begged and pleaded, and at the time the party was just two druids and he said his cohort would be a defensively-focused fighter. Knowing these guys would need a meat shield, I agreed. Then the last member of the group tells me he's gonna play a Half-Orc Barbarian, so what am I gonna do? Sheesh. To make it even better, he says his Barbarian is the slave of the Wizardess--effectively giving her two servants in the party and furthering negative stereotypes of Orcdom. Moving on.
So we have our five party members, which is really a party of five plus. Elf Ranger, Elf Druid, Elf Druid, Human Wizard, Half-Orc Barbarian. The story is primarily set in human lands..... but whatever. I've got a tight plot that will quickly lead to dungeoneering action. It follows thus:
Twenty years ago, a man named Roger Cobb founded a cult called the Children of Pelor, splitting away from the previously established Curch of Pelor. Cobb (an evangelist) claimed he was a prophet guided by Pelor to prepare the Church for the End of Times, which was drawing close. He instructed his followers to create a community which could exist "apart from the wicked world" and live in harmony until the end of the earth came. He chose the remote region of Easthill, a solitary hill surrounded by almost a hundred miles of plain in any direction. It was chosen because Easthill was the site of an ancient monastery built 400 years ago.
In truth, Cobb was a charlatan and liar. His real name was Welthem Finch, and he had at one time been a player in the capital city's powerful Thieves' Guild. After making too many enemies, he developed the "religion scheme" and created the Children of Pelor to give himself a comfortable exile, where he could lead his very own village. Easthill quickly developed into a tight-knit farming community. Although they were regarded as misguided by the orthodox church, the Clergy of Pelor appreciated the Childrens' wish to live free of sin, and regularly shipped them supplies such as medicine and clothes.
Years passed. As the community reached its first decade, Cobb/Finch began to grow increasingly irrational. Whispers haunted his sleep and an infernal voice spoke to his restless heart. This was, in the voice of a mighty demon--Xyghalach, a Balor and lieutenant to the elder Demon Prince Pazuzu. Xyghalach had been sealed by forgotten champions 400 years ago, who had built the now-abandoned monastery atop the site. Now, with the aid of his dread master and his mortal cult, Xyghalach schemed to set himself free upon the Mortal Plane.
The first step, and the easiest, was twisting Cobb to his will. Once this was accomplished, the "Prophet" announced to his followers that the End of Times was nearing. He ordered them to dig deep beneath the ancient monastery and the hill on which it rested. Years passed, and eventually the unsuspecting Children of Pelor had dug out a labrynthine network of tunnels leading to an unhallowed and long forgotten chamber where Xyghallach was sealed. The Balor's body was long since destroyed, but this could be easily fixed once the seals were broken. He only needed his mortal servants to complete a series of vile rituals. Three holy seals guarded the chamber, and so three rituals were needed.
Cobb himself completed the first ritual and broke the first seal. This weakened the barriers between the area around Easthill and the Abyss, summoning a cold mist which covered the entire village, killing the crops in the fields and leaving the orchards barren. Lesser demons began to creep through. The Cult of Pazuzu arrived in Easthill not long after, guided by their Demon Prince. With their aid, Cobb sacrificed nearly every man of Easthill, destroying the second seal with a foul second ritual. The womenfolk sealed themselves in their cottages and died, either by suicide or simply starving.
Now only the third ritual remains. This will require the sacrifice of all the children of the village, who Cobb has gathered in the lowest chamber of the tunnels beneath Easthill. The ritual must be performed over the entirety of a week, but the anointed day is now drawing close.
Now here's the aspect that concerns the PCs: The human territories of the continent are divided into two nations. The Arch-Duchy of Genland and the Principality of Zigkraft. These two nations have just fought a ten-year long war, called the Crown War, over a successional dispute in Zigkraft. This was a lucrative time for mercenaries, whether they wielded steel or spell. However, one year ago, the war ended with an armistice.
