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View Full Version : Idea Help: A low-level good dungeon? [3.5]



Piedmon_Sama
2008-11-20, 02:53 PM
The overlong backstory

So, just for some contrast I took a break from my usual style and have been running a story-light, dungeoncrawling campaign. Also since (I thought) it wouldn't make much difference, the party is of evil/neutral alignment. Starting the characters at third level, I gave them their first job: people from the towns around an old abandoned Dwarf burgh are disappearing, go to the (supposedly haunted) burgh and check it out. Having crushed a gang of orcs, pirates and ghouls (in that order) the PCs proceeded to loot the Dwarven tombs, steadily carrying their hauls back to town.

On a raid to the very last level of the Dungeon, I had them face a band of Celestial Dwarf Warriors who had crossed to the material plane to stop the desecration of their ancestral halls. Should have been enjoyable, since I hate (stereotypical faux-Scotch accented) dwarves, but unfortunately the PCs had a turn of bad luck. With only two dwarves left standing, every one of the PCs was brought down (except for the Warlock, who nobly chose to throw down her weapon and tearfully beg for mercy rather than abandon her downed comrades with a 'noble' death).

Well, I didn't want the campaign to end there so I winged it and said that instead of finishing them off, the Dwarves actually staunched their wounds and tied them up, then led them back to one of their fortresses in Celestia. (I know nothing about D&D planology, I just looked it up and saw 'Celestia' was the place for things Lawful and Good). So right now the PCs are sitting together in an anti-magic jail-cell with a bored Dwarf guard playing solitaire across the hall.

Now the goal will be for the PCs to escape this fortress, starting from its gaol and slipping out before some serious opponents show up. What I need are encounter ideas--something more interesting than endless waves of dwarf guards, although there will be those (armed with sleep crossbow bolts, truncheons and mancatchers; thanks, BoED.) The problem is, of course, most good monsters are way out of a low-level party's league. All I've got so far are Dwarf guards, small Earth Elementals, Lantern Archons, and a solitary Hound Archon as possible appropriate encounters.

Another thing I need is a means for them to escape Celestia. Some kind of permanent portal to the Material Plane should exist within the fortress, but ideally it would be sabatogable so the PCs don't have to deal with a Dwarf horde chasing them. I also need some way to make the fortress easily navigable--the longer the PCs spend bumping around halls, the less believably I can have them avoid something too powerful. An idea I was entertaining was having the Warlock's patron (a Horned Devil named Mastigustus the Ever-Hungry) send the PCs a rescue, briefly creating a portal and directing them to it with a sign, but in the end it seems like too much effort and risk to even briefly invade Celestia on behalf of a (very) lowly servant.

Any thoughts or suggestions to make this work better would be appreciated, T-I-A.

The Party

-Guyseric, LE Human Knight 4 (party leader; by far the most consistent damage dealer/best tank, but somehow ends every fight bleeding on the ground).
-Aelfred, TN Half-Elf Hexblade 4 (performs impressively given his sucky AC; ridiculously conservative in saving his Curse/potions/wands).
-Shao-Lung, LE Human Sorcerer 1/Swordsage 3 (also way too conservative to actually use his spells. Has underperformed due to poor rolls, now usually just stays in the back with a Wand of Magic Missile).
-Shulhug, NE Orc Rogue 3/Fighter 1 (the team's extremely under-appreciated flanker, blew a small fortune on sleep arrows before realizing their low DC makes them worthless).
-Tostig, NE Human Cleric of Nerull 2/Wizard (Necromancer) 2 (this is the Warlock's player; he decided "she wasn't working out" so Amarascha the Tiefling Warlock 3 is an NPC attached to the group at the moment.)

kamikasei
2008-11-21, 03:50 AM
You could try giving them a portal to a planar metropolis like Sigil or the City of Brass, or to somewhere like an abandoned monastery in the Astral Plane; somewhere that they can immediately turn around and find another portal to take them elsewhere again so that the dwarves have no trail to follow. Say: when they escape their cells they can take the thing that generates the AMF, go through the portal, "arm" the AMF and chuck it back through to disrupt the portal for a few hours/days, and then you've got a ticking clock driving them to complete a quest to get someone else to send them where they want to go.

