PDA

View Full Version : 3.5 D&D Spellplague Campaign



hikite
2016-08-15, 08:46 PM
I am running a 3.5 Campaign using older modules. Including Tomb of Horrors and Ravenloft.....amongst other famed modules. I use their individual storylines and tie them in with my own homebrew storyline. I am looking to critique positively or negatively as I can see wanting to run this campaign again in the future. The archvillain is Orcus, and the party ends up In The Throne of Bloodstone for Epic levels. I hope you enjoy my creation.


BALDUR'S GATE

After traveling through the hills you can see far off in the distance what appears to be the end of the continent. A majestic city more beautiful than anything you have yet to see in your early adventuring career.(If PCs are from Faerun they have heard this tale since birth, but if from another campaign setting then they see this letter upon arriving in Baldur's Gate. Develop PC's storyline individually why they are in Baldur's Gate)

Be your guide to the land of Faerun. Act carefully,and ye will uncover more of its glories, byways, and dangers than ye might learn in a year of perilous travels. More adventurers should be so well informed when they venture into realms wild, and strange. If they were, more might live to tell their own tales.
I am Elminster of Shadowdale, called by some the Old Sage, and called far worse things by others. I've walked these realms for over a thousand years. Yet, I am far from the oldest, wisest, or mightiest being to walk the ground of Faerun with my well-worn boots—and that is truth. But if ye learn the long history of my deeds, ye'll know precisely what I stand for and what I am. And that's a rare and precious thing, knowing yourself. Do ye know exactly what ye stand for?
Think on that while I let my tongue loose for a bit and roll the splendid sights of these lands over ye like the great green waves that crash on the rocks below where Mount Waterdeep rises up out of the cold and mighty Sea of Swords. Let me speak of the wonders bards sing of under the starry night sky all over these fair lands. Let me tell ye of soft blue moonlight and spell stars in the hair of elven women, their fare shoulders all silver, dancing under the trees of the High Forest—just as the ghosts of their fair vanished kin still dance under the moon in ruined, fiend-roamed Myth Drannor.
Let me speak of brawling, bustling Waterdeep, the beautiful towers of Silverymoon, and of a hundred other proud cities with their lanterns and rumbling carts and shadowed alleys and dripping sewers, their intrigues and strivings and riches. Let me whisper of the realms below, the Underdark, a world of sunless caverns where cruel elves with obsidian skin, purple-hued mind flayers, and things far worse battle in the depths beneath your feet, and gems are born in the hottest deeps where rock flows like water.
Heed my tales of old magic in forgotten tombs or marked by standing stones and portals that with a single stride span half of Faerun. Beware cold claws that reach from the shadows and proudly sneering courtiers in gleaming finery whose honeyed tongues and sly plots are colder and more perilous still than steely talons. Hear tell of wild places where dragons battle each other in the sky and ruins only adventurers—like ye—have seen that are haunted by fearsome beholders, shapechanging horrors, and oozing things made of eyes and tentacles that lurk . . . and hunger.
Hold, and listen well! If ye heed not a word of mine in all your days, remember this: Faerun needs its heroes.
I'm one such to some, though I am old and battered and have left a heap of bloody, bitter mistakes behind me high enough to bury empires. Your sword must flash beside my faltering spells, for Faerun faces new, rising dooms that I cannot face alone. Our homelands stand in worse peril now than ever before. Old evils stir, or return unlooked-for, looming like storm clouds over the darkened hills. Strife and change tear asunder nations and cities. Who can see who shall rise over all? Even the monks of far Candlekeep who guard well the words of the prophet Alaundo who is never wrong, cannot know.
It might just be ye, if your swords and spells are ready and your heart bold. Faerun needs ye, lest we fall unguarded to the dangers all around.
Adventurer, I am Elminster, and I say to ye that these forgotten realms are yours to discover, reforge, and defend, yours to make anew in winning your own crown. Go forth and take up arms against the perils that beset us!


—Elminster of Shadowdale
Mirtul, Year of Wild Magic

A brother of the former seer Alaundo is scheduled to address the public with what has been stated as his most important vision yet. Baldur's Gate is located in the Western Heartland amongst the most famous adventuring stories in the long tenured history of Faerun. It is a metropolis of 40,000+ beings, and one of the greatest cities in the Sword Coast. Sitting on the River Chionthar twenty miles from the trackless sea halfway between Amn, and Waterdeep. This city is high on trade and more visually stunning than most other places you have seen. The entire city is at your disposal accept the Sanctuary where the head librarians keep their embassy to Candlekeep. To gain admittance you need a book of unbelievable worth or insight. This area is behind a massive 40' tall gate. In the center of the gate is a silver open book

It is just before midday and the weather is perfect. A breeze is blowing in from the sea and there are scattered clouds that keep the sun from being too hot. Streamers, balloons, carts, crafts, entertainment, magic, games, theatre all line the streets of Baldur's Gate for the evening time event of the prophecy announcement. The public and buisinesses are thriving anything is possible in the few hours before the announcement.(encourage PCs to walk around and talk to the vendors and people. [keep a personalities folder for people and placed in DM Tools]take your time and develop the city it should be its own NPC)(Marketplace Sounds followed by Circus March Sounds on 3rd PCs travels through Baldur's Gate followed by Marching Band on 5th PC or last PC)

(Make sure to explain the details of symbols, views, clothing, and items)With evening time setting in you make your way to the amphi theatre that overlooks the Chionthar river and a bare glimpse of the trackless sea complete with the setting sun in the background. Finding a seat you wait the time for everyone else to do the same.(play fireworks sounds followed by cheering crowd sounds) The crowd begins to settle and then 4 human females donned in shimmering gold robes go and stand equidistant from each other facing the crowd.Beginning to wave their hands in a rhythmic motion you see their mouths moving as well.In under a minute you see a translucent shimmering circle hovering in the air. The females turn and leave the stage, and within minutes a procession of brightly hewn robes begin to fill the stage. The stage resembles oil on water in the sun from the different colored clothing. One with a plain white robe carrying a staff standing 7' tall made from solid platinum strewn with intricate carvings and an open book acting as a pommel on the top. He begins to speak and you can hear him as if he were right in front of you; the translucent circles seem to be reverberating similarly to the rhythmn of the speakers voice."I am Ranek Keeper of the Tomes from Candlekeep, and entrusted with keeping the prophecy safe until its rightful revealing time. Alaundo had a vision before he left us. He foretold of a great battle from the future which resulted in dreadful consequences in our time of DR 1390. He foresaw that a group of adventurers would randomly meet and this group would close portals to keep the spellplague from infecting our era. The spellplague is from an era in the future where Mystra was killed by Shar. This tore the magic weave apart and created terrible ramifications. There are areas where one realm will join this realm by ripples in time from the spellplague. The first one is said to be in the area of The battle of bones. (read battle of bones pg 222 faerun campaign setting) If you are said adventurers and you are able to close the portals then I have left your admittance fee to Candlekeep with the grand duke Eltan, commander of The Flaming Fist. Come and see me. If none of you are able then the rest of the prophecy is set. So get your hearts and minds focused and let us hope those adventurers are here. Sign up with guards at the gates. Good Luck!!"

Once you sign the adventuring contract you are put on a wagon with 12 other humanoids.(play wagon sounds) You begin traveling west towards the battle of bones. After many days travel through the hills you begin seeing massive piles of bones scattererd as far as the eye can see. Suddenly you begin hearing voices screaming as they describe purple lights with sickly green tendrils engulfing the covered wagon. You peek outside and instead of skeletal remains you see rolling plains with jutting Tors from time to time. Instead of clear skies you see what appears to be imminent bad weather. and standing water from time to time. There is a good rain in progress,but no longer any sign of any purple and green magical lights. The wagon driver suggests going to a tor for cover as the incoming weather looks dangerous.(play storm and lightning sounds)

(use a dark and stormy Knight module for any info)


Chapter 2



(Any PC that remembers flaming fist or duke eltan gets 100 xp, use a skill to remember where to bring crystal gets 50 xp, use 1 crystal power 100 xp, use 2 crystal power 100xp)

The party approaches Baldur's Gate and The city is alive. The party sees parades, and carnival. The guard at the gate asks the PCs to leave their names so they can be remembered in the records of time for attending The announcement of Allaundo's prophecy statemnt. (if the PCs walk around run this part like the introduction to Baldur's Gate storyline. The flaming fist is located in Baldur`s Gate. Upon approaching the stronghold it is obvious that Grand Duke Etltan`s Flaming Fist is a big money operation. There are 4 guards at the main gate. Once the Duke is summoned everyone is escorted to a greeting hall. Gold inlaid throne , statue, fountains adorn the room. A personal guard of 20 soldiers all with red plumes and single black strands escort Eltan in. Once he sits he motions to the group to speak. After presenting the information on the portal closing Duke Eltan sends a scouting group to confirm if you are telling the truth. This takes a few days, and you are his personal guests until confirmation is recieved (If the PCs are lying they are thrown in jail, and a neutral/evil campaign is possible from this point. Same quest line just move the city from Baldur's Gate to Thay).The Duke says that portals have been spotted out at sea and he requires you to board a boat. He says to take a few days to relax and equip yourself as your means allow, and go to the Eltan Imperial at the docks when you are ready. (Allow the PCs to explore more of Baldur's Gate. The Sanctuary of Scholars is still off limits)

(100 xp and 100 gp per character quest arc completion)

The boat is enormous. Obviously Eltan`s flagship. Once everyone is boarded the boat begins preparations and sets sail within the hour. After leaving port within a few hours a sickly purple and green light surrounds the boat.