Since then, times have been tough for sellswords in both countries. Thousands of mercenaries were released from service by arrogant feudal lords who no longer wished to pay their wages. This had the inadvertant effect of creating a new, thousands-strong class of brigands and highwaymen. Travel has become so dangerous that any city that can afford it has built heavily defended walls, while smaller hamlets are at the mercy of cutthroats and bandits. Ironically, the Civil Guard of each walled city have become so powerful that they are often tyrannical towards the people they ostensibly protect.
We find the PCs in this bleak atmosphere, settling in for the night at the Spitzen Swallows inn, in the town of Raven's Road. Their evening meal is interrupted when a trio of drunken Guardsmen attempt to force congress with a helpless barmaid. Stepping up to the plate, they handily defeat the warriors (actually what happened was a mix of bad tactics and bad rolls almost got the Wizardess killed in the first encounter). This earns them the notice of Father Xander Typhus, emminent of the Church of Pelor.
Father Xander is impressed with both the PCs' skill and apparent altruism. He offers them that most precious of things--work. He is in charge, among other duties, with overseeing the caravan that ships supplies out to Easthill. Unfortunately, the roads are no longer safe to travel--and one bandit in particular, a self-styled "warlord" called Yakov the Wolf, has made the road to Easthill his domain. He has plundered vital supplies from every caravan in the last year, and must be stopped at all costs. Father Xander asks the PCs if they will lend their skills to end the Wolf's "reign of terror." Either out of altruism or a simple need for subsistence, they agree.
The caravan loads up for a six-day trip to Easthill and starts on the flat plainlands. Two days in, the PCs spy a scout from Yakov's band who rides off to alert his master. The next day, they find a roadblock of burning pyres across the road, and a line of horsemen standing in front of it.
Speaking to Grimmner, the caravan master, the PCs had already worked out their plan. Using the Wizardess's Circle of Invisibility, they take various positions around the front wagon, the Wizardess standing inside it. The barbarian and fighter are waiting behind the flap that opens the wagon's rear (it's a covered wagon, Oregon Trail style), the Ranger is standing on the opposite side of that door (flank bonus go!) the two druids are on either side of the wagon, and their animal companions (a wolf and a dire lion) are hiding under the wagon.
As Grimmner predicted, Yakov orders the caravan to halt a bowshot away from the pyre (~600 ft.) The bandit and his men ride up to the caravan, where Yakov orders Grimmner to produce all his men up front. The four other teamsters and four porters dully assemble. Yakov orders his men to hold their bows on the row of workers, while he and his two lieutenants dismount and walk around the front wagon. Yakov makes to inspect the interior, only for the Half-Orc to unload an axe-swing in his face.
Things happen very fast after that. Spells are thrown. Lions pop out of nowhere. Before he even knows what's up, Yakov is down 2/3rds his HP and the Wizardess has just thrown a fireball into the ranks of his men and killed them all with one shot. Yakov calls his horse and manages to hop onto the saddle without it even breaking stride, but then the Druidess casts Heat Metal on his breastplate, which in a few rounds will decimate the HP he has left. Of course, Yakov had reinforcements--12 more horsemen, and a goblin adept on worgback charged through the wall of smoke and towards the fray. That's where I ended the second session.
To be honest, I feel.... conflicted. I like Yakov, minor villain that he is. He's just a lowly Warrior 9, but he clawed his way to the top of his little hill. I made sure to give him as badass an intro as I could, and here he is about to get uncerimoniously axed.... now I'm wondering if I can't have him escape, somehow.... or I could see if the PCs will accept a surrender....
Now, on to the future. When the PCs get to Easthill, I'm planning on showing them the desolate and abandoned state of the crop fields by the roads, all of which are covered in a strange, cloying mist, until they reach the gate of the village. The gate goes the whole way around the village proper (where the family cottages are). The village is also heavily shrouded in mist.
At the gate, they meet Royal Agent Couric Doohan, Assistant Undersecretary in His Majesty the Crown Prince's National Service. (That's the Kingdom's Secret Police, IOW.) He explains to the PCs the origin of Roger Cobb, aka Weltham Finch. Doohan had been assigned to infiltrate the Children of Pelor and report on Cobb, who had finally been rooted out by the Civil Guard after so many years. The trail to Cobb began with an infamous Wizard named Johann Zurich. Zurich was a radical alchemist who began abducting and killing citizens as part of his experiments ten years ago. The National Service eventually tracked Zurich to Easthill, where he'd apparently joined the Children of Pelor. This in turn lead to the discovery of Cobb's true identity. However, when Doohan had arrived, he'd found the entire territory surrounding the village abandoned.