Bouregard
2008-11-21, 04:34 AM
Trysome watchdogs as enemys, or in case of dwarfs some more dwarven style animal.
Maybe those dwarfs release some of their co-criminals with the option that if they capture the party their sentences would be lowered. This would allow you to bring in Goblins and whatnot.
some of hose maybe could decide to fight the dwarven. A few NPC vs. NPC fights would be a good thing to check the partys sneak skills, or let the party influence the outcome of a highlevelfight. Such NPCbattles would allow you to send highlevel good NPCs vs. High lvl bad NPC's

Biffoniacus_Furiou
2008-11-21, 04:44 AM
Tucker's Kobolds (http://www.tuckerskobolds.com/)?

Triaxx
2008-11-21, 07:07 AM
Nerull could be a more effective way out than the demon. Being deific, he could viably open a portal and pull them out, without being in too much trouble. Have the cleric send up a prayer, then 'Nerull' answers it and explains that if they can reach a specific destination, he'll open the portal and get them out. Send them up a tower. That way you can fit those encounters, and end with a Hound Archon on the top of the tower. Just before they reach it, Nerull warns them of the Hound, then informs them that when it dies, the portal will open for them.

kjones
2008-11-21, 08:50 AM
Tucker's Kobolds (http://www.tuckerskobolds.com/)?

I love them as much as the next guy, but did you even read the parent post? I don't think they'd really fit in here...

hewhosaysfish
2008-11-21, 08:58 AM
The problem is, of course, most good monsters are way out of a low-level party's league. All I've got so far are Dwarf guards, small Earth Elementals, Lantern Archons, and a solitary Hound Archon as possible appropriate encounters.


Use various different classes on the Dwarves, as well as different combinations of classes within a group of Dwarves, to mix it up a little. Varying the location and situation could also work: One room where a bunch of off-duy guards are sitting around playing poker (for matchstick, being that this is Celestia) and can be taken by surprise if rushed; a gate or other chokepoint where the guards are alert and it may be best find another way around rather than risk getting bogged down in a fight when reinforcements may be close at hand; a courtyard where crossbowmendwarves rain quarrels on them with impunity until they can reach the stairs at the other side; a couple of bored guards preventing anyone from entering the master-wizards chambers - be careful not to make so much noise that you disturb his studies or he'll be cross!
A few set-pieces coud certainly spice it up.
It doesn't have to be all Dwarves though. They could have a few trained celestial animals on hand. The obvious things like dogs, birds of prey, ponies (not so useful inside the fortress but when the players get out they could be pursued by Dwarven dragoons) and maybe a few not-so-obvious things like lions or bears if you can think of a suitable excuse for the Dwarves to keep them around.
The Dwarves could also be allied with other celestial humanoids. A contingent of celestial gnomes in the fortress, for example, could allow you to throw in a little more diversity.



Another thing I need is a means for them to escape Celestia. Some kind of permanent portal to the Material Plane should exist within the fortress, but ideally it would be sabatogable so the PCs don't have to deal with a Dwarf horde chasing them.

There may be a portal inside the fortress but does that have to be the means the players use to escape? If the portal is too heavily guarded by the Dwarves (as it may be if they discover their prisoners have escaped) then they be flee the fortress and head for the hills, dodging patrols sent out to find them, learn the location of another way to another plane (not necessarily the Material Plane but certainly on better for their health than Celestia), sneak into a town disguise as decent, upstanding folk and try to blag their way through the portal.
If the portal leads to a place with a strong central authority (e.g. a planar metropolis or anywhere on one of the more Lawful planes) the Dwarves may feel unable to pursue because it's outside of their jurisdiction or because they don't want to antagonise the local (sure, storming Avernus is fine in principle but do you want to try it with only 20 mendwarves?) Alternatively, they may just lose the trail (assume the PCs use suitable cunning).