(Run the A WRECK ASHORE)

hikite
2016-08-20, 05:05 PM
This is a fun opening module. Very easy, and includes some good environment conditions. Ran all the monsters right out of the monster manual. The shards make up a larger artifact called The Heart of Air. This plays a role farther down in storyline. The Bugbear Zombie is being powered by the shard. This introduces the first part of the larger quest line. PCs can choose differnt paths so made up a few contingencies for a similar quest completion


A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT
You begin traveling west towards the battle of bones. After many days travel through the hills you begin seeing massive piles of bones scattererd as far as the eye can see. Suddenly you begin hearing voices screaming as they describe purple lights with sickly green tendrils engulfing the covered wagon. You peek outside and instead of skeletal remains you see rolling plains with jutting Tors from time to time. Instead of clear skies you see what appears to be imminent bad weather. and standing water from time to time. There is a good rain in progress,but no longer any sign of purple and green magical lights.
Dangerous Lightning forces the group to take cover under a Tor, and learning of the time honored tradition of Stormpeace. Spending the night they now have united into one group, and accepted the quests of Brug, and Sean. Seek out Hightower Tor. Find a map. Return my family heirloom. They have been sent on the way to this location which lies 4 days to the north. Will our adventureres make it through the treacherous weather? Will they find Hightower Tor?
The group picked up a few more travelers on the way, and a 8 day trek through Ull in Greyhawk towards Hightower Tor. They eventually found the quest, and through Vargouille's to Bugbear and Troglodyte Zombies they survived. Finding a magical crystal they returned to Sean in Kestor who hired the group to find. He returned them to Faerun; where the group found themselves one week in the past from when they left.
Traveling to Baldur's Gate they find themselves arriving a day before The announcement of Allaundo's prophecy. They hear the retelling of the prophecy and figure out how to find The Order of The Flaming Fist, and claim the prize of closing the portal. Duke Eltan rewards the group, and immediately dons another quest to the party.

HIGHTOWER TOR - A Dark and Stormy Knight (Ull)

The wagon group begins to run for shelter and in doing so spreads out and goes in diffetrent directions during the chaos. As you are running to look for cover you see a few different creatures in conflict. One says,"Stormpeace?"with its hand outstretched as to receive the others hand in acceptance; the other snarls just before attacking, and the two humanoids slaughter each other. Lightning more white and crisp than you have ever seen crackles down and strikes the ground not even 50' from where you run. Hitting a group of travelers the ground erupts and dirt and bodies are thrown 10 - 20 yards in random directions. The smell of burnt flesh seemingly instantly fills your nostrils as pink mist now fills the air. You are now approaching a Tor and seeming safety there. A Half Orc is looking at you with an out stretched hand and says,"Storm Peace?" (Allow PCs to make a knowledge local check...If from Greyhawk Campaign Setting no negatives all other Campaign settings -10 DC)

If you accept they share the shelter with you in peace and you notice only a few familiar faces from the wagon. A campfire is lit, groups form, and stories begin to unfold. There are 15 humanoids here.(allow PCs to roleplay and join their party here)(Takes place in Greyhawk...Ull pg 122 Greyhawk Gazeteer)

(Roleplay adventure hooks and allow knowledge checks.Hook A 100xp, Hook B 100xp and 100gp, Hook C 100xp and 100gp/PC - If PCs give shard to Sean they will have to track him through time and space to retrieve the gem as he believes they can help him retrieve morem he will send the party back through time as they can help him find more gems....he transports with them but turns invisible and proceeds to follow the party and spy on them)

(The tor of interest is 4 days walk to the north. Road is 16 miles per day 12%/hr. Wilderness is 5.5 days 12 miles per day 8%/hr. Once they reach adventure run modules storyline)


(If the group of 4 is having too easy of a time with change bugbear zombie feat to power attack,if group is 10+ change bugbear to Ogre combat tactic - attack first person available)

(upon completing the Dark and Stormy Knight Module Read the following)

Above the head of the bugbear (ogre) zombie is a floating glowing purple crystal. It apparently has energized the zombie as a purple bluish glow surrounds the zombie. The crystal remains even after finishing the undead. Touching the crystal heals and cures the PC of all ailments.(this effect just works once after use random rolls for The Heart of Air minor artifact) If all touch crystal at once it gates the party back to Faerun just at the edge of the battle of bones closest to Baldur`s Gate.(this is a fragment of the minor artifact The Heart of Air).It is a one week travel on foot back to Baldur's Gate. There are no encounters. Make a knowledge planes check DC 40 to see if you can tell the time period is the day before the revealing of the prophecy ceremony.

hikite
2016-08-29, 04:54 AM
A WRECK ASHORE

The group boarded the flagship The Flying Furyk where once again they were whisked through time and space to the distant realm of Kalamar on Lake Adesh, near the Kannej Swamp. They have decided to go investigate the village of Seawell, but Captain Furyk returned the boat using very powerful magic built into her flagship. The party is now on shore, and ready to travel to Seawell to see if they can discover the next piece of the spellplague's riddle or die trying.......

Arriving at Seawell the group saw some available quests on a local information board. Traveling through days of Marsh they arrived at the lighthouse to investigate the fact that the Kojar's have not made contact with Seawell in weeks. They discovered a lighthouse with a massacre inside. The wife and two kids were slaughtered with no sign of the husband.
A pirate camp was spotted just a few hundred yards way from the lighthouse. The party decided to prepare for a day and charge the pirate encampment. They found way more combatants than they were expecting. Behind Sir Victor Brightman and his cleaving spiked chain and Jean's healing scrolls the party was able to survive even if it hurt terribly to do so. Only Captain Erqua Ashilim escaped. The party found many valuable wares and two diaries. They grabbed many masterwork weapons, and proceeded back to Seawell.
They found the two diaries which explained about the answers to both quests on the message board in town. The first was what was the reason behind the merchant ships not making it in to port. Erqua Ashilim's diary talked about the fake lighthouse they built, and crashing ships into the reef to loot the wares after most of the crews drowned. They killed the living crew that remained. The second was find out why the lighthouse family had stopped making contact with Seawwell. Mirval Kojair's diary talked about how he killed his wife, and two kids as he had fallen in love with Erqua Ashilim, and she asked him to dispose of his family to prove his love.

Journal (Erqua Ashilim)
The dates go back aways, but after reading about general life notes, and complaints you get to the point that explains the masterminding behind Erqua Ashilim's pirate camp and their bounties. She was able to talk a bunch of pirates into following her flag. She discovered a family, The Kojars that ran a lighthouse which aided the developing port village of Seawell. She realized expensive wares were available on these ocean going vessels. She had the family executed in viscious fashion. Including the children. They ransacked the tower for all valuables, and used the tower light to help build a fake lighthouse to purposely run the ships into the reef. They would then row out and salvage all items, and execute any survivors. They also stirred up the lizardfolk so that it gave the appearance that the lizardfolk were the ones to blame for any foul business. They spied and found out that Seawell thought it was truly the Lizardfolk that were at fault for the lighthouse family falling out of contact, and the ships disappearing as well.
The rest is just general day to day info of a pirate captain running a pirate camp. Patrols, side duties, and who does and does not show promise. But no important plans or info otherwise.

(Mirval Kojar)
This dairy goes back aways, and talks about lighthouse day to day thoughts, and odd jobs; but there is bits and pieces talking about meeting his wife Stenna. His three sons Mirval Jr, Kolin, and the oldest one Brill. Stories on the whole entire process of growing up, and old with someone, and the love he had for each and every one of them. It then goes into a darker avenue as the lighthouse became boring, and monatenous. He met a beautiful female that he ran into on the beaches. Stenna would knit relentlessly, and The once adventurous woman he loved had become docile and homebound. The new woman was dangerous. She would kill....she did kill. He felt his blood pumping once again. She was a pirate captain named Erqua. He was in love again, the passion, the fire.....the fury. He hated the lighthouse, and the lives inside that bound him to a simple boring life. He talked about professing his love for Erqua. She asked him to prove it. She explained her plan of piracy, and that the family was in her way to complete her idea. She asked him to prove she was his favorite, and slaughter his family. He talks about the children being small, and no challenge as his older son Brill had already moved away. It was late night, but Stenna was still up knitting. He snuck up behind her and used a sap to her skull. He waited for her to come to. He then raped her as he choked the life from her body. He climaxed in her dead body, dressed and went to slice his two young boys until they moved no longer. He sliced and teased their deaths until the boys were no fun anymore, and simply sat still and cried. At which point he gave them both their death blows with arterial slices deep enough to bleed out in seconds. He gave his ship notation notes he had been keeping to Erqua, and was gonna walk to her tent smiling, proud like a returning soldier from victory. Ready to claim his prize. There are no more entries after this thought was recorded.