Grimmner and the rest of the caravan are all distressed. However, Doohan offers to "deputize" the PCs, and offers them the massive bounty on Roger Cobb's head if they help him in his investigation. Presumably they agree, and pass the gate either by scaling or breaking it.
Immediately upon entering the town, the PCs are attacked by a quartet of crazed villagers. These are the last survivors of Easthill, and they are completely delusional, attacking anything in sight. They are only capable of babbling nonsense, attacking anything that moves, and voiding their bowels, as the PCs will learn if they capture rather than kill the commoners.
As they investigate further, the PCs will probably discover some starved families decaying inside various cottages. Zurich and Cobb have very nice, multi-room houses towards the rear of the village. Cobb's is abandoned but full of papers and journals of his rantings. Zurich still occupies his home/laboratory, pouring over notes, concocting new alchemical products, and just generally being totally insane. He is guarded by a Flesh Golem named Galatea, stitched into the shape of a woman. Zurich treats the Golem as if it were his wife. (He is, in fact, looking for a way to create life in the horrid construct).
Now hopefully the PCs will find Cobb's house first. I can lay all kinds of cool, cryptic plot-hints within his diary. It will also helpfully put Doohan out of the action, as he will insist on staying in the cabin and studying the notes while the "deputies" are entrusted with apprehension. (Perhaps he will be dead if the PCs return for him later, or perhaps he will go into the tunnels on his own somehow.... not sure yet.) Presumably they will then proceed to Zurich's house; the Alchemist is too absorbed in his notes to notice them, unless they touch any of his papers or lab equipment. Then he sics Galatea on them.
Zurich is my set "pre-dungeon" encounter, but I'm thinking of another. I want some kind of moderately powerful Demon (CR 6-7) loose amongst the cottages of Easthill. The poor visibility provided by the mist will make this a great atmospheric set piece--some hulking shape steadily drawing near, the ground shaking with each footfall.... it should be fairly easily for the PCs to kill if they take it all together, but the thing is, as soon as they kill it, it "respawns" somewhere else in the mist. This will keep the PCs from dawdling too long in the "neutral zone," I hope.
Of course, the monastery is the center of the action and the entrance to the dungeon (Cobb's diary will spell this out, but the players should really have no trouble intuiting it, it's a genre convention.) The monastery is mostly a big cathedral. A trap door in the cathedral leads to a "cellar" full of living quarters, kitchen and food storage chambers. This is where the monks lived centuries ago, and was used as a waystation by workers during the digging.
The cathedral itself (an impressive set piece IMO) is guarded by a mixed team of Gargoyles and Stained Glass Golems (very thematic). The former were drawn by the cult of Pazuzu, and the latter created by Zurich. I've debated having Doohan be a step ahead of the PCs and breach the cathedral while they were fighting Zurich. They'd find one dead Gargoyle with a note stuck to its corpse as the one sign of his passage (he is a rogue afterall). This would be useful because Doohan could become a device to spoonfeed the PCs clues as events develop, always a few chambers ahead of them in the dungeon but avoiding fights where he can.
Once we get to the dungeon proper....
Well, that's where my thought process kind of breaks down. I have a pretty solid layout of the adventure up to this point, but on the dungeon itself, I'm just not so clear. So here's a list of elements I want to include.
A swarm of quick but individually weak enemies--Manes and Dretches, or even Ghouls (they could be the restless remains of the sacrificed villagers) should occupy the first level or one of the upper ones. The idea is that the PCs can't really "fight" this threat, but have to move from safe (lockable) chamber to safe chamber, crossing dangerous halls that are swarming with this enemy.
As the PCs approach the end of the Dungeon, a Major Plot Twist occurs. It ties into more of the background of my campaign world.