If the PCs don't have anything back on the Material Plane that they urgently need to save the world from, then you could stretch this plane-hopping adventure out a little bit. If they do, you could have a portal to Material in the little village over the next hill.


I also need some way to make the fortress easily navigable--the longer the PCs spend bumping around halls, the less believably I can have them avoid something too powerful.

At the risk of making the Dwarves seem Lawful Stupid, perhaps make the layout of the fortress highly symmetrical. At the extreme this could be something like a short series of concentric rings with identical layouts of (differently pusposed) rooms at each stage - or even a grid system! Not good fortress design, really, but if your players won't think to much about it in real terms then "they're very Lawful" could be a workable excuse for such behaviour.
Alternatively, how much of the actual fortress have you described to the players? Did they see parts of it when they were brought in? Can the see the extent of it from their cell window (if their cell has windows)? If you go with my suggestions above about taking the adventure out of the fortress then you could just make the fort really quite small. A simple keep rather than a massive stronghold. Perhaps the place they are being held is specifically a prison (with a small garrison to keep the inmates in line, with guards who are more wardens than warriors) rather than the dungeon underneath a military a military installation (filled a whole army of fully trained soldiers).
The PCs can escape in (relatively) short order and flee into the surrounding countryside. That way when the PCs find themselves having to evade a large celestial army, they have a whole forest/nearby city/mountain range to hide in rather than a few corridors.


An idea I was entertaining was having the Warlock's patron (a Horned Devil named Mastigustus the Ever-Hungry) send the PCs a rescue, briefly creating a portal and directing them to it with a sign, but in the end it seems like too much effort and risk to even briefly invade Celestia on behalf of a (very) lowly servant.


Well, if devils are half as cunning and devious as they're cracked up to be, then Mastigustus would surely work through some disposable stooge who can't possibly be traced back to him.
It's certainly less risky if the expendable minions briefing is "rendezvous with the PCs at the abandoned mine 12 miles from the prison and give them the forged papers they need to reach the portal to the Outlands in the nearby town of Paladinville" rather than "infiltrate this fortress in Celestia, break half a dozen people out of the (well-guarded) jail and then break into the (well-guarded) planar portal". Of course, he still needs to get details of the rendezvous to the PCs inside the jail but that's slightly easier. For bonus points, a note should be sneaked to the warlock, a note written in blood on human skin, which explains what the PCs must do to find their contact and identify themselves to him. The note concludes with "For the purposes of ongoing secrecy, you must consume this instructions after reading." :smalleek:

In any case, this is much less effort to go through for a "lowly servant". If it still seems too much, perhaps you could drop a few hints that the Ever-Hungry has plans for the Warlock that make her more important than she realises. dun dun DUN!!!! And thus a new plot it born!
(Wait, is the Warlock player switching to a Cleric/Wizard or the Cleric/Wizard player switching to a Warlock? Because building plot-hooks around an NPC probably isn't such as a good idea after all....)

Fax Celestis
2008-11-21, 10:35 AM
Castle Whitehall (Goodman Games)? World's Largest Dungeon (AEG)? Expedition to Undermountain (WotC)?

Piedmon_Sama
2008-11-21, 01:05 PM
Use various different classes on the Dwarves, as well as different combinations of classes within a group of Dwarves, to mix it up a little. Varying the location and situation could also work: One room where a bunch of off-duty guards are sitting around playing poker (for matchstick, being that this is Celestia) and can be taken by surprise if rushed; a gate or other chokepoint where the guards are alert and it may be best find another way around rather than risk getting bogged down in a fight when reinforcements may be close at hand; a courtyard where crossbowmendwarves rain quarrels on them with impunity until they can reach the stairs at the other side; a couple of bored guards preventing anyone from entering the master-wizards chambers - be careful not to make so much noise that you disturb his studies or he'll be cross!
A few set-pieces could certainly spice it up.