On the journey back to Seawell the group met Kriip the leader of a clan of Lizardfolk. The clan befriended the group and acquired safe passage for the group back to the village. The met with Japa the Mayor of Seawell, and infromed him about the ships, its wares, and the lighthouse family. He threw a big party; but unfortuneately the group left all their expensive weapons in the cellar of The Pilgrim and Spear where they were stolen. They tried to track, but were unsuccessful. The group aligned the village of Seawell and the Lizardfolk. Kriip was very happy, and invited the group to her encampment so she could thank them properly. They threw a dinner gathering, and talked about a quest they would like to hire the party for.
They talked about Their Tribal Staff that once bonded all the Lizardfolk together so they could live together as one society instead of being ripped assunder in to hundreds of smaller clans. They want to be whole again. They talked about how the Demi Lich Acaerok attained his undead status and hid his secrets and their Tribal Staff in a Tomb of traps....into a TOMB OF HORRORS. The party was listening to this ultimate evil, and the plight of the Lizardfolk when green smoke rose from the ground as far as the eye could see. They were dimensionally pulled into a pocket plane of The Ethereal Plane, a sub Shadow Plane.

They seemingly were back in Faerun, but a shadowy version of it and what could have been one hundred years in the future. The Baldur's Gate that stood before them was a crumbled, aged, dead version of the grandeur that stood before them before. A form of negative energy was eating away the time, reality, the everything leaving a nothingness behind them. With all space and reality disappearing rapidly behind them the party began to run away from the nothingness. Traveling from the Sword Coast North to almost The Anauroch Desert. The destructive energy has caught up finally. The party was running towards the Athym Mountains where there was a green portal ahead of them. Some saw two humans run through just as it popped into sight, and some saw who......Sean, and Erqua Ashilim. The party ran through after, but saw nothing except a see sawing stairway carved through the mountain making a mini rift through the Athym Mountains off the known map of Faerun into a new place of the unknown. They adventually found a clearing with a Metroploiis in a valley between different mountain ranges intersecting. This city is known as Bard's Gate.

hikite
2016-09-04, 10:31 PM
This begins The Tomb Of Abysthor module. It is a 3rd edition module. I set in Ghelspad, The Scarred Lands. The major city made available is Bard's Gate. I think this module is great. Amazing Dungeon Crawl. Think it should be 2 different modules. The end of the module is way to high for what would be 8th lvl characters if they just ran straight through. So I will run this to around 7th level, and then have storyline bring PCs to White Plume Mountain; and then Tomb of Horrors before returning later to finish this module. I updated The Priests of Orcus with different feats and spells which were better suited for 3.5 in my opinion. All other monsters were run straight out of the monster manual for the Wilderness Area. I ran with as many as 8 PCs so I adjusted the CR as necessary to challenge the larger groups. I.E. Ogre Barbarian instead of just an Ogre.


TOMB OF ABYSTHOR - Wilderness Area

UNDERGROUND RIVER PASSAGE

if the PCs take this there are no random encounters, but make them make balance checks. If they fall in use flowing water rules pg 92 DmG. if they make it treat it as a skill challenge. Allow PCs to possibly aid their allies to help survival. Make sure you explain there are white water rapids, slick rocks, and fast turbulent moving water. They can enter level 1 of the stoneheart mountains dungeon in the passageway east of area 8

MINES

inhabited by Calthraxus the mature adult black dragon pg 70 MM, and an encampment of trolls and black orcs have taken up residence in the upper levels of these mines. The last three rooms are under water with a few islands available where the dragon treasure is located. There are under water tunnels that connect to underground rivers that give Calthraxus acces to the topside and the underdark. Roll off of Random Encounter table from Wilderness Area reroll all named monsters. Fill out all area descriptors as they are uncovered (randomnly create)

X'ARR THE BEHOLDER

Roll off of Random Encounter Table from Wilderness Area reroll all named monsters. Fill out area descriptors as they are discovered(randomly create)




Our mighty heroes have united, and decided to venture into the Stoneheart Mountains north of Bard's gate deeper into the Scarred Lands in Correan's Cleft. They were gonna seek out the one eyed troll Brundle, but he found them instead. Defeating this beast they wanted to track him to his lair. Instead they found an ancient pathway that cut through the sheer stone of the Mountain Range forged by the Titans themselves. After fighting through this area it was impossible not to notice the evil sway that has taken root in this once peaceful good place. One still feels as if Thyr or Muir might still be watching. After three days of trekking they arrived in a valley with a fetid looking lake and two romanesque temples that have both been desecrated. The party decided to watch the temples for the night, and see if they could gather any information. Checking their equipment, and maps they notice their maps are marked completely wrong, and other than the temples infront of them they really have no other way of knowing what lies where.....The Temple of Orcus is afoot, and evil is in the air.


The morning brought new challenges. Our adventurers gathered and searched the two temples. They discovered that these had been defiled with feces, charcoal, and blood with symbols of Orcus. Under the massive statues of Thyr and Muir were some hidden rooms that held some holy artifacts, and useful items for the group. One of the rooms held a mgical suit of armor and a longsword. Cindarin grabbed the stuff and an apparition of The Great Paladin Karith appeared and bestowed the items and quest of finding the stone and chalice to him. They took only what they needed and set out to find The Stoneheart Mountains.

KARITH

After touching the item(sword or armor) winds harmonically as if clarinets and flutes were harmonizing begin to swirl. A smoky quality tints the air, and forms a human looking apparition standing before you with a welcoming, invigorating look. He points at you, and says,"you are worthy....take up these tools of war, and plunge head long into the abyss of the Stoneheart Dungeon. You must honor my goddess Muir and find the Stone and Chalice. Do what is right and bring her memory the JUSTICE she deserves!"

If asked about the Black Monolith Karith will say that Muirs brother Thyr also had holy quests in this area, and that his followers would know more. His departing gesture would be to cast a divination spell that after many questions he gets the 5th level behind a farce. If no questions are asked he bids the PCs good luck, and dematerializes.


They had a three day journey around the Stoneheart Forest where they found the cave of Xarrr'x the Beholder. They felt this was a quest for another time so they ventured into the Stoneheart Forest. It took around three or four days but they eventually found the hidden path leading to The Burial Halls. The dense forest became even denser, and riddled with monstrous spiders. After poison, webs, undead, and becoming lost in the ever so thick canopy and undergrowth the top of the mountain revealed itself. It was a ruined temple of decay with two defiled monoliths standing infront of an entrance to a Hall of some kind.

hikite
2016-09-12, 08:50 PM
This and The Temples of Thyr and Muir are a great way to introduce Clerics of Orcus. Using Their Glyphs and the fountain brings the undead personality orcus brings into the campaign. I had fun using The fountain to keep the party on their toes. Great dungeon entrance. Has undead, secret doors, traps, lycanthropes, and storyline possibilities.

TOMB OF ABYSTHOR - Burial Halls


The party had discovered the burial halls. In the entrance was a glyph of warding which in dealing negative energy damage the first time; the final one sent the party back to Bard's Gate as a bestow curse spell was placed on Sir Rachra. Not before discovering a few rooms in the Burial Hall, and a fountain of gurgling blood, bones, and an evil glyph of necromancy and summoning. Our adventurers traveled to the Metropolis of Bard's Gate. Finding a temple of Morradin they told their tale of good, and pleaded for help from Bifar the High Priest of the church to remove the curse on Sir Rachra. The party spent what little gold they had and headed back out to The Stoneheart Mountain Dungeon.

Traveling through the valley, through the ancient pass, through the valley of shrines, and through The Stoneheart Forest has proven to be filled with great perils. One of these perils has announced himself as Dig Dug a goblin rogue that sneak attacks from great distances. Others were ghouls, ghasts, wolves, worgs, and monstrous spiders galore. Our mighty group has met danger head on. Advancing into the room of the font of bones summoning massive amounts of font skeletons; and after four different attempts in this room the group finally decided that walking across the room one at a time, and clearing the spawned font skeletons out in between the one at a time advancement.

They found an area of pure goodness that was not touched by the desecration of the thralls of Orcus. Cindarin used his massive knowledge collecting capabilities and realized there was a magical connection between this room and the Font of Bones as well as who was buried in the four sarcophagi. The four untouched sarcophagi are priests and paladins of Thyr and Muir. Priestess Nimrie an elvish female cleric of Thyr. Known for her diligance in note taking. Sir Georguy a Paladin of Thyr known for his diplomacy in getting different theolgies to sit and entertain truces and treaties. Lady Sybel a female paladin of Thyr...while most paladins are fearless in a dungeon she was fearless in matters of state. There is no lord or ruler she would be intimadated by to stop from pursuing truth and justice. The final sarcaphagus is inhabited from the remains of a Priestess of Muir Sarra Wake. She was known for her ability to properly record and word treaties and by laws. These were the most famous of recorded diplomats from Thyr and Muir. This area is protected as these were the ones that protected them on the legal and royal battlefronts. There were many more rooms with pillaged and destroyed sarcophagi. Rat tunnels stray off from some of these back rooms that the group squeezed and crawled through and in doing so encountered some wererats in dire rat form, as well as some dire rats. The tunnels eventually led to an uninhabited area below to the upper caves level one. One of the back burial halls had a red pulsing demonic light coming from the back of the tomb which had such an overwhelming aura of evil that Sir Victor was stunned from it. Our adventurers have chosen to use the rat tunnels in their latest trip down, but also have discovered a secret path that has been covered with multiple glyphs of warding at once, and a pit fall trap on the other side. This passage lead down to The Upper Caves level one. This is where our heroes have chosen to leave their mounts while they adventure into the dungeon.

hikite
2016-09-19, 06:04 AM
I enjoyed this level as Draeligor and Gorbash worked well to create a very tough encounter. The monster mix gave the group the feel that they were in a tough underground setting. I like underdark for higher levels so a non underdark dungeon crawl is fun. This level also had sinkholes so there were areas of low light and reminders that they were leaving the top world behind.