South of the PCs' home continent lies the Caliphate of Eritea. This is a vast desert kingdom that controls mineral-rich mountains and the monster-infested jungles still further south. They have long been vital trading partners to the Arch-Duchy and Principality alike, as they provide salt to keep meat fresh. Unfortunately, the Caliphate has recently come into dire turmoil, but the details aren't known to the citizens of the Arch-Duchy or Principality. All they know is that the Salt Trade has been disrupted, and fresh food become scarcer as a result; also, the Crown Prince of Zigkraft has launched his armies across the sea to aid the Caliphate.
The true nature of the turmoil is that the Cult of Graz'z't has become so popular amongst the half-wild Bedouin clans of the desert and the demihuman tribes of the deep jungle that they have openly rebelled against the Caliph. They have indeed overthrown the capital city of Dagrah, and are currently warring still against the allied armies.
However, the Cult of Graz'z't are fully aware of the actions of the Cult of Pazuzu. The full manifestation the Balor Xyghalach would result in a power shift towards Graz'z't's hated enemy Pazuzu, and The Chosen (Graz'z't's highest-ranking mortal followers) intend to stop this. Unable to divert their most powerful members due to the war, they send a squad of middle-ranking cultists.
My thoughts here are that throwing in the Cult of Graz'z't will bring in some squad-based combat that will force the PCs into new tactical situations. They're used to dealing with hordes of weak enemies or one powerful boss, but never a small unit of fairly equivalent opponents. It would also reward the PCs for being clever if they exploited the rivalry between the two Cults. Note that Graz'z't's followers are not necissarily interested in working with the PCs to defeat Pazuzu's Cult; they'd probably kill unbelievers as soon as look at them.
I have some thoughts on the Graz'z't squad:
A Warmage. I'm aware it's far from the most potent of caster classes, but it's fun for NPCs. I'm already picturing this bald, pudgy Arab-guy in dazzling robes with this pair of huge moustaches, totally over-the-top and theatrical about everything.
At least a pair of Lamias. Their debauched race is associated with Graz'z't, and they'll be a cool, exotic sight for the PCs. Probably this duo I'll have work seperately from the main squad, since at CR 6 they're enough of a challenge in their own right.
A Paladin of Slaughter, possibly with levels in Barbarian. I'm thinking of basing this guy heavily on archetypical images of the Arabian warrior, using equipment out of Sandstorm. I want him to have a huge (huge, huge, huge) falchion. He'd definitely be the leader.
Now, the thing about Roger Cobb is that he's a Commoner/Rogue/Evangelist. Let's face it, he's just not very impressive. No, I'm not going to alter his build--Cobb's roll in the story is to be a charismatic madman and pretty much nothing more. However, I do need a more impressive final battle for the PCs than a middle-aged thief-turned-preacher. Obviously Xyghalach is far too much---if the ritual is completed, it's flat-out game over.
Which finally brings me to the last part of this post, now that I've exhausted all details on my campaign. What I'm looking for.... ideas. Traps, monsters, chambers and other encounters. I probably have a bit of time until they get into the subterranean area, since we've been going at the slug's pace of one encounter per session thus far....
Thanks in advance for all feedback and any ideas volunteered. Also, thanks for reading through this whole thing. XD
Now, one thing I've been wanting to try out is 25 point buy. In my last campaign we used 28, but I heard 25 was what the game was actually designed to be balanced off of, so that was what I enforced. I also, for the first time, allowed only race/class combos from the Player's Handbook. Normally I say anything goes, but this time I had a concrete idea of the setting before I began the game and I didn't want to have to warp it to accomodate someone's Half-Illithid Drow Psion/Totemist, wheras usually I let the players make the characters they want and then base the world off what their origins suggest.
I don't think I was bad about it. Since I'm normally so permissive, I didn't think they'd mind a few constraints for once. I also allowed feats and spells from the Complete series, the Races series, and the Player's Handbook II, so this wasn't a "core only" campaign by any means. One guy complained bitterly to me everyday and kept asking to make a monstrous character. First he wanted to play a minotaur, then a trumpet archon, then he wanted a succubus cohort.... I told him no everytime, but he just wouldn't give up until practically the day before the game.