It doesn't have to be all Dwarves though. They could have a few trained celestial animals on hand. The obvious things like dogs, birds of prey, ponies (not so useful inside the fortress but when the players get out they could be pursued by Dwarven dragoons) and maybe a few not-so-obvious things like lions or bears if you can think of a suitable excuse for the Dwarves to keep them around.

The Dwarves could also be allied with other celestial humanoids. A contingent of celestial gnomes in the fortress, for example, could allow you to throw in a little more diversity.

Yeah, I had thought about the courtyard/crossbow setpiece, and chokepoints would make sense (combining narrow corridors with readied longspears is certainly a sensible tactic for lowly mook NPCs). The problem is, if you use even remotely sensible tactics against low-level PCs, they’re almost certainly going to die ingloriously while trying to scramble up a stone wall or something.

An idea did just occur to me, though: why not have one of the guards offer to show the PCs a bypass, around all the chokepoints and exposed areas that would otherwise be certain death? A direct route, narrow and with natural rock left exposed, leading to the outside? The dwarf may even suggest a portal for them to escape to in exchange for his own life (which, knowing my players, the swordsage will not grant, while the hexblade and knight weakly go “oh no, stop, stop.” >_> ) Perhaps the tunnel leads out into a lightly defended quarry where the dwarves are expanding their keep/fortress; a few small earth elementals are assisting with the work and will offer resistance, while the dwarf workers (commoners all) will flee.


At the risk of making the Dwarves seem Lawful Stupid, perhaps make the layout of the fortress highly symmetrical. At the extreme this could be something like a short series of concentric rings with identical layouts of (differently purposed) rooms at each stage - or even a grid system! Not good fortress design, really, but if your players won't think to much about it in real terms then "they're very Lawful" could be a workable excuse for such behaviour.

Alternatively, how much of the actual fortress have you described to the players? Did they see parts of it when they were brought in? Can the see the extent of it from their cell window (if their cell has windows)? If you go with my suggestions above about taking the adventure out of the fortress then you could just make the fort really quite small. A simple keep rather than a massive stronghold. Perhaps the place they are being held is specifically a prison (with a small garrison to keep the inmates in line, with guards who are more wardens than warriors) rather than the dungeon underneath a military a military installation (filled a whole army of fully trained soldiers).
The PCs can escape in (relatively) short order and flee into the surrounding countryside. That way when the PCs find themselves having to evade a large celestial army, they have a whole forest/nearby city/mountain range to hide in rather than a few corridors

The Warlock was blindfolded and the others brought in unconscious, so they’ve seen nothing so far except their cell and the room around it (necessary since I had no idea what the dwarf fort should be like at the time). I do intend it to be a very small hold, however--basically a keep, carved out of a mountain bluff in monolithic style. I don’t want it to be intended as a prison, though, since that would make the prison escape much more complicated (and I had their gaoler mention specifically that they don’t have much cell-space). Now that I think about it, a watchtower is the best way to explain the fort--placed near the edge of Celestia (and mercifully distant from all the silver city and its hierarchy of angelic badasses).

Since I’ve decided to give the PCs a straight route out of the fort if they interrogate one of the guards, it’s not necessary to make the dwarf hold unrealistically easy to penetrate. OTOH, the PCs may not give the guards a chance to beg for their lives. (This is a serious possibility; the knight and hexblade are reasonable for villains, but the swordsage is essentially a shao-lin style Blood Knight (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BloodKnight) who’s so thorough he gunned down a fleeing pirate with a WoMM while the guy was drowning... and I think the orc rogue is going to kill every dwarf she can on principal.) So just in case they don’t take the easy way, I’ll adopt the idea of concentric rings. It should be obvious after moving through two hallways that they’re identical but expanding outwards. Also I’ll put that Badger Cavalry’s barracks and stables far out of the way--maybe even in a separate building entirely (who wants to room with dwarves, really?)