TOMB OF ABYSTHOR - Upper Caves Level One

The first time our mighty adventurers ventured to this level was met with much hostility. The level was extremely quiet, and any sounds of battle brought the fear of attracting more denizens of the dark. There were sinkholes some 150' from the surface that gave shadowy illumination from the light above. These areas seem to be a hunting ground for bats and stirges.

The first time down the party heard this awful grunting and moaning of a large beast, and in following this sound they ran into Gorbash the Ogre Barbarian. He tried to pull the party further back into the cave, and after an advance and a retreat; and walking through a windy corridor, with a high pitched singing sound that threatened non magical light sources - that is exactly what our do gooders did. Gorbash was content with letting the group dig itself in deeper, and allowed them access to the burial tomb deeper in where he knew Draeligor the Slaughter Wight was protecting a shrine. He let them go in, and figured this would be his best bet at killing them and possibly Draeligor if they were strong enough. The adventurers received the info of deadly evil as Sir Victor was stunned from over whelming evil, but chose to charge in. After receiving multiple negative levels, and some massive damage the party retreated as Sir Victor's life force was almost quenched. Jean used some healing magic that gave brightman one last chance of survival. The group escaped Draeligor hearing his laughter that sounded like rustling dry paper.

Cindarin had experienced true fear from Draeligor and ran as best he could into the darkness. When his fear ran out Gorbash was grunting, groaning, and grinning thinking he could pick one of from the pack. Cindarin used some good tactics, and spacial awareness to make the Ogre decide to go deeper into the dungeon and seek other party members. The party ran into him as they tried to escape. Arkane Marx was hit very hard and almost was no longer with us. But with some quick fighting and savy healing he was saved as he was pulled from the light and back to a state of breathing. All this made possible with the party felling Gorbash. The party retreated back to Bard's Gate as Sir Victor had three negative levels, and they planned to seek Bifar's help once again.

Upon returning to this level they entered through the rat caves which brought them into the as of yet unexplored western part of The Upper Caves Level One. They found multiple directions to travel. In a major cavern area they found a depression from a collapased section of earth. Sir Rachra headed down first only to find an ankheg had made its home here. The spicy one was bitten and grappled only to be pulled into the earth. The group made some quick decisions and was able to kill the ankheg before it got too far way, and the paladin was lost to the group forever. Here a tunnel led to a passageway that headed down to Level 2 .They found a few more paths which had some rat tunnels, there is a depression that is 10' below and has a man made wall. The group can see six sacrcophagus, and a door in the back of this cavernous room. To the west of this man made wall is another passageway that heads even further down. Our party guessed it would lead to the Third Level of the Stoneheart Dungeon.

In effort to search everything for the Stone and Chalice our group climbs down the man made wall. Where they encountered some normal shadows, and a very rare hybrid shadow species - dire rat shadows; which have the ability to manifest and turn corporeal and incorporeal. With some massive turn undead attempts from both Sir Rachra and Sir Victor these undead foes were dispatched, but not before some strength had been sapped from a few of our heroes. After licking their wounds they headed north east and decided to swim through the underwater cave that opened up into a majestic crystalline cave. Getting to this cave proved to be dangerous as armor and protections were undoned. In this swim out and the land area at the end of the water cave in the crystal cavern some giant poisonous dire frogs tried to ambush the group. In honorable fashions they fought off all these attempts, and found another tunnel going down into the earth for 20 - 30 minutes where they found what they named Level 5.

hikite
2016-09-23, 09:16 PM
This is TOMB OF ABYSTHOR Level 2 and 3. The party pulled out of one level as they encountered difficulty. I felt they were getting to areas of this module that were too hard for level 6 and 7's. I used an area on Level 2 to create a portal to bring them to a more appropriately leveled module. White Plume Mountain. I used these areas for storyline and combat. There is an area to help PC saves against earth blood illusory wall on level 5. The pink mist and basilisk statues created a fun dungeon crawl environment. Thought a buffed Dark Natasha was too powerful, but other than that it was a fun level for the level of PCs I had.


TOMB OF ABYSTHOR - Level 2

As the party heads down into level 2 there is large, vaulted cavern smells faintly of offal and decay. The ceiling is over 60 feet above the cavern floor. A passage leads off to the south. Obvious on the northern wall is an opening some 30 feet above the cave floor. It appears that passages lead off from that opening in either direction. Standing on top of that ledge the party witnesses Sean making a deal with Balcoth for a second piece of the shard. You hear what sounds like a wail...Phere is that shard you vant so vaddly (handing the shard to Sean he takes it) you see a deathly looking individual, 2 humans one with dark greasy hair and a crooked nose; the other a pretty female wearing a red bandana. You recognize both of them as Sean and Erqua, and a goblin that seems to be laughing and referring to himself as Dig Dug. We are now bound. (a glyph emblazons itself on the top of their hands) Now go and find the vlack monolith, and do as you promised. The monolith has what we both want. My vearth blood, and your third crystal. Sean, Erqua, and Dig Dug glance at the party smile as you can see two crystal shards now in Sean's hands. His eyes seem to glow with the cockiness of achievement and success. They all vanish from sight and the ledge is left dark, and empty.

Our adventurers began to systematically charge through the dungeon uncovering caverns, tunnels, pink mist that was virtually impossible to see anyhting in, illusory Walls, and eventually headed into an area with worked stone. There is a door at the end on the left, but our party having detect magic up senses a magic aura, and finds an arcane locked door. Sir Victor and Sir Rachra using large weapons begin beating on the side of the wall with the secret door and arcane lock on it. Sir Victor took the first swing and then both took one swing before Jean quickly threw up a silence spell.

After beating the wall to bits the next room revealed.This chamber is lavishly decorated with silks and satins, velvet curtains and pillows, a warm fire of coals from a bronze brazier, a divian and a large bed, a wardrobe full of sumptuous robes of various silken textures and rich furs, and a very large full-length silver mirror. Natasha is a sensuous creature who enjoys the vanity and comforts that her power and beauty bring her. From the brazier, a trail of musky incense rises, giving the whole room a very sexual feel.
Above the bed, the canopy is hung with a gossamer resembling a spider’s web. On her small table is a golden idol of the demon spider goddess. The party sees a spell they dont recognize, and a stinking cloud spell. The party doesn't see anyone else in the room. so they beginh to retreat as Sir Rachra feels his life force being eaten by some magical creature inside of his chest. Most of the group retreated back to the first small cavern behind them, but Cindarin retreated even further. He ran into Dark Natasha as she began taking melee attacks with her magical unholy spiked mace.

DARK NATASHA
Story -
Dark Natasha was removed from power in Maerimydra. Irae T'Sarran removed her from power and is now making Kiaransalee the favored Deity of this city; and banished her. She crossed the void bridge between Faerun and the Scarred Lands to find a home in the Stoneheart Mountain Dungeon on Level 2. Here she is trying to regain favor with Lloth by gaining control of these dungeons. This involves her defeating Balcoth, and The Temple of Orcus. She will have to align with The Temple of Tsathogga, but as she is with the spider queen this is not a terrible alliance. She knows of the black monolith, and wants its power to regain her leadership of Maerimydra (If Natasha gained the power of The Black Monolith for Lloth she would become Lloth's favorite; as Lloth and Demogorgon could open the gate and allow their armies to invade instead of orcus'). She wants to eliminate all temples in these Dungeons to create a Temple to Lloth. Kiaransalee has taken over Maerimydra and joined with Orcus. She wants to empower Lloth so they can show strength and join with Demogorgon and his quest to overthrow Orcus; and wage war on Heavens and Earth.

She casts illusory wall in the back of whatever room she fights PCs. She has alarms up so she has time to prepare. She will be 100% buffed. She has studied PCs and know who is who. She only uses Polymorph potion in dire need, and if she does she turns her and her familiar to Wasteland Troll.
She will fight to her death because anothe failure would put her beyond Lloth's redemption in her opinion.

The group began to advance on Natasha, but really she just grouped them together so she could launch two fireballs at the party, and this on slaught proved too much for one mighty adventurer.....Arkane Marx was burned to a crisp. Sir Victor was almost dead, but received healing from Jean. Sir Rachra charged at her and put himself in between her and the pink mist asking her to surrender, but she took two swings with her weapon, and dropped Sir Rachra unconscious. She spouted some rhetoric :

Balcoth and the foul Orcus followers have sent you
The power of Lloth will hug you with all 8 legs
We will take control of this dungeon and Return Lloth to Maerimydra
Irae T'Sarran will know what its like to be dethroned and humiliated
I will giive my mistress the Earth Blood
Drow will be all powerful when Lloth and Demogorgon destroy the Heavens and Earth .

She faded in to the pinkness.

Our party horrified from the loss of their friend retreated back to Level 1 to regroup.