I told the guy that the party needed a Skill Monkey, so he decided to play an Elf Ranger since that was a "skillful" class. I neglected to tell him the skills I meant in particular were Trapsense and Disable Device, which left the party in a bad way in regards to traps. But I suppose they'll find that out the hard way....
So the next guy comes up with an Elf Druid. Fair enough. I don't know the Druid class very well, but he should be able to fill out the Healing Battery role. He comes up with an interesting backstory too. But joining our group for this game is a girl who's never played before, so I let her make the first character she wants---an elf druid (surprise, surprise). This is maybe just a wee bit irritating to me since now I have two animal companions stuck onto a party of five, bringing the character total to seven. (Remember, the more people in the party, the longer it takes us to get through a round of combat, the less we get done and the more time we waste.)
But that's not enough. The next guy makes a human wizard as his character, which fine, until he asks to give her the Leadership feat. I said no out of hand, but he begged and pleaded, and at the time the party was just two druids and he said his cohort would be a defensively-focused fighter. Knowing these guys would need a meat shield, I agreed. Then the last member of the group tells me he's gonna play a Half-Orc Barbarian, so what am I gonna do? Sheesh. To make it even better, he says his Barbarian is the slave of the Wizardess--effectively giving her two servants in the party and furthering negative stereotypes of Orcdom. Moving on.
So we have our five party members, which is really a party of five plus. Elf Ranger, Elf Druid, Elf Druid, Human Wizard, Half-Orc Barbarian. The story is primarily set in human lands..... but whatever. I've got a tight plot that will quickly lead to dungeoneering action. It follows thus:
Twenty years ago, a man named Roger Cobb founded a cult called the Children of Pelor, splitting away from the previously established Curch of Pelor. Cobb (an evangelist) claimed he was a prophet guided by Pelor to prepare the Church for the End of Times, which was drawing close. He instructed his followers to create a community which could exist "apart from the wicked world" and live in harmony until the end of the earth came. He chose the remote region of Easthill, a solitary hill surrounded by almost a hundred miles of plain in any direction. It was chosen because Easthill was the site of an ancient monastery built 400 years ago.
In truth, Cobb was a charlatan and liar. His real name was Welthem Finch, and he had at one time been a player in the capital city's powerful Thieves' Guild. After making too many enemies, he developed the "religion scheme" and created the Children of Pelor to give himself a comfortable exile, where he could lead his very own village. Easthill quickly developed into a tight-knit farming community. Although they were regarded as misguided by the orthodox church, the Clergy of Pelor appreciated the Childrens' wish to live free of sin, and regularly shipped them supplies such as medicine and clothes.
Years passed. As the community reached its first decade, Cobb/Finch began to grow increasingly irrational. Whispers haunted his sleep and an infernal voice spoke to his restless heart. This was, in the voice of a mighty demon--Xyghalach, a Balor and lieutenant to the elder Demon Prince Pazuzu. Xyghalach had been sealed by forgotten champions 400 years ago, who had built the now-abandoned monastery atop the site. Now, with the aid of his dread master and his mortal cult, Xyghalach schemed to set himself free upon the Mortal Plane.
The first step, and the easiest, was twisting Cobb to his will. Once this was accomplished, the "Prophet" announced to his followers that the End of Times was nearing. He ordered them to dig deep beneath the ancient monastery and the hill on which it rested. Years passed, and eventually the unsuspecting Children of Pelor had dug out a labrynthine network of tunnels leading to an unhallowed and long forgotten chamber where Xyghallach was sealed. The Balor's body was long since destroyed, but this could be easily fixed once the seals were broken. He only needed his mortal servants to complete a series of vile rituals. Three holy seals guarded the chamber, and so three rituals were needed.
Cobb himself completed the first ritual and broke the first seal. This weakened the barriers between the area around Easthill and the Abyss, summoning a cold mist which covered the entire village, killing the crops in the fields and leaving the orchards barren. Lesser demons began to creep through. The Cult of Pazuzu arrived in Easthill not long after, guided by their Demon Prince. With their aid, Cobb sacrificed nearly every man of Easthill, destroying the second seal with a foul second ritual. The womenfolk sealed themselves in their cottages and died, either by suicide or simply starving.
