The party is going to want to go to the long deserted settlement known as Falcon's Rest. Either because they were hired to investigate by Deputy Flynn. Forced to investigate as part of their verdict from being found guilty of arson (to pay back the gold they now owe Yolo, which is A LOT). Or from their own free will and sense of adventure. It's a 4 day hike due north across some difficult terrain and increased elevation. Or 8 days going back to River Town, renting a barge up river, then hiking up the only road that leads there, which is overgrown with vegetation.
There is a terrorist cell using this town as a base of operations. Lead by an 8th level sorceress named Vyvyllyn Ricoh. She's a tall leggy red head with bright green eyes, and a she is a devote worshipper of Narcosa, one of only three deities that live. It is widely believed that Narcosa the Beautiful started the War that Killed the Gods. The short version of the tale is that she inspired lust in the heart of Eska the Father of All, and that began a series of well planned events that eventually lead to the War. Her symbol is the ecplised moon, and her essence resides as the moon. Vythrall Mountain Shield was a minority deity worshipped among dwarves, until he ascended to become one of The Three. He alone was wise enough to see through all of Narcosa Web Weavers tricks, and stoic enough to resist her deadly charms. His symbol is the sun, and his essence resides in as the sun. The third remaining deity, is Aolm. She is nature, and everything of the world. The All Mother simply stayed out of the War, and poured all of her power into the worlds core. Her symbol is a red orb surrounded by a larger brown orb, outlined with green and then blue. Many worship the stars, and believe that the Old Gods simply moved away to govern other worlds. Narcosa bestow arcane power to her children, bards and sorcerers. Rogues also tend to worship her. Those who choose to follow Vythrall are granted power through prayer, clerics and paladins. Fighters tend to follow Vythrall. Barbarians usually worship Aolm, and Aolm grants divine power to druids and rangers. Wizards and monks are few and secluded. Some say they are atheists, some say they have unlocked channels of power from the Old Gods.
I have made some very strict rules with regards to multi-classing. Druids and rangers cannot become sorcerers, bards, clerics, or paladins. Wizards and monks may only become fighters, and they must be of lawful alignment. Clerics and paladins cannot become sorcerers, bards, druids, or rangers. Sorcerers and bards can never be druids, clerics, paladins, or rangers.
Races have different bonuses.
Dwarves get +1 to CON/WIS and a -1 to DEX/CHA. Elves get +1 to DEX/INT and a -1 to CON/CHA. Orcs get +1 to STR/CON and a -1 to CHA/INT. Humans get a +1 ANY/CHA and a -1 to ANY/WIS.
Running out of time! Gonna have to finish writing this module AFTER it's been played through. The plot synopsis is that the King of Yemon has discovered a race of extraordinarily intelligent deep sea creatures (very much like the Kua-Toa but peaceful and with a +5 racial bonus to INT), and is torturing them! The King of Yemon is using them as slaves and making them invent and build wondrous things, especially weapons! The only other kingdom that knows of this is the southern one, ruled by the Sorceress queen. She doesn't want magic to be made obsolete, but she has her agents feign concern for the abuse of these beings to get the players to do her bidding. Ultimately, she wants to take over Yemon and use their means for herself, combining magic with invention! The Eastern Kingdom is genuinely concerned about the torture of these beings and will try to stop them. The central kingdom supplies the ore for the realm, they are intrigued by these weapons but their agents aren't as subtle as the souths spies or the easts rangers. They don't see the treachery from the west or the south and must be convinced. The north find all of these inventions for the weak. Other inventions they trade for, but by in large they are unconcerned with any of this.
Eventually, the Eastern Rangers will aid the Kua-Toa and help them release THREE tarassque from the depths of the ocean to lay waste to Yemon. To do this, they need the horns of the deep. The party must rescue Quallor the Elder and find the items needed to assemble the horns.
There are a ton of side quests and political events along the way. The players must chose between aiding a "civilized" society or keeping it in the dark ages (with magic).
It was a great weekend! the party got to level 8, here's how it played out.
Ooper took an orc fighter. Tara is a dwarf cleric. Dave is a elvin wizard. Jennifer (1st time player) took a human thief.