There may be a portal inside the fortress but does that have to be the means the players use to escape? If the portal is too heavily guarded by the Dwarves (as it may be if they discover their prisoners have escaped) then they be flee the fortress and head for the hills, dodging patrols sent out to find them, learn the location of another way to another plane (not necessarily the Material Plane but certainly on better for their health than Celestia), sneak into a town disguise as decent, upstanding folk and try to blag their way through the portal.

If the portal leads to a place with a strong central authority (e.g. a planar metropolis or anywhere on one of the more Lawful planes) the Dwarves may feel unable to pursue because it's outside of their jurisdiction or because they don't want to antagonise the local (sure, storming Avernus is fine in principle but do you want to try it with only 20 mendwarves?) Alternatively, they may just lose the trail (assume the PCs use suitable cunning).

If the PCs don't have anything back on the Material Plane that they urgently need to save the world from, then you could stretch this plane-hopping adventure out a little bit. If they do, you could have a portal to Material in the little village over the next hill.

Good thinking--it would make more sense to encourage the PCs to just get out of dodge ASAP then try to crack the core of the fortress. Also because I really like your suggestion of Dwarven Dragoons (or even better, Gnome dragoon auxiliaries.... on Dire Badgers... in full armor/respiratory gear for burrowing through sod) I’m thinking of having such a force emerge out of the fortress to chase them once they’re in the countryside. It would still behoove them to perform the AMF-trick kamikasei suggested, in that instance. Also I like the idea of the PCs having to win over some locals on the Plane of Law and Good... since both the knight and the hexblade have maxed diplo scores and I think everyone but the knight has some ranks in bluff, it would be an interesting skill challenge everyone could help with.


Well, if devils are half as cunning and devious as they're cracked up to be, then Mastigustus would surely work through some disposable stooge who can't possibly be traced back to him.

It's certainly less risky if the expendable minions briefing is "rendezvous with the PCs at the abandoned mine 12 miles from the prison and give them the forged papers they need to reach the portal to the Outlands in the nearby town of Paladinville" rather than "infiltrate this fortress in Celestia, break half a dozen people out of the (well-guarded) jail and then break into the (well-guarded) planar portal". Of course, he still needs to get details of the rendezvous to the PCs inside the jail but that's slightly easier. For bonus points, a note should be sneaked to the warlock, a note written in blood on human skin, which explains what the PCs must do to find their contact and identify themselves to him. The note concludes with "For the purposes of ongoing secrecy, you must consume this instructions after reading." :smalleek:

In any case, this is much less effort to go through for a "lowly servant". If it still seems too much, perhaps you could drop a few hints that the Ever-Hungry has plans for the Warlock that make her more important than she realises. dun dun DUN!!!! And thus a new plot it born!

(Wait, is the Warlock player switching to a Cleric/Wizard or the Cleric/Wizard player switching to a Warlock? Because building plot-hooks around an NPC probably isn't such as a good idea after all....)

...All I can say to that idea about the message on human parchment is, “yoink, idea taken.” In fact, inspired by a certain episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, that message may be a graft that must be removed off the back of Mastigustus’s hapless courier... who the Devil could simply dump into the Celestian wilderness outside the fort, and allow the Dwarves to capture him; trusting he’ll find his way to them or vice versa during the inevitable escape attempt. For added comedy, the courier is a level 2 human expert (some rogue skills) with absolutely nothing special about him (maybe Average Stats, even), who just happens to be really unlucky.