Now only the third ritual remains. This will require the sacrifice of all the children of the village, who Cobb has gathered in the lowest chamber of the tunnels beneath Easthill. The ritual must be performed over the entirety of a week, but the anointed day is now drawing close.
Now here's the aspect that concerns the PCs: The human territories of the continent are divided into two nations. The Arch-Duchy of Genland and the Principality of Zigkraft. These two nations have just fought a ten-year long war, called the Crown War, over a successional dispute in Zigkraft. This was a lucrative time for mercenaries, whether they wielded steel or spell. However, one year ago, the war ended with an armistice.
Since then, times have been tough for sellswords in both countries. Thousands of mercenaries were released from service by arrogant feudal lords who no longer wished to pay their wages. This had the inadvertant effect of creating a new, thousands-strong class of brigands and highwaymen. Travel has become so dangerous that any city that can afford it has built heavily defended walls, while smaller hamlets are at the mercy of cutthroats and bandits. Ironically, the Civil Guard of each walled city have become so powerful that they are often tyrannical towards the people they ostensibly protect.
We find the PCs in this bleak atmosphere, settling in for the night at the Spitzen Swallows inn, in the town of Raven's Road. Their evening meal is interrupted when a trio of drunken Guardsmen attempt to force congress with a helpless barmaid. Stepping up to the plate, they handily defeat the warriors (actually what happened was a mix of bad tactics and bad rolls almost got the Wizardess killed in the first encounter). This earns them the notice of Father Xander Typhus, emminent of the Church of Pelor.
Father Xander is impressed with both the PCs' skill and apparent altruism. He offers them that most precious of things--work. He is in charge, among other duties, with overseeing the caravan that ships supplies out to Easthill. Unfortunately, the roads are no longer safe to travel--and one bandit in particular, a self-styled "warlord" called Yakov the Wolf, has made the road to Easthill his domain. He has plundered vital supplies from every caravan in the last year, and must be stopped at all costs. Father Xander asks the PCs if they will lend their skills to end the Wolf's "reign of terror." Either out of altruism or a simple need for subsistence, they agree.
The caravan loads up for a six-day trip to Easthill and starts on the flat plainlands. Two days in, the PCs spy a scout from Yakov's band who rides off to alert his master. The next day, they find a roadblock of burning pyres across the road, and a line of horsemen standing in front of it.
Speaking to Grimmner, the caravan master, the PCs had already worked out their plan. Using the Wizardess's Circle of Invisibility, they take various positions around the front wagon, the Wizardess standing inside it. The barbarian and fighter are waiting behind the flap that opens the wagon's rear (it's a covered wagon, Oregon Trail style), the Ranger is standing on the opposite side of that door (flank bonus go!) the two druids are on either side of the wagon, and their animal companions (a wolf and a dire lion) are hiding under the wagon.
As Grimmner predicted, Yakov orders the caravan to halt a bowshot away from the pyre (~600 ft.) The bandit and his men ride up to the caravan, where Yakov orders Grimmner to produce all his men up front. The four other teamsters and four porters dully assemble. Yakov orders his men to hold their bows on the row of workers, while he and his two lieutenants dismount and walk around the front wagon. Yakov makes to inspect the interior, only for the Half-Orc to unload an axe-swing in his face.
Things happen very fast after that. Spells are thrown. Lions pop out of nowhere. Before he even knows what's up, Yakov is down 2/3rds his HP and the Wizardess has just thrown a fireball into the ranks of his men and killed them all with one shot. Yakov calls his horse and manages to hop onto the saddle without it even breaking stride, but then the Druidess casts Heat Metal on his breastplate, which in a few rounds will decimate the HP he has left. Of course, Yakov had reinforcements--12 more horsemen, and a goblin adept on worgback charged through the wall of smoke and towards the fray. That's where I ended the second session.