Ooper went up to the Messenger and took a swing but missed badly, Dave casted sleep and put the ORC to sleep. lol already off to a great start. Jen nailed almost every single spot and listen roll I made for her over 3 lengthy gaming sessions, and I slid her several index cards with secret info and hints. It was a learning process!. Jen shot it and ignited it. Tara figured out pretty fast that it was undead, but she could not turn it (8hd). Dave, the wizard who was born to be a fighter, stood in it's path near the bar, and he got swatted aside by the greatsword attack. He got lit on fire. LOL.
The cleric woke up the fighter and then started to help guide people to safety. The fighter then climbed to the upper level and started helping people, including a woman and her kids. used rope to lower them out a window. the rogue helped the wizard up and then ran out the kitchen door. Yolo ran out the same door with his safe, and right past the rogue. And then, the newb rogue backstabbed him! lol
A mysterious bard hit the skeleton with a lightning bolt spell and finished it off, but the follow through partially collapsed the stairs! The cleric fumbled with a table trying to give an alternate route down the stairs. Visibility got very bad, the wizard put himself out with mop water and then managed to pry loose the sword before the bar turned into an inferno. He caught up to the rogue and grappled her! Yolo got away.
The party eventually got captured except for the cleric, and it was her testimony and that of many patrons that spared their lives for a couple of days until the deputy got there.
They solved the riddle of the sword and headed to Falcon's Rest, offered 1,000gp each to investigate. They encountered a wolf in a trap, and freed it. Later on, they came across a cabin, with a crazy hermit who told them to beware of ogres. The next day the hermit and his pack of wolves attacked the party, the one they saved helped the party (but he got killed, so sad). Pretty easy fight although the wizard almost got killed yet again.
They got to Falcon's Rest on the back side, and discovered trip wires and skeleton men tasked to bang pots and pans together when they see someone. The bard (my npc) used his disguise spell after they killed a guard, and checked out the town, providing a layout. They picked off about 4 before the alarm went off, and then a huge fight broke out....
This battle was pretty epic,even despite being drunk off my ass from wine, I managed to run a good encounter. I dont recall every detail and I'd spare you if I did, but my sniper rogue with sleep poison arrows rolled as bad as any NPC has ever rolled! 1 hit out of like 10 shots!
It really had many twists and turns, imagine a HUGE battle in a ghost town, magic fire spells lit up the south east section pretty good. There were undead around, soldiers, the sniper, and of course the creater of the undead was still unaccounted for. A lot of tension for the party. Towards the end Oopers orc fighter squared off on main street with the other Forgesworn knight, in what turned out to be an epic showdown. I couldnt resist whistling some western tune. I smirked at the fact that he was very hesitant about attacking it at first, not knowing if it was wired to blow! It was not, but I am great at keeping a party uneasy if I say so myself. The damage absorption made for a long fight, but Ooper pulled through with about 10 hp left of his own.
My bard found himself 1 on 1 with the rogue and eventually won.
The rogue and the wizard somehow managed to make it to the tomb in the center of town, they hide in there with only a few hp left each. They both fought great but a lot of flanking made it a tough fight for them. Vyvyllyn sent in her 4 remaining skeleton men and they finished them off, well death doored them. The sorceress had a ton of invisibility spells and I often mentioned that they could hear her laughing from time to time. The cleric once again saved the day, destroying them with turn undead and healing them, getting them back in the fight. She even managed to hit Ooper with a heal spell for good measure, the wizard of course attacked the 8hd skeleton with his brothers greatsword. lol cracks me up.
The rogue snuck out of the tomb and managed to snipe her in the middle of casting a spell that might have ruined everything for the party, jen then made a nice roll to track the blood (great call for a new player!) and determined that she took off for the stone church in the NE side of town. But her, the bard, and the wizard decided to pick the locks to the structure being used for her alchemist lab! Needle trap with skin dye was easy to bypass and they looted the place!
Meanwhile the wise cleric and tough fighter ignored them and headed to the church for the final showdown. They found her packing her crap and getting ready to flee! "Let me go and all the treasure here is yours, and as an added bonus, I wont kill all of you!". Tara would have none of it and the female dwarf follower of Vythrill Mountain Shield attacked! Ooper charged! Pretty easy fight, she went with mirror image but a summoned badger sniffed out the real her and they eventually brought her to -1 hp then took her captive.