TOMB OF ABYSTHOR - Level 3

This gigantic cavern is in parts over 130 feet wide. Also, it is over 100 feet high. There are, however, very few stalactites or stalagmites in this room; it is very open. There are spots of bat droppings on the floor in more than the
usual concentrations. At the end of this large cavern the group sees a statue of unbelievable realness. A human adventurer holding a lantern and a sword, with a startled look on his face, facing the door to the south. The adventurers have continued on to encounter mobats, an ankheg, and cave morays. This is where we left our mighty group at the end of our last session. Next week brings new levels, new monsters....what wall will they bash down next, what lies around the next turn; they now know others are seemingly on this same quest, and they are losing as they have none of the crystal shards. The party continued to explore, and found FLAIL THE GREAT

Here, on the stone slab at the north end of the room lies the body of Flail the Great a famous priest of Thyr — who was killed on a great holy quest. On either side of the corpse is a small altar covered with a square of pure silk on top of which is an ever-burning candle.

If a Lawful Good character prays and honors Flail at his body. The character receives a vision, and instantly feels as if he/she is walking in the footsteps of Abysthor. They see a hand holding a torch walking into the burial halls. (can make a spellcraft check to recognize the casting of anti magic field on a rock) He wades through the familiar wards with no problems. He deactivates the trap behind the secret door and goes down to Level 1. On this level he walks to the East to a room with water, and swims underwater to a room filled with hundreds of light reflecting crystals. He takes some stairs going down to the fifth level. (PC can make a spellcraft check to recognize darkvision being cast). Abysthor then extinguishes his torch and hugs the wall at the bottom the stairs for 30' until reaching some water. He does not cross the water but follows its edge to another wall. This walk is followed about 50' until he sees a small tunnel going right. This opens into a tiny cave. Abysthor wals straight into the wall until it appears that he walks straight through. You see him walk a little further until a small cavern appears, and the vision stops.

THE HALL OF GLORY

Eric the Paladin - He is armed and armored as detailed above with one exception: also within the tomb is his magical lance. The lance is a +3 holy heavy lance. The lance cannot be removed from these chambers without the permission of Flail (see area 4, above). If it is removed without Flail’s permission, the lance becomes simply a +1 lance.
Lord Hythwy
Phomund None
Sir Bertio
Giles Rowe
Conda
Swulfa
Lady Sige
Elyn Ashtop
The Justified Ealdgynn
Eadwith
Alin
Kater
Govereness Sabel Bysshey
Areth
Suetiua


Then as they pressed on our Pcs ran intoa nest of Su-Monsters that psionically blasted and killed the entire party. Luckily a new group of heroes was whisked in by the unknown spell plague portals , and as if from divine intervention new group of adventurers found a diary of our previous adventureres. They read about all the goings on and decided to clear out this level. They went other directions and cleared out much more of the stoneheart mountains. Defeating a basilisk and its mate they gained much treasure. and try and kill Dark Natasha.

They decided that killing Dark Natasha was the best course of action so they traveled to Level 2, but in doing so Sean and his crew ran through the back side of a larger cavern. The group decides to pursue him, and they are led back to Level 3. Dark Natasha decides to end the threat of the PCs by creating a wall of stone the size of the cave tunnel. The PCs were forced to go down the Hallway, and Dark Natasha believes she has removed the threat from the outsiders. Ultimately they were forced to chase Sean and his party. They ran into an area with a locked door. Sean ethereally walked through the door creating distance between the PCs. Eventually they bashed down the door and found the oval room at the end of the hall that had a statue of a vrock, and a spell plague portal that wasn't fluctuating as the others had been. This one appeared stable. The vrock animated and our heroes battled, but eventually they went through the portal ending up in White Plume Mountain, Greyhawk.

hikite
2016-10-05, 05:24 PM
I chose White Plume Mountain as it is a very famous module. It has all the combinations of what I think is great about D&D. Villain, traps, monsters, and environment hazards. I also made Keraptis the cambion name used before Acererak became a lich. I used this module as Keraptis' test run in dungeon creation before he becomes a lich and designs Tomb of Horrors. The NPCs and their tactics are incredible. The only thing I would change is I would port the group into a city in Greyhawk rather than the side of the mountain. The ability to find a city from here until City of the Spider Queen is very limited so no city here means it will be awhile before the PCs can shop.

WHITE PLUME MOUNTAIN
In Greyhawk the spell plague portal opened on the side of a mountain. Our Adventurers and BO decided to go up the mountain as they discovered a note in the hall before the Vrock statue room:

Search ye far or search ye near,
You’ll find no trace of the three
Unless you follow instructions clear,
For the weapons abide with me.
North past forest, farm, and furrow
You must go to reach the feathered mound.
Then down away from the sun you’ll burrow—
Forget life, forget light, forget sound.
To rescue Wave, you must do battle
With the Beast in the Boiling Bubble.
Crost cavern vast, where chain-links rattle
Lies Whelm, past waterspouts double.
Blackrazor yet remains to be won
Underneath inverted ziggurat.
That garnered, think not that you’re done,
For now you’ll find you are caught.
I care not, former owners brave,
What heroes you seek to hire.
Though mighty, each shall be my slave
Or vanish into the fire.
K

They ventured into this mad man's labrynth. They encountered Lamia, Efreeti Huge Crabs, Sea Witches, Vampire Dwarf, Traps of all kinds....floatging discs, diseased water, mimics, green slime, and riddles. Unfortunately BO couldnt speak the answet to Etyrusca's riddles:

ETRUSCA'S RIDDLES

The lion bodied creature sways forward slowly with a curious look. "Greetings adventurers I am Etrusca. I am bound to keep anyone unworthy from traveling these hallways. I present a challenge to you to prove your worthiness. Answer my riddles and you will have the pass word to bypass my protections. What say you adventurer are you a puzzler or a pugilist?"
If the party chooses puzzler then she says they must pick which hallway they wish to enter....

West Passage
I have a mouth but never speak.
I have a bed but never sleep.
I run smoother than any rhyme.
I love to fall but cannot climb.

North Passage
Round she is, yet flat as a board,
Altar of the Lupine Lords,
Jewel on black velvet, pearl in the sea,
Unchanged but e’erchanging, eternally.

East Passage
My creator wants me not,
And much in dread will I be bought.
My cold embrace is fiercely fought,
Most all who need me know it not.

since BO could not adventure into the deeper parts of the mountain he had to wait outside, and BO was eaten alive from a Dracolich the inhabits this region.

The group was able to survive all the deadly factors of this dungeon, and meet an Efreeti at the end that made an offer the PCs couldnt refuse......."I have another offer to make you humanoids. You have great power, and I have a quest that you can't refuse. I will show you a secret lair in this dungeon with a spellplague portal that has been made permanent from Keraptis and his Earth Blood. It leads to a realm called Kalamaar. Keraptis took his knowledge of earth blood and keeping portals open with it to Orcus. In exchange Orcus made him a Lich. He now calls himself Acerak. You can take this portal to Kalamaar, and go and find Keraptis/Acerak where he holds a piece of the shattered Heart of Air artifact. You must simply hand over 2 of the weapons of legacy. You may keep one. Just know that if you refuse you will never find this portal, and I have a message for you from someone you might know.....Sean? "Once again I find myself ahead of you in this race. Don't dally in Keraptis's lair too long or I will have all six pieces before you can say Tomb of Horrors....HaHaHaHa!!"

The PCs have discovered the three weapons of legacy, Blackrazor, Whelm, and Wave. They deliberated and decided on taking Whelm, and getting shown the Spell plague portal showing them the way to Kalamar. Where they can attempt to chase Sean and his crew from obtaing The Heart of Air. Now they know Acererak/Keraptis has shown Orcus a way to invade the Prime Material Plane with his undead armies through creating stable spell plague portals. It is possible he could even raid The Heavens.

CONCLUSION OF WHITE PLUME MOUINTAIN

After Xonxin walks you through a random collection of teleportation platforms(doors that teleport you to another room. These rooms are 20x20 and all have doors that appear to be pitch black as if devoid of all light). For what seems like an hour you are randomly walking through different doors with no apparent pattern. Eventually you arrive in a 20x20 room with no decor, and is completely barren except a spellplague portal that seems to be in a constant state of flow. It doesn't seem to wriggle and writhe as the unstable portals do.

KRIIP'S CAMP

A
You walk through the portal, and are now thigh high in a swamp. It is around sunset as the sun is getting dimmer and is in the west. A few hundred yards away is a small dry island with torches lit and a small community.

B
As you get closer it is apparent that it is a camp of lizardfolk. (If original PCs are in group remind them of their dinner here:

You are treated to a cooked alligator meal with baked fruits. They explain how they were friends of the lighthouse family, and were made furious that they were so evily perished for profit. The explain how they once were a thriving colony of lizardfolk, but a cambion mage came and stole their tribal council staff. The staff was powerful in his hands, but they used it to unite all the tribes, and function as a society.The cambion used the staff to complete a ritual to give himself eternal life and announced himself The Demilich Acererak. They want the Pcs to find his tomb here in the Kannej Swamp, and find the staff as it will bring peace to man and lizard alike. Promising both societies can benefit from this society reforming and growing.

This is 5 years in the future. If PCs aren't original then the Lizardfolk are unfrindly at first.)