Also, yes the Warlock’s player is abandoning her for a Necromancer. That doesn’t mean I’m getting rid of Amarascha, necessarily--I usually look for ways to kill off PCs as soon as their players abandon them, but in this case she might remain a valuable long-term associate for the party (although she’d cease to adventure with them). And Mastigustus would naturally know the mortals his pawn was associating with, and enjoy the opportunity to put them all in his debt. (In fact, maybe the route Mastigustus wants them to take leads indirectly to the Nine Hells, where he has a job--or two--already waiting for some expendable out-of-towners).

BigPapaSmurf
2008-11-21, 01:27 PM
I think some wolves and badgers are good ideas, however perhaps you can help them repent for their sins against the dwarves.

Stage yourself an epic battle at the fortress with some vile-evil which would threaten the PCs far more than the Dwarves. Perhaps the nearby guards are becoming overwhelmed and the PCs need to convince them to let them help. This way you dont need to limit the creatures to Good only. After they con their way out depending on their choices they may be fighting both sides or aiding someone unexpected.

Also this is a great time to nerf your PCs if they have too many powerful items.

EDIT: Also this is a good time to change PCs, new PCs can happen to be in the same jail facility.

BRC
2008-11-21, 01:29 PM
Let them lead the Dwarfs to a river full of Celestial Carp, which will then proceed to kill the dwarves.

Either that, or have them introduce some Cats into the fortress.

Prometheus
2008-11-21, 02:52 PM
Definitely have someone in the cell with them or next to them who will either help them get out or will get out if the PCs do. This person could be crazy, dangerous, or untrustworthy, but is also strong or skilled enough to provide a helping hand. Therefore, they have a plausible way of escaping, but also a liability in escaping.

I had a campaign in which the players were breaking out of jail. The Druid scouted by shifting into a rat, and then came back to others. The Paladin took out a guard with a rock (and Divine Sacrifice), which they dragged to their cell and let themselves out with. Druid turned into a bear and ripped the door off the hinges, and from there they could fight their way out (with the help of the mob of prisoners).

Tacoma
2008-11-26, 08:02 PM
I would have a misguided yet good Dwarven citizen break them out of jail, bring them home, feed and clothe them, give plenty of opportunities like turning his back to go get more pickles from the pantry and such, leaving plenty of minor valuables laying around. And one nice "ancestral war hammer" above the mantle.

The party probably ditches this dude, probably killing him and stealing his lewts, whereupon they meet a trusting caravan master who wants to put their obvious talents to use guarding a band of pilgrims who want to see some wonder of the afterlife. But these pilgrims all have very valuable and shiny gold and silver holy symbols ...

Basically give them so many opportunities to kill, maim, desecrate, and ruin all these poor yet good people. If they don't take the opportunity, that's cool. But it gives them a chance to make choices and play an evil character how they might want to.

But of course the warhammer is infused with the soul of a dwarven hero who is watching all this and eventually gets disgusted enough to do something and send them on some quest for the greater good.

Inyssius Tor
2008-11-26, 08:18 PM
Perhaps Mastigustus has an underling he needs whacked.

I could see this great big idiot devil smashing his way through the fortress, getting swamped by celestial jailers, and managing to just barely breach the PCs' containment. Not, y'know, actually make things any easier, just break the bars holding them in and break a couple of walls and stir up the entire fortress.--heck, maybe this guy isn't even with Mastigustus; maybe he's just some random demon the Celestials are bringing in, and he manages to break loose and then go on a (totally doomed) rampage through the fortress.

Shades of Nova Prospekt from Half-Life 2, except the demon is far less of an actual threat and he doesn't have a horde of minions behind him.

shadow_archmagi
2008-11-26, 08:38 PM
Might this be of use?

http://direpress.bin.sh/tools/dungeon.cgi

Zen Master
2008-11-27, 05:18 AM
I'm thinking the inmate in the next cell could be their ticket out.

Now, this inmate could be pretty much anything, but lets assume they are gullible enough to trust what appears to be female (young and beautiful, naturally) sorceress.