To be honest, I feel.... conflicted. I like Yakov, minor villain that he is. He's just a lowly Warrior 9, but he clawed his way to the top of his little hill. I made sure to give him as badass an intro as I could, and here he is about to get uncerimoniously axed.... now I'm wondering if I can't have him escape, somehow.... or I could see if the PCs will accept a surrender....
Now, on to the future. When the PCs get to Easthill, I'm planning on showing them the desolate and abandoned state of the crop fields by the roads, all of which are covered in a strange, cloying mist, until they reach the gate of the village. The gate goes the whole way around the village proper (where the family cottages are). The village is also heavily shrouded in mist.
At the gate, they meet Royal Agent Couric Doohan, Assistant Undersecretary in His Majesty the Crown Prince's National Service. (That's the Kingdom's Secret Police, IOW.) He explains to the PCs the origin of Roger Cobb, aka Weltham Finch. Doohan had been assigned to infiltrate the Children of Pelor and report on Cobb, who had finally been rooted out by the Civil Guard after so many years. The trail to Cobb began with an infamous Wizard named Johann Zurich. Zurich was a radical alchemist who began abducting and killing citizens as part of his experiments ten years ago. The National Service eventually tracked Zurich to Easthill, where he'd apparently joined the Children of Pelor. This in turn lead to the discovery of Cobb's true identity. However, when Doohan had arrived, he'd found the entire territory surrounding the village abandoned.
Grimmner and the rest of the caravan are all distressed. However, Doohan offers to "deputize" the PCs, and offers them the massive bounty on Roger Cobb's head if they help him in his investigation. Presumably they agree, and pass the gate either by scaling or breaking it.
Immediately upon entering the town, the PCs are attacked by a quartet of crazed villagers. These are the last survivors of Easthill, and they are completely delusional, attacking anything in sight. They are only capable of babbling nonsense, attacking anything that moves, and voiding their bowels, as the PCs will learn if they capture rather than kill the commoners.
As they investigate further, the PCs will probably discover some starved families decaying inside various cottages. Zurich and Cobb have very nice, multi-room houses towards the rear of the village. Cobb's is abandoned but full of papers and journals of his rantings. Zurich still occupies his home/laboratory, pouring over notes, concocting new alchemical products, and just generally being totally insane. He is guarded by a Flesh Golem named Galatea, stitched into the shape of a woman. Zurich treats the Golem as if it were his wife. (He is, in fact, looking for a way to create life in the horrid construct).
Now hopefully the PCs will find Cobb's house first. I can lay all kinds of cool, cryptic plot-hints within his diary. It will also helpfully put Doohan out of the action, as he will insist on staying in the cabin and studying the notes while the "deputies" are entrusted with apprehension. (Perhaps he will be dead if the PCs return for him later, or perhaps he will go into the tunnels on his own somehow.... not sure yet.) Presumably they will then proceed to Zurich's house; the Alchemist is too absorbed in his notes to notice them, unless they touch any of his papers or lab equipment. Then he sics Galatea on them.
Zurich is my set "pre-dungeon" encounter, but I'm thinking of another. I want some kind of moderately powerful Demon (CR 6-7) loose amongst the cottages of Easthill. The poor visibility provided by the mist will make this a great atmospheric set piece--some hulking shape steadily drawing near, the ground shaking with each footfall.... it should be fairly easily for the PCs to kill if they take it all together, but the thing is, as soon as they kill it, it "respawns" somewhere else in the mist. This will keep the PCs from dawdling too long in the "neutral zone," I hope.
Of course, the monastery is the center of the action and the entrance to the dungeon (Cobb's diary will spell this out, but the players should really have no trouble intuiting it, it's a genre convention.) The monastery is mostly a big cathedral. A trap door in the cathedral leads to a "cellar" full of living quarters, kitchen and food storage chambers. This is where the monks lived centuries ago, and was used as a waystation by workers during the digging.
The cathedral itself (an impressive set piece IMO) is guarded by a mixed team of Gargoyles and Stained Glass Golems (very thematic). The former were drawn by the cult of Pazuzu, and the latter created by Zurich. I've debated having Doohan be a step ahead of the PCs and breach the cathedral while they were fighting Zurich. They'd find one dead Gargoyle with a note stuck to its corpse as the one sign of his passage (he is a rogue afterall). This would be useful because Doohan could become a device to spoonfeed the PCs clues as events develop, always a few chambers ahead of them in the dungeon but avoiding fights where he can.