C
You hear alarm sounds go off, and the camp seems to be alerted to your presence, and is preparing to defend itself. Warning bolts are fired, and intentionally fall 20 yards short of you. "Stand Fast!! State your business!" (If the group says Keraptis, Acerak, Tomb of Horrors, Kriip then Kriip will come to engage in dialog with the PCs)

hikite
2016-10-18, 11:32 PM
The Tomb of Horrors

This adventure was just so much fun to run as a DM. I enjoyed the layers of traps, the dungeon layout and design, The thought that went into making just such a scary and devstating dungeon. I had two deaths, and lots of stolen magic items from walking through the portals of smoke. In the end the bested the dungeon. I enjoyed this so much that I will run the group through epic level return to tomb of horrors. This adventure leads back in for the conclusion of Tomb of Abysthor. I was able to drop some of the larger storyline in the transition from Tomb of Horrors to Abysthor.



Still in White Plume Mountain....After Xonxin walks you through a random collection of teleportation platforms(doors that teleport you to another room. These rooms are 20x20 and all have doors that appear to be pitch black as if devoid of all light). For what seems like an hour you are randomly walking through different doors with no apparent pattern. Eventually you arrive in a 20x20 room with no decor, and is completely barren except a spellplague portal that seems to be in a constant state of flow. It doesn't seem to wriggle and writhe as the unstable portals do.
Stepping through the spell plague portal our Heroes discover a lizard camp. After patience and socializing a bit the party met Kriip....I am Kriip. The Chieftain of this small colony. I wish I could offer you more, but times are rough. It was around 5 years ago that a group of adventurers came through, and we had a small amount of peace between us and the humans of the area. Us and Seawell became friends. We had a similar feast prepared for them. You are treated to a cooked alligator meal with baked fruits. They explain how they were friends of the lighthouse family, and were made furious that they were so evily perished for profit. The explain how they once were a thriving colony of lizardfolk, but a cambion mage came and stole their tribal council staff. The staff was powerful in his hands, but they used it to unite all the tribes, and function as a society.The cambion used the staff to complete a ritual to give himself eternal life and announced himself The Demilich Acererak. They want the Pcs to find his tomb here in the Kannej Swamp, and find the staff as it will bring peace to man and lizard alike. Promising both societies can benefit from this society reforming and growing. It has been so long, and so much awfulness has followed. Without the staff we have not been able to reunite our lizardfolk colony, and some still attack the commoners and tradesman of Seawell. So once again they wanna have nothing to do with us. Acerak has gained in power, and now a group of followers has made a colony called Skull City outside of his tomb. It is run by 3 vampires as far as we can tell calling themselves the Dim Triad. The rest of the city is filled with assorted necromancers and blackguards devoted to Acerak. I ask you to find our tribal staff, and ask if you could please help us?

The group listens to Kriip and decides to head to this Tomb.Skull City and the TOMB OF HORRORS are located in the middle of the Vast Swamp, which is exactly what it sounds like. Vast Swamp they have arrived at the outside of Skull City is built around the Black Academy, a school for necromancers. It's full of undead and aspiring necromancers, as well as various sympathetic monsters and unscrupulous merchants (even necromancers gotta eat).

INTO THE SWAMP
Skull City and the TOMB OF HORRORS are located in the middle of the Vast Swamp, which is exactly what it sounds like. It's full of swamp-appropriate random encounters, and one extremely nonrandom encounter. You see, throughout their trip, they are eventually noticed by the unfortunately named Dim Triad, the personal servants of Mistress Ferranifer, the master of Skull City. These three vampires Harow, Apoch, Blaesing carry with them scrolls of sunward and some of their coffin soil. The vampires notice the PCs and night and send Blaesing down in gaseous form while the other two return to the city. Blaesing preferentially targets priests, or anyone wearing or possessing holy regalia. He tries to gaseous cloud a PC in a tent and then will sneak and attempt to coup de grace; basically silently killing any PC in their sleep without alerting anyone . If he silently kills three PCs he will flee in gaseous form. If discovered, he hits automatically, draining two levels and doing damage, then flees in gaseous form. The next night all three vampires do the same. This is by no means the last time a PC can be killed simply by not doing something it would not necessarily occur to them to do. Anyways, if the PCs made it through the vast, swampy Vast Swamp they have arrived at the outside of John Blanche's reject bin Skull city! . Skull City is built around the Black Academy, a school for necromancers. It's full of undead and aspiring necromancers, as well as various sympathetic monsters and unscrupulous merchants (even necromancers gotta eat).the Dark Intrusion makes undead and necromancers a bit stronger in this area than they would be elsewhere. This makes encounters that would be balanced a bit more difficult than they might seem, and already-difficult encounters unfair. Is it TOMB OF HORRORS unfair? Well, no, but close.

The effects are:
-necromancy spells are cast as +1 caster level
-All undead are turned as if one category higher on the turn undead table.
-Spells of the "necromancy" school are all empowered
-Anything rat-sized or larger that dies in or near the city has a 20% chance to spontaneously zombify within 24 hours

They arrive after some summoned steeds and aerial tracking. They come upon Skull City and see a town of sorts before them. They decide to wait for daytime, and travel around to the backside of the mountain where the skull city wall has not yet been built around the mountain. They find a ledge that has some caved in and hidden tunnels behind.

They are now in Tomb of Horrors. Every trap possible lies before them. They have valiantly entered D&D's toughest module ever, and have uncovered traps of wit, cunning, and simply just traps of horrible intents. Hazards hidden by illusions. Illusions prodding the PCs into making bad decisions. Items seemingly of extreme greatness just to test the resolve of the group into not making the normal decision of treasure hunting and hoarding. Our group without a dedicated rogue continued into this tomb, and did absolutely amazing, but in the end the tomb has taken it's shots. The pendulum hallway setup by illusion magic of a party running away down the hallway was a hazard that emptied into a lava pit. The false lich Acererak was killed - creating an illusion of the tomb caving in, our powerful adventurers left the only way they knew how as the demons forbid any travel via transmutation magic (teleport, blink, passwall, etc...) and entered the teleportation portal that sent all organic matter to the front of the dungeon, and all unorganic matter to an unknown place. The party was left naked and itemless outside the entrance to the tomb on the cliff face, and yet our brave PCs delved back into Acereak's creation. There were gases of fear, confusion, and sleep. Tapestries of green slime. Juggernauts, greater mummies, and Efreeti's oh my!!

They resisted the Gem of Cursed Wishing at first, but with horrible timing they discovered the false tomb. The anti magic room was simply a horrible ruse. The broken staff in the sarcophagus resembled the tribal staff of kriip, and his lizardfolk; but in reality Acererak had broken a staff of the magi in this anti magic area. The group dragged the smoking urn outside of the room. The cleric Broomhilde whom had previously been sex changed from a gaseous doorway trap; had done such a phenomenal job of getting the group through this horrid place took the staff from the crypt. Ferus had been deciding how to use his wish. All at once he used his wish activating the gem of cursed wishing, It summoned a spiked chain of wail of the banshee killing Ferus. The broken staff activates after leaving the anti magic room, and completes the process of what happens when a staff of the magi is broken. Broomhilde is instantly transported to another plane, and the Gem of cursed wishing erupts into an area of hellfire destroying the urn holding the Efreeti leaving a purple bubbling blob the just continues to hideously laugh. The Efreeti enlarged itself and then polymorphed into a war troll. The party was on the run as two PCs were seemingly dead. The Efreeti simply left as escape was its ultimate goal......lucky for our PCs. As no one wants to fight an enlarged efreeti war troll in a wall of fire. Our group pulled back into the columned throne chamber to assess their options.
Broomhilde was lucky and went to a plane with good outsiders that outfitted her, and plane shifted her back to her party in the tomb. They heard her stories, and recognized the greatness of her quest.

Unfortunately Ferus was killed from the Gem of Cursed Wishing. The group through thorough searching found a secret door. Broomhilde continued her role of trap finder eventually found the trap that everyone wanted to avoid; and did not. This trap crushed her, leaving the group to hear her body squished from the crushing of stone against stone; leaving her blood oozing from the cracks and dripping down the walls. The raised stone area revealed a new door, and the two remaining PCs peeked behind this door. It revealed a shrine with treasure, bone dust, and a gem encrusted skull......our brave remaining PCs decided to retreat a bit to consider their options. Our 2 remaining soldiers decided to search other areas of the Tomb. They were able to clear out the remainder of the dungeon, and regroup with more party members.

They then decided to head to the crypt and see if this was where Acererak lay hidden all this time. They moved in cautiously, but things became bad fast. The treasure was searched and the ghost manifested before their eyes. The skull began casting Blasphemy. But through some quick actions, and good spell prep they were able to beat down the construct pretty fairly and seemingly beat Acererak and his Tomb of Horrors.