A lot more happened on the final night of gaming, and it was all winged! I have to say that the party is miscast, except for Tara. Jen plays her rogue pretty well, but shes overwhelmed by the skills and abilities, bad class choice. Ooper is the party spokeman and in real life he is a haggler, haggles the price of everything. The perfect fighter/bard personality, but no he takes and orc fighter! Jen should have taken a ranger, you need a few more hp when ur new to the game and a little less responsibility. Tara is a delight, never gamed with her before but knows the game, acts convincingly, and could pull off any role in the party. The perfect cleric player. Dave is a barbarian. The funniest character he ever took was a racist druid with a scythe. I refer to that character as the "harvester of sorrow" and he was a quote machine, very funny but not very repeatable in a forum such as this!
Anyways, they took the wagon back to River Town to collect their reward from Sir Kendrick and Vyvyllyn was interrogated via a charm person spell by the bard. They learned about many terrorist attacks sent forth from the south kingdom made to look like rebels within Yemon itself, rising up against an unknown repression and aimed at putting pressure on the lords of yemon. Or "phase one". She offered to pay them 4 times the reward if they take her to Kashmyr. So they mulled that over, and decided to bring her journals to Kendrick to warn him of the attacks to come and collect his reward, then take her to Kashmyr to see whats what! All went well accept that my bard betrayed the party with sleep poison from the lab, and snuck away with Vyvyllyn! They were less than thrilled. lol
So the hunt began, first, back to Rivertown. After gathering some info they learned of a ranger who lives in the woods a few hours from town. They found him, and he reluctantly agreed to help but after some intense haggling! 400gold/day with a 600 bonus! The ranger learned that they boarded a boat and traveled south, can't track them anymore so he took his money and left. The party talked to all the harbor masters, but the problem is the invisibility. They could have debarked and snuck back on again. So, the info wasn't great. Seemed helpless but they decided to go all the way into the southern kingdom of Kashmyr. A few minor side quests were offered up but all they wanted to do was hunt down the bard! lol
Pretty awesome city, a lot of fun little encounters but nothing dangerous. Touristy shops selling a ton of Yemon inventions like a 3-way crossbow, weird guns, and a lot of gimmicky stuff. Clothing is huge there so most of the players bought robes, Dave's wizard spent 1,000 gp on his robes, as a general rule I gave a +1 to all cha based skills for every 500gp spent on clothes.
That night, at a restaurant that overlooks a massive hole that the river falls into (creating an underground river), they were approached by guards and offered invitations to attend a presentation at the Golden Palace outside of town. As they prepared the rogue was approached by Valdric and Vyvyllyn! Gave her back her gloves of dex +2 as a sign of good faith, but she could not be persuaded to join them on a mission (they needed a rogue). A wagon picked up the party and they attended a 30 minute public conversation between the Queen of the South and the King of the North! Highly scripted, but interesting to note that they are working on a deal to open magical portals in an area of the north that is already inhabited by magic, the Wizard Towers of Amongroth. Of course, thats the only place in the north that the king could sell that kind of thing to the thousands of tribes. The wizards are not yet on board with it, they don't actually know about the idea, yet.
Ooper tried to approach the king, using his fellow orc heritage as an in, but he was shot down. They came up with a letter, cleverly worded and including some of the recent events they took place in. So, I sent an emissary to their inn to tell them in person that the king doesnt care about any of their bullcrap! lol But then, Ooper rolled a nat 20 on a one time only diplomacy roll so the emisarry awarded him a talisman that acts as a passport for the north. Had to get him something good for the RPing he put into what was otherwise a hopeless deadend.
The next day they learn that the queen herself wants an audience with them, and she explains that she invited them to the palace, and wishes to make friends. She hired them for a task, although the party struggled with the decision to help a known terrorist! The queen sold the task as a good deed.
Lateralus
Member Posts: 903
Comments
The party is going to want to go to the long deserted settlement known as Falcon's Rest. Either because they were hired to investigate by Deputy Flynn. Forced to investigate as part of their verdict from being found guilty of arson (to pay back the gold they now owe Yolo, which is A LOT). Or from their own free will and sense of adventure. It's a 4 day hike due north across some difficult terrain and increased elevation. Or 8 days going back to River Town, renting a barge up river, then hiking up the only road that leads there, which is overgrown with vegetation.