Lets further assume that said sorceress is in fact a succubus, a captive from a recent raid elsewhere in the multiverse. She can get herself out and back to her homeplane by performing a ritual that requires only the sacrifice of a *few* of the dwarves.

Naturally, this sort of setup is a kind of fork. It can lead to two outcomes. Either they never suspect a thing, and wind up in the abyss instead - out of the frying pan and into the fire. Or they get suspicious, and agree to help the succubus only if she can get them to neutral ground, like Sigil.

And should they wind up in the abyss, there at least they might be able to bargain they way back to the prime material.

Piedmon_Sama
2008-11-27, 02:16 PM
Er, just to let ya'll know, I ran the next session already and the PCs are almost escaped. First they tried the 'guard, guard I'm feeling sick' routine which the gaoler naturally didn't buy. So the Hexblade turned around and yelled 'this is all your fault!' at the Knight, then decked him, starting a brawl which the guard moved to stop---resulting in him getting rushed and gangbeaten by five desperate, if unarmed, adventurers.

They charged down the gaol-level, and surprised the main team of four guards (who were armed only with nonlethal cudgels) while they were playing cards and drinkng. Much to the satisfaction of my players, their new 4th-level skills allowed them to beat surprised and panicking 1st-level warriors with impunity. They busted loose three more cells' worth of prisoners: a team of Khaasta (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/ff_gallery/50101.jpg) pirates from the Astral Plane, and a gang of Shadar-Kai (http://nightmare.org/dnd/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=956&g2_serialNumber=1) bandits from the Plane of Shadow, and a cell with two humans: Tostig the Acolyte Necromancer and a surly, if rather ordinary-looking, middle aged man in commoner's dress. He refused to speak to the other PCs, but handed Amarascha the Warlock (now an NPC) a slender scroll-case.

Some fun acts of mob violence later, the PCs broke into the weapon storage and re-armed themselves. Amarascha had gotten a flayed-man message (which indeed was marked Consume After Reading) telling the PCs to run 24 miles south from the Dwarf fortress, where the coastline of Celestia's border lay, and there they would find a portal home. They hadn't told the Khaasta or Shadar-Kai, who swiftly fell into arguing over whether they should stay and fight the Dwarves or not. I expected the PCs to try and keep the prison break cohesive, but they slipped out just as soon as the extraplanars were about to fall to blows. (They hadn't bothered saving a guard to interrogate like I'd hoped, either.)

I had drawn up the Keep with a mountain peak as the base in mind, so its eight concentric halls went down vertically from a central hall (which sat above the gaol-halls) with four halls running straight through the rings at a downwards tilt. The PCs just followed one passage down, killing a 2nd-level Dwarf Cleric and two guards almost before the Cleric could finish threatening them, for the other seven intersections (cross-ways cut off by an iron portcullis) the Knight used the hall's sharp slant, weight of his armor and his shield block to just charge down and slam into the guard.

The last encounter involved them breaking out onto the surface of the mountainside, within the sights of a rampart where Dwarven crossbowmen started shooting at them. They fled down the mountainside (which was heavily carved with stairways and alcoves, somewhat counterintuitive to defense but whatever). Once they were out of crossbow range, they were momentarily safe.

So now I have them in the open terrain of Celestia as well. This may seem like a naive question, but.... is Celestia really a place where people live? It seems really weird to me that a realm where the souls of the Lawful and Good go after death is populated by mortals, even if they have the "celestial" subtype. Would a village of Celestial Humans be like some sparkly disney-movie thing where charming folk live in total harmony with each other and nature, occasionally bursting into song and dance numbers throughout the day?

EDIT: Just to add, they still have a middle-aged, 3rd-level Expert with Rogue skills and average ability scores along with them. Attempts to speak to him result in his saying "I'm not talkin' to none of yas, once we get back home none of you ever saw me." Nevertheless he's sticking with them for now.