The construct lich is dead, and before you is a dais with crushed bones. immediately before the dais lies a pile of gems, coins, vials, scrolls, and other items including a staff that resembles The staff from Kriip's description(The Lizardfolk Tribal Staff - staff of leadership). (If the PCs step past the treasure pile to investigate the dais there is an invisible spellplague portal. It is invisible layered with non - detection. Stepping through brings them to the shadow demi plane they are all to familiar with at this point)

After stepping through the spellplague portal you feel as though you are being pulled to another location, but can still see the surroundings of this Tomb of Horrors, and eventually Skull City. As you are being pulled through Skull City. There is alot of commotion. You see explosions, and undead of all kind running towards the chaos. After a little bit there is a small party that seemingly is clinging to the shadows. They are creeping through alleyways, and avoiding being discovered at all costs. As they make their way eventually they make it to the gate of the city, and outside the wall. Once they are seemingly at a safe distance one of the cloaked figures reaches into his pocket, and pulls out a small crystal shard that resembles the others that are forming The Heart of Air artifact. The figure looks back at the city smiles and adds this one to a bag with 2 other similar crystal shard peices. He speaks...."Demogorgon I am half way there. I will get you all of your keys as you have requested. There is one more still in the Stone heart Mountain Dungeon. The other two will be found soon I promise. Your plan is working perfectly. I am your silent chaotic tool. Orcus will never see us coming......his face snarls in a fashion resembling confidence and success."

CONCLUSION

The portal brings the PCs back to Tomb of Abysthor. Level 2 room 12. In the corner of the room is a extremely beautiful, and disshevelled female drow. This chamber is lavishly decorated with torn and stained silks and satins, velvet curtains and pillows that were once soft and luxurious, it is cold even though there is a bronze brazier which is unlit, a divian and a large bed, a wardrobe full of once sumptuous robes of various silken textures and rich furs that are now aged and unkept, and a very large full-length silver mirror with cracks and water stains on it. From the brazier, there is no trail of pleasureable aromas, giving the whole room a very decayed and forgotten feel. Above the bed, the canopy is hung with a gossamer resembling a spider’s web. There is a small golden idol of the demon spider goddess that is knocked off the table and lying in a corner with cob webs as if long forgotten. The drow is muttering words....."My mistress why do you not respond to me. Why do you not embrace me with your long legs, and feed me the power I need to honor your call. Irae must pay! She and Kiransalee joined with orcus to imprison my beloved Lloth. Sneaky Orcus has joined with that undead bitch Kiransalee, and the dog faced demon Yeenoghu. They must all die, and my mistress must be returned to power. Orcus must not keep imprisoning Demon Lords...he has Lloth and Baphomet in his demi plane prison; locked away from all their followers. If he imprisons demogorgon and Jubilex his power will be close to unstoppable.......WAIT!!....she starts sniffing the air...(sniff)...(sniff)...(sniff)I smell top worlders.....I HATE YOU!!! This is your fault I can not feel my mistresses loving embrace. I pray, and pray but she does not respond as if she has abandoned us. I WILL KILL YOU!!This will return my mistress to me, and we will be great again......DIE SURFACE CRAWLERS!!!!!! DIIIIIIEEEEE!!!!!

(Natasha can't cast any clerical spells as Lloth is imprisoned and followers of Lloth can not regain any of their divine spells)

hikite
2016-10-27, 05:29 PM
Return to Tomb of Abysthor

After completing Tomb of Horrors the PCs get whisked back through the Spellplague to the conclusion of the amazing dungeon crawl I led them away from a few modules back. I did this because I felt at seventh level the module fell in the unbeatable category. I could have modified it to meet the level better; but I felt the conclusion segment was so amazing the way it was that I thought leaving and coming back would be better. Besides when you have spellplague portals that whisk you through time and space why not use it to your advantage.


Two years later a spellplague portal brings our adventurers back here to Dark Natasha's room....

DARK NATASHA
Story -
Dark Natasha was removed from power in Maerimydra. Irae T'Sarran removed her from power and is now making Kiaransalee the favored Deity of this city; and banished her. She crossed the void bridge between Faerun and the Scarred Lands to find a home in the Stoneheart Mountain Dungeon on Level 2. Here she is trying to regain favor with Lloth by gaining control of these dungeons. This involves her defeating Balcoth, and The Temple of Orcus. She will have to align with The Temple of Tsathogga, but as she is with the spider queen this is not a terrible alliance. She knows of the black monolith, and wants its power to regain her leadership of Maerimydra (If Natasha gained the power of The Black Monolith for Lloth she would become Lloth's favorite; as Lloth and Demogorgon could open the gate and allow their armies to invade instead of orcus'). She wants to eliminate all temples in these Dungeons to create a Temple to Lloth. Kiaransalee has taken over Maerimydra and joined with Orcus. She wants to empower Lloth so they can show strength and join with Demogorgon and his quest to overthrow Orcus; and wage war on Heavens and Earth.

She casts illusory wall in the back of whatever room she fights PCs. She has alarms up so she has time to prepare. She will be 100% buffed. She has studied PCs and know who is who. She only uses Polymorph potion in dire need, and if she does she turns her and her familiar to Wasteland Troll. She will fight to her death because anothe failure would put her beyond Lloth's redemption in her opinion. After Tomb of Horrors -
around two years difference from the diaries discovered previously by the party, and that Orcus' armies are now in control of the Dungeon; and Ghelspad including the void bridge. Upon entering the Tomb of Abysthor the PCs are revisited by any visions they received of Abysthor searching for The Black Monolith


The portal brings the PCs back to Tomb of Abysthor. Level 2 room 12. In the corner of the room is a extremely beautiful, and disshevelled female drow. This chamber is lavishly decorated with torn and stained silks and satins, velvet curtains and pillows that were once soft and luxurious, it is cold even though there is a bronze brazier which is unlit, a divian and a large bed, a wardrobe full of once sumptuous robes of various silken textures and rich furs that are now aged and unkept, and a very large full-length silver mirror with cracks and water stains on it. From the brazier, there is no trail of pleasureable aromas, giving the whole room a very decayed and forgotten feel. Above the bed, the canopy is hung with a gossamer resembling a spider’s web. There is a small golden idol of the demon spider goddess that is knocked off the table and lying in a corner with cob webs as if long forgotten. The drow is muttering words....."My mistress why do you not respond to me. Why do you not embrace me with your long legs, and feed me the power I need to honor your call. Irae must pay! She and Kiransalee joined with orcus to imprison my beloved Lloth. Sneaky Orcus has joined with that undead bitch Kiransalee, and the dog faced demon Yeenoghu. They must all die, and my mistress must be returned to power. Orcus must not keep imprisoning Demon Lords...he has Lloth and Baphomet in his demi plane prison; locked away from all their followers. If he imprisons demogorgon and Jubilex his power will be close to unstoppable.......WAIT!!....she starts sniffing the air...(sniff)...(sniff)...(sniff)I smell top worlders.....I HATE YOU!!! This is your fault I can not feel my mistresses loving embrace. I pray, and pray but she does not respond as if she has abandoned us. I WILL KILL YOU!!This will return my mistress to me, and we will be great again......DIE SURFACE CRAWLERS!!!!!! DIIIIIIEEEEE!!!!!

Without her Divine magic and the aid of not being prepared she was easily dispatched by the group. In the process of deciding their next actions they cleared out some undiscovered areas on this level. they found the four forgotten warriors....

Sir Enryn - Was a famous Justicar for Muir. From the time of the great reign during the period of the Third High Lord. He felled many evil foes in his quests to Muir and her church. His last quest recorded was to free the imprisoned village of Barovia from Count Strahd Von Zarovich. He died in service to his patron Muir.

Lady Suse - Was a famous Justicar for Muir. From the time after the corruption and downfall. She served faithfully in the roughest times...in an attempt to bring evil down and fell one of Ortcus's most evil allies. She traveled to the Realm of Kalamaar. Where she planned to adventure into the Kannej Swamp and seek the Tomb of Horrors and Kill The Demilich Acerak. Her lifeless body was returned to the doorsteps of the Temple of Muir. Abysthor brought her body here for proper burial.

Ecin Macey - Was a female priestess of Thyr. She and her Paladin of Thyr were charged to cross the breech and enter Faerun. There they were to venture into the Underdark and stop Irae T'sarren and her evil plans. As they both dies none were ever told the exact plans as it was a vision given to Ecin from Thyr, and this evil was tied into some more evil plans.

Jamon Goodwe - Was the Paladin and friend to Ecin. He died honorably by her side trying to help her stop Irae as he believed Ecin's visions were always truthful.

*all bodies were returned from holy power as these warriors were the stuff of legend, and their deities wanted them buried properly.

in their explorations they also found the lost and hidden tomb of alaric. In typical Thyr and Muir fashion these tombs are prtected by illusory walls, and forbiddance spells. In this tomb they found...

ALARIC'S TOMB
The Honor Guard - 16 warriors and priests chosen to escort Alaric and His Helltooth Brigade to their final resting place. This honor charged them with burial, protection, and upkeep. Their reward was in death to be buried in this sacred place. Their names are......

Sir Kenwiu
Bladewright Hwalda
Sir Warda
Lady Ceolwy
The Justified Vyncis Windson
Aeger
Abulf
Helre
Priestess Joane
Marger
Honorable Brytha
Lady Abell Hane
Sybel
Gythuie
Jane
Engeuall

The eight warriors of The Helltooth Brigade were....