Once we get to the dungeon proper....
Well, that's where my thought process kind of breaks down. I have a pretty solid layout of the adventure up to this point, but on the dungeon itself, I'm just not so clear. So here's a list of elements I want to include.
A swarm of quick but individually weak enemies--Manes and Dretches, or even Ghouls (they could be the restless remains of the sacrificed villagers) should occupy the first level or one of the upper ones. The idea is that the PCs can't really "fight" this threat, but have to move from safe (lockable) chamber to safe chamber, crossing dangerous halls that are swarming with this enemy.
As the PCs approach the end of the Dungeon, a Major Plot Twist occurs. It ties into more of the background of my campaign world.
South of the PCs' home continent lies the Caliphate of Eritea. This is a vast desert kingdom that controls mineral-rich mountains and the monster-infested jungles still further south. They have long been vital trading partners to the Arch-Duchy and Principality alike, as they provide salt to keep meat fresh. Unfortunately, the Caliphate has recently come into dire turmoil, but the details aren't known to the citizens of the Arch-Duchy or Principality. All they know is that the Salt Trade has been disrupted, and fresh food become scarcer as a result; also, the Crown Prince of Zigkraft has launched his armies across the sea to aid the Caliphate.
The true nature of the turmoil is that the Cult of Graz'z't has become so popular amongst the half-wild Bedouin clans of the desert and the demihuman tribes of the deep jungle that they have openly rebelled against the Caliph. They have indeed overthrown the capital city of Dagrah, and are currently warring still against the allied armies.
However, the Cult of Graz'z't are fully aware of the actions of the Cult of Pazuzu. The full manifestation the Balor Xyghalach would result in a power shift towards Graz'z't's hated enemy Pazuzu, and The Chosen (Graz'z't's highest-ranking mortal followers) intend to stop this. Unable to divert their most powerful members due to the war, they send a squad of middle-ranking cultists.
My thoughts here are that throwing in the Cult of Graz'z't will bring in some squad-based combat that will force the PCs into new tactical situations. They're used to dealing with hordes of weak enemies or one powerful boss, but never a small unit of fairly equivalent opponents. It would also reward the PCs for being clever if they exploited the rivalry between the two Cults. Note that Graz'z't's followers are not necissarily interested in working with the PCs to defeat Pazuzu's Cult; they'd probably kill unbelievers as soon as look at them.
I have some thoughts on the Graz'z't squad:
A Warmage. I'm aware it's far from the most potent of caster classes, but it's fun for NPCs. I'm already picturing this bald, pudgy Arab-guy in dazzling robes with this pair of huge moustaches, totally over-the-top and theatrical about everything.
At least a pair of Lamias. Their debauched race is associated with Graz'z't, and they'll be a cool, exotic sight for the PCs. Probably this duo I'll have work seperately from the main squad, since at CR 6 they're enough of a challenge in their own right.
A Paladin of Slaughter, possibly with levels in Barbarian. I'm thinking of basing this guy heavily on archetypical images of the Arabian warrior, using equipment out of Sandstorm. I want him to have a huge (huge, huge, huge) falchion. He'd definitely be the leader.
Now, the thing about Roger Cobb is that he's a Commoner/Rogue/Evangelist. Let's face it, he's just not very impressive. No, I'm not going to alter his build--Cobb's roll in the story is to be a charismatic madman and pretty much nothing more. However, I do need a more impressive final battle for the PCs than a middle-aged thief-turned-preacher. Obviously Xyghalach is far too much---if the ritual is completed, it's flat-out game over.
Which finally brings me to the last part of this post, now that I've exhausted all details on my campaign. What I'm looking for.... ideas. Traps, monsters, chambers and other encounters. I probably have a bit of time until they get into the subterranean area, since we've been going at the slug's pace of one encounter per session thus far....
Thanks in advance for all feedback and any ideas volunteered. Also, thanks for reading through this whole thing. XD