Asbestos
2008-10-28, 12:26 AM
Exactly what the title says, I'm trying to make a one-off, or possibly larger, adventure in honor of the season.
What I've got so far:
Starting Character level 2; personal choice, feel like its the best starting point for this because of the monsters that make up the low-mid heroic tier.
For reason X the PCs are hunting down some bandits (random level 2 humanoids, human rabble minions, maybe some wolves aka attack dogs) whom they eventually encounter at a cave that's serving as their current lair. If its day, fine, if they go at night the moon is full. The PCs then have reason Y for entering the cave. Its... a very deep/long cave, like way more than expected. I don't think that there should be any encounters here, afterall the bandits were dealing with it just fine, this is really just a place to fluff up the creepiness. At some point they either get the goods they were after or discover they're lost (dungeoneering check?) and should double back.
As they make their way back the cave gets much more menacing. The bats on the wall seem to be larger than they were before, the cave bugs more numerous and creepy looking. I'm thinking at some point they either have a combat encounter here, or perhaps even better they get hit by a massive swarm of bats. This massive swarm of bats exiting the cave is non-combative, its just a bunch of bats. The bats don't harm the PCs they just swarm past them for a damn long while. PCs that duck down/get knocked down (some sort of check) to avoid the swarm get a face full of cave floor bugs. It isn't harmful but is damn uncomfortable. The last batch of bats, if the PCs care to notice, are real big (shadowhunter bats) but likewise do not initiate combat.
Upon exiting the cave it is either now night with a full moon (if it was day) or its a moonless night (if it were a full moon when they went in.) The PCs notice that the bodies of the bandits/dogs aren't there and are soon jumped by their zombie counterparts. This would probably be a level 3 or 4 encounter, the PCs still being level 2 of course.
Not sure how to continue this. But I want to be throwing everything from ghosts, to ettercaps, to flying zombies at them and to have them be as freaky as all those things should be. In case it isn't obvious I want it to be that the PCs stumbled through a portal into the Shadowfell and are now in an alternate horror reality. I want it to be a kind of combo of the Mirror Universe (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MirrorUniverse) and Dark World (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DarkWorld). The goals of the PCs are to survive and, if they do that, make it back to their world. Its horror, the only 'treasure' is making it out alive.
So, some fluff suggestions would be great (have Heroes of Horrors btw), suggestions for how to continue this, other 'horror' encounters, etc. Also, suggestions for X and Y.
What I've got so far:
Starting Character level 2; personal choice, feel like its the best starting point for this because of the monsters that make up the low-mid heroic tier.
For reason X the PCs are hunting down some bandits (random level 2 humanoids, human rabble minions, maybe some wolves aka attack dogs) whom they eventually encounter at a cave that's serving as their current lair. If its day, fine, if they go at night the moon is full. The PCs then have reason Y for entering the cave. Its... a very deep/long cave, like way more than expected. I don't think that there should be any encounters here, afterall the bandits were dealing with it just fine, this is really just a place to fluff up the creepiness. At some point they either get the goods they were after or discover they're lost (dungeoneering check?) and should double back.
As they make their way back the cave gets much more menacing. The bats on the wall seem to be larger than they were before, the cave bugs more numerous and creepy looking. I'm thinking at some point they either have a combat encounter here, or perhaps even better they get hit by a massive swarm of bats. This massive swarm of bats exiting the cave is non-combative, its just a bunch of bats. The bats don't harm the PCs they just swarm past them for a damn long while. PCs that duck down/get knocked down (some sort of check) to avoid the swarm get a face full of cave floor bugs. It isn't harmful but is damn uncomfortable. The last batch of bats, if the PCs care to notice, are real big (shadowhunter bats) but likewise do not initiate combat.
Upon exiting the cave it is either now night with a full moon (if it was day) or its a moonless night (if it were a full moon when they went in.) The PCs notice that the bodies of the bandits/dogs aren't there and are soon jumped by their zombie counterparts. This would probably be a level 3 or 4 encounter, the PCs still being level 2 of course.
Not sure how to continue this. But I want to be throwing everything from ghosts, to ettercaps, to flying zombies at them and to have them be as freaky as all those things should be. In case it isn't obvious I want it to be that the PCs stumbled through a portal into the Shadowfell and are now in an alternate horror reality. I want it to be a kind of combo of the Mirror Universe (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MirrorUniverse) and Dark World (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DarkWorld). The goals of the PCs are to survive and, if they do that, make it back to their world. Its horror, the only 'treasure' is making it out alive.
So, some fluff suggestions would be great (have Heroes of Horrors btw), suggestions for how to continue this, other 'horror' encounters, etc. Also, suggestions for X and Y.