The Demon Claw Rewis Nesor
Sir Narder
The Honorable Avenger Cyne
High Priest Anchelm
Lady Aelurg
Priestess Brithuie
The Honored Kater
The Seperator Lene Haucey

(If PCs find the stone and chalice it releases a vision of Abysthor walking)

You see a human hand holding a lit torch, and get the instant feeling you have joined with a memory of Abysthor himself. He casts three spells from scrolls, potions, and items. (PC can make spellcraft check to recognize them as Anti Magic Field on a rock, Overland Flight, Undetectable Alignment). He then walks through the Burial Halls, and past the Font of Bones with no skeletons spawning. He walks down the corridor to the left with the red glow at the end of the hallway. He throws the rock in a corner. Puts out his torch and casts 2 more spells. (PC can spellcraft for ethereal, and invisibility). He then ethereally flies through the red glowing door, and goes down to what appears to be Level 4. Abysthor heads through some hallways and rooms until he is in a large/medium sized worked stone room. He puts himself in one corner nose facing the wall and walks stright in that direction for 20 seconds until he appears in a Grand Temple (PC can make a religion check to recognize as a Temple Of Orcus). There is a crevasse that he Flies down into. It goes down close to 200' before he starts flying west til he comes across some water. He crosses the water to the west and sees some more water to cross to the north and does so, and follows the wall he runs into on the right side of the water. This wall is followed about 50' until he sees a small tunnel going right. This opens into a tiny cave. Abysthor wals straight into the wall until it appears that he walks straight through. You see him walk a little further until a small cavern appears, and the vision stops.



After adventuring forward they found a cave of stirges. After walking through these twisted stirge infested caverns they see a small 2 foot diameter hole at the back side of these caves. Stirge and bats still swarm everywhere in abundance. A buzzing sound emanates from the hole.(the party senses demonic level evil from the hole. There is a constant buzzing sound emanating from the entire cavern as you step inside you see the whole thing is covered in shadowy illumination but underneath you see molten lava, and the darkness stops at a point one foot below the opening. You step inside and the buzzing becomes louder. Your feet can plant solidly on the ground as if a barrier of force exists. You feel no heat from the lava just 10' below but the room is very hot.

(The force wall extends down the middle of the room all the way across. 20' on either side at the edges of the cavern have no force wall, and the heat escapes and fills the room. As The PCs get 10' from the edge they will take 5 points of fire damage, and if they continue they will make a Refles save DC 16 or fall into the lava. Knowing the PCs are coming The Stirge Demon puts Darkness up in the entire room; but stops it at the point where the force wall would be (gets it close enough to where a Perception of 28 would notice...stirge demon has a stealth of 9) He hides on the far side of the room by the ceiling where it waits for PCs to get close and initiate his sleep drone effect. He then summons stirges and demons. After stirges and demons are summoned he waits to see who is asleep or awake, and the stirges demons attack the awake people. while he goes and attacks the sleeping and after all sleepers are dead or ran away it attacks the living and awake.)

Telepathically you hear in a hissing speech....oh what is this? I can smell your blood. It smells so delightful, and you willingly come here and bring it to me!!! HaHaHa I will dine wonderfully tonight. I might even share some with my babies....Come to me, come so I might feast on such delectable treats......mmmmmmmm your blood smells divne!!!!

One disintegrate spell from Vesuvius and this powerful demon was no more. The group decided they were powerful enough to challenge the final encounters of this dungeon, and followed the vision from Alaric and sought out Abysthor on Level 5.

TOMB OF ABYSTHOR LEVEL 5

The group carefully investigates this level, and in doing so not only discovered the small cave with an different and more powerful illusory wall. Everyone was able to resist the effects of the Earth Blood and proceed past the illusory wall. The only victim was the Bison companion to Ohoate the druid.
Before proceeding to level 5A they looked around seeing A lake of underground filth that had a Temple of Tsathogga on the other side. The worshippers of Tsathogga is a frog race called Tsathar, and alot of poisonous frogs.

They felt that following the visions of Alaric were more important than exploring the evil temple. So Ohoate kissed Bo goodye, and they went on to find Abysthor and the Black Monolith.


SIDE ROOM AND HIDDEN STAIRS - if the saving throw is saved you can not pass as the wall is real not an illusion

Reasons for allowing a Disbelief Save.
(If you get 2 peices it gives a +5 to PCs saves and each one gives a resave)

-Balcoth gives info on by passing this wall (DC 15) as he gives the exact details of the spell.

-Augry/Divination (PCs or Karith) (DC 20)

-Korashaag's Journal (DC 20)

-Talking with Flail (DC 20)

-Abysthor's Note (Priestess Nimrie's sarcophagus 8A in burial Halls) (DC 20)

-Alaric's Tomb (DC 15)

TOMB OF ABYSTHOR LEVEL 5A

They encountered Tsathar Priests, brown molds, Stone Guardians, and A Gynosphinx. But most of the level was different from the point of creation. Perfectly smooth walls. The sand on the floor was not course but almost perfectly formed orbs of glass. Glowing red veins of rock lived everywhere in these walls. All transmutation magic ceased to work from the supernatural effects of the earth blood in these walls.
Our heroes decided to explore this area to discover a cave chamber littered with illusion, glyphs of warding, and symbols. Seeing the Symbol of death they decided to explore more of this level. There was a great mithral seal protected by strong abjuration magic. No way to open the seal seemed possible with their current resources; so they decided to explore more of the dungeon.

Visouvious was enjoying his new found polymorph powers now seemed to enjoy leading the party through the tunnels. He suddenly disappeared, and the remaining PCs decided to move after him. They had a found an invisible teleportation circle with a non detection spell made permanent. The teleporter brought them to a maze. They found a shimmering mirror that glowed a bright blue. They explored all the maze, and mapped out it's outer tunnels. Finding the Gynosphinx, and the mirror. Pandora, the gynosphinx asked three riddles; which were all answered by the group. Pandora explained about Earth Blood, The Black Monolith, and Abysthors quest...

That Abysthor wanted to destroy the Black Monolith, if level sacrifices were made with good intentions it would destroy the monolith; but bad intentions would open a gate to The Abyss in Orcus' Temple where he would mass his undead armies to rain undead armies on the prime material plane. That the vials were the only containers that can hold earth blood. That it destroyed anything else. That Earth Blood is how you bypass the teleporter, and gain access to the Black Monolth.

Our PCs explored the rest of this level before finally getting The Earth Blood, and finding The Black Monolith. Abysthor's Tomb was guarded by an illusory wall, a symbol of death, and many, many glyphs of warding. Inside the empty sarcophagus they found an invisible note and key. The key lowered the magic on the mithral seal .The chamber of Earth Blood was protected by a series of gates that resembled the different colors and effects of a prismatic wall. Malice was so amazed from the earth blood that his dwarven senses went into overdrive, and he dipped a vial into the pool. The earth blood is so overwhelmingly magical , and Malice couldn't resist its effects. Death came to him. The group dragged his body through the caves, and into the black monolith where They found a very old Abysthor locked inside.

CONCLUSION -

Abysthor explains how you are stuck here, and while destroying this monolith will keep Orcus from being able to open a Gate at will it doesn't by any means stop his higher goals. With this gate he will send his undead armies through to the prime material plane. He has gained the corrupted genius of a demi lich known as Acererak to gain control of these evil portals from the distant future. With both of these gates opened it would be a matter of weeks before Faerun, and all realms were over run and controlled by Orcus and the undead legions. He is once again working with Acererak who is trying to create the dark intrusion which is another evil tool to strengthen his armies. Unfortunately the only way out of this monolith is to enter a demi plane that has been constructed by Orcus, and is controlled by dread lords of this plane known as Ravenloft. It is unique in all ways, and nothing is easy. Magic all acts differently, and some has horrible side effects. I need each of you to sacrifice one non - evil life level. I will sacrifice 20, and with my dying moments will use the dying power of this monolith to open a door to Ravenloft. The only way to leave Ravenloft is if the dread lord of that region allows you to do so or he is dead. I realize this is unfair, but it is the only solution I have ever found. Do you accept this challenge or do you spend eternity in this monolith. Eventually Korshaag, Lokaug, Balcoth, or the temples from Rappan Athuk will find us; and with no way to replenish our spells we will be overcome. But I will respect and honor whatever your decision is as it is yours to make.

If the party accepts - then the ritual is done, and outside this temporal pocket the black monolith is destroyed. With Abysthor's dying moments he opens the magical doorway as he promised, and gives the party a crystal shard that resembles the three shards that Sean has collected already. He explains that the shard is of grave importance, and you must discover what it does and protect it at all costs. It's overall importance is of something epically great.The crystal shard and the newly appeared doorway are all that remain as Abysthor seems to fade away into the fabrics of reality. (each PC gains a unnamed bonus of +2 to their primary stat)

After walking through the portal you are in a rainy, cloud covered area that has frozen water drops scattered on the ground. You can see your breath as you exhale. It is not snowing, but it is very cold. You see smoke pluming above the tree line no more than 20 minutes walk from where you are.

IF PCs DON'T SACRAFICE LEVELS

They will age 50 years, and Korshaag will send 3 waves of demons (1,2,3 over ECL)followed by a strategic fight that will be Balcoth, Korshag and all his clergy. (add some Rappan Athuk clerics/Orcus named followers if PCs are too powerful don't go more than 6 levels over ECL) The evil clerics will sacrifice themsleves to lose the 24 - 25 life levels, and turn the portal into the gate to the abyss to allow Orcus' armies to march forth from the Stoneheart Dumgeons. (put the crystal somewhere else in module as the evil cleric Korshaag takes control of it - somewhere appropriate). If the PCs get out of this fight find another way to Ravenloft or start PCs off going to Ravenloft.