There is a terrorist cell using this town as a base of operations. Lead by an 8th level sorceress named Vyvyllyn Ricoh. She's a tall leggy red head with bright green eyes, and a she is a devote worshipper of Narcosa, one of only three deities that live. It is widely believed that Narcosa the Beautiful started the War that Killed the Gods. The short version of the tale is that she inspired lust in the heart of Eska the Father of All, and that began a series of well planned events that eventually lead to the War. Her symbol is the ecplised moon, and her essence resides as the moon. Vythrall Mountain Shield was a minority deity worshipped among dwarves, until he ascended to become one of The Three. He alone was wise enough to see through all of Narcosa Web Weavers tricks, and stoic enough to resist her deadly charms. His symbol is the sun, and his essence resides in as the sun. The third remaining deity, is Aolm. She is nature, and everything of the world. The All Mother simply stayed out of the War, and poured all of her power into the worlds core. Her symbol is a red orb surrounded by a larger brown orb, outlined with green and then blue. Many worship the stars, and believe that the Old Gods simply moved away to govern other worlds. Narcosa bestow arcane power to her children, bards and sorcerers. Rogues also tend to worship her. Those who choose to follow Vythrall are granted power through prayer, clerics and paladins. Fighters tend to follow Vythrall. Barbarians usually worship Aolm, and Aolm grants divine power to druids and rangers. Wizards and monks are few and secluded. Some say they are atheists, some say they have unlocked channels of power from the Old Gods.
I have made some very strict rules with regards to multi-classing. Druids and rangers cannot become sorcerers, bards, clerics, or paladins. Wizards and monks may only become fighters, and they must be of lawful alignment. Clerics and paladins cannot become sorcerers, bards, druids, or rangers. Sorcerers and bards can never be druids, clerics, paladins, or rangers.
Races have different bonuses.
Dwarves get +1 to CON/WIS and a -1 to DEX/CHA.
Elves get +1 to DEX/INT and a -1 to CON/CHA.
Orcs get +1 to STR/CON and a -1 to CHA/INT.
Humans get a +1 ANY/CHA and a -1 to ANY/WIS.
Running out of time! Gonna have to finish writing this module AFTER it's been played through. The plot synopsis
is that the King of Yemon has discovered a race of extraordinarily intelligent deep sea creatures (very much like the Kua-Toa but peaceful and with a +5 racial bonus to INT), and is torturing them! The King of Yemon is using them as slaves and making them invent and build wondrous things, especially weapons! The only other kingdom that knows of this is the southern one, ruled by the Sorceress queen. She doesn't want magic to be made obsolete, but she has her agents feign concern for the abuse of these beings to get the players to do her bidding. Ultimately, she wants to take over Yemon and use their means for herself, combining magic with invention! The Eastern Kingdom is genuinely concerned about the torture of these beings and will try to stop them. The central kingdom supplies the ore for the realm, they are intrigued by these weapons but their agents aren't as subtle as the souths spies or the easts rangers. They don't see the treachery from the west or the south and must be convinced. The north find all of these inventions for the weak. Other inventions they trade for, but by in large they are unconcerned with any of this.
Eventually, the Eastern Rangers will aid the Kua-Toa and help them release THREE tarassque from the depths of the ocean to lay waste to Yemon. To do this, they need the horns of the deep. The party must rescue Quallor the Elder and find the items needed to assemble the horns.
There are a ton of side quests and political events along the way. The players must chose between aiding a "civilized" society or keeping it in the dark ages (with magic).
Plenty more to come....
Ooper took an orc fighter.
Tara is a dwarf cleric.
Dave is a elvin wizard.
Jennifer (1st time player) took a human thief.
Ooper went up to the Messenger and took a swing but missed badly, Dave casted sleep and put the ORC to sleep. lol already off to a great start. Jen nailed almost every single spot and listen roll I made for her over 3 lengthy gaming sessions, and I slid her several index cards with secret info and hints. It was a learning process!. Jen shot it and ignited it. Tara figured out pretty fast that it was undead, but she could not turn it (8hd). Dave, the wizard who was born to be a fighter, stood in it's path near the bar, and he got swatted aside by the greatsword attack. He got lit on fire. LOL.
The party eventually got captured except for the cleric, and it was her testimony and that of many patrons that spared their lives for a couple of days until the deputy got there.
They got to Falcon's Rest on the back side, and discovered trip wires and skeleton men tasked to bang pots and pans together when they see someone. The bard (my npc) used his disguise spell after they killed a guard, and checked out the town, providing a layout. They picked off about 4 before the alarm went off, and then a huge fight broke out....
It really had many twists and turns, imagine a HUGE battle in a ghost town, magic fire spells lit up the south east section pretty good. There were undead around, soldiers, the sniper, and of course the creater of the undead was still unaccounted for. A lot of tension for the party. Towards the end Oopers orc fighter squared off on main street with the other Forgesworn knight, in what turned out to be an epic showdown. I couldnt resist whistling some western tune. I smirked at the fact that he was very hesitant about attacking it at first, not knowing if it was wired to blow! It was not, but I am great at keeping a party uneasy if I say so myself. The damage absorption made for a long fight, but Ooper pulled through with about 10 hp left of his own.
My bard found himself 1 on 1 with the rogue and eventually won.
The rogue and the wizard somehow managed to make it to the tomb in the center of town, they hide in there with only a few hp left each. They both fought great but a lot of flanking made it a tough fight for them. Vyvyllyn sent in her 4 remaining skeleton men and they finished them off, well death doored them. The sorceress had a ton of invisibility spells and I often mentioned that they could hear her laughing from time to time. The cleric once again saved the day, destroying them with turn undead and healing them, getting them back in the fight. She even managed to hit Ooper with a heal spell for good measure, the wizard of course attacked the 8hd skeleton with his brothers greatsword. lol cracks me up.
The rogue snuck out of the tomb and managed to snipe her in the middle of casting a spell that might have ruined everything for the party, jen then made a nice roll to track the blood (great call for a new player!) and determined that she took off for the stone church in the NE side of town. But her, the bard, and the wizard decided to pick the locks to the structure being used for her alchemist lab! Needle trap with skin dye was easy to bypass and they looted the place!
Meanwhile the wise cleric and tough fighter ignored them and headed to the church for the final showdown. They found her packing her crap and getting ready to flee! "Let me go and all the treasure here is yours, and as an added bonus, I wont kill all of you!". Tara would have none of it and the female dwarf follower of Vythrill Mountain Shield attacked! Ooper charged! Pretty easy fight, she went with mirror image but a summoned badger sniffed out the real her and they eventually brought her to -1 hp then took her captive.
Anyways, they took the wagon back to River Town to collect their reward from Sir Kendrick and Vyvyllyn was interrogated via a charm person spell by the bard. They learned about many terrorist attacks sent forth from the south kingdom made to look like rebels within Yemon itself, rising up against an unknown repression and aimed at putting pressure on the lords of yemon. Or "phase one". She offered to pay them 4 times the reward if they take her to Kashmyr. So they mulled that over, and decided to bring her journals to Kendrick to warn him of the attacks to come and collect his reward, then take her to Kashmyr to see whats what! All went well accept that my bard betrayed the party with sleep poison from the lab, and snuck away with Vyvyllyn! They were less than thrilled. lol
Pretty awesome city, a lot of fun little encounters but nothing dangerous. Touristy shops selling a ton of Yemon inventions like a 3-way crossbow, weird guns, and a lot of gimmicky stuff. Clothing is huge there so most of the players bought robes, Dave's wizard spent 1,000 gp on his robes, as a general rule I gave a +1 to all cha based skills for every 500gp spent on clothes.
That night, at a restaurant that overlooks a massive hole that the river falls into (creating an underground river), they were approached by guards and offered invitations to attend a presentation at the Golden Palace outside of town. As they prepared the rogue was approached by Valdric and Vyvyllyn! Gave her back her gloves of dex +2 as a sign of good faith, but she could not be persuaded to join them on a mission (they needed a rogue). A wagon picked up the party and they attended a 30 minute public conversation between the Queen of the South and the King of the North! Highly scripted, but interesting to note that they are working on a deal to open magical portals in an area of the north that is already inhabited by magic, the Wizard Towers of Amongroth. Of course, thats the only place in the north that the king could sell that kind of thing to the thousands of tribes. The wizards are not yet on board with it, they don't actually know about the idea, yet.
Ooper tried to approach the king, using his fellow orc heritage as an in, but he was shot down. They came up with a letter, cleverly worded and including some of the recent events they took place in. So, I sent an emissary to their inn to tell them in person that the king doesnt care about any of their bullcrap! lol But then, Ooper rolled a nat 20 on a one time only diplomacy roll so the emisarry awarded him a talisman that acts as a passport for the north. Had to get him something good for the RPing he put into what was otherwise a hopeless deadend.
The mission: rescue the Kua-Toth elder.