How the West Was Won
In the next harrowing chapters, I plan on bringing the party a bit closer to their foe. In order to this, I'm planning on placing them on a lightning rail (read "train" for those not savvy on the Eberron setting) with the villain. This will work to give the game a sort of western / pulp fiction sort of feel. I'm planning on incorporating a couple of key encounters along the course of the lighting rail. The enemies will begin with a tradition group to harry them and press them on their objective and culminate with another encounter with their key foe. This will only be the second encounter with their foe, but it's been a short span since the encounter with him.
The players will be forced to decide on some tough questions, mainly on whether to protect the artifact they've been in search of, or the innocent by-standards on the train. This should be a very interesting session, as I will also be presenting them with a bit more background on the Eberron setting in general. Lightning Rails, attacks from an air galleon and the potential for much, much more! I am really enjoying the setting and it's pulp tendencies!
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Dawn of a new Adventure
Having just had my players achieve 5th level, I am re-examining their current series of adventures and where I am taking them with the plot that I've originally developed. On the one hand, I've realized that I am stringing out this plot more than I should have; and then considering some of the plot hooks I've realized I'm not doing enough to move the plot forward.
Having recently picked up the "Dungeon Master's Guide 2" and reading through some of the artifacts presented, I realized that I need to take a new approach with the artifact they are searching for, the Cauldron of Ongurr. In the DMG2, WotC presents the 4th Edition version of the "Rod of Seven Parts". My original plot for the current campaign deals with an ancient artifact that was split into seven parts in times past and ancient... For those that follow Eberron, this was during the Age of Monsters and the Daelkyr Wars, some 10,000 years before the current age.
As a DM, I always wanted my artifact to have special powers. Looking at the "Rod of Seven Parts", I see something that falls along the lines of what I was looking for in my original design notes for the Cauldron. I only need to change a couple of design elements, and of course the background story of the artifact.
I'm working on the next several series of encounters and am seriously considering to continue challenge the group with ranged combat. I've run several encounters using a simple group of gnoll minions (using a 20hp "house rule" for these minions), and several higher powered brutes and solos to make a very engaging encounter for the party. The next couple of encounters will probably focus around a similar set of base creatures, only because it fits in with my storyline.
Next up in my encounters is uncovering the artifact, a new "side quest" for the portion of the party that split off and a new set of adventurers. As the party split up to accomodate a couple of new PCs (see my post on the D&D Avengers earlier this year for more) I will begin them at 4th level versus the current party's 5th level. I clearly stated to the players this is more so that I can run them through "Seekers of the Ashen Crown" as the current party will more than likely attain 6th level before the end of their current story arc.
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Chaos Scar Encounter #1
And So It Begins...
Reading through the adventure Sunday morning, and I started jotting down how I wanted to tone up the first encounter in the series. The original encounter is a straight forward 1st level encounter with an XP budget of 526 points. My players I am running for currently have a party of five fifth level adventurers. So based on this I am adding four levels to the encounter and bring my XP budget up to at least 1,000 points.
In reading through the tactics and looking at the maps, I am considering several options for bringing the encounter level up, while also making the monsters a bit more "non-standard". In the original encounter the players are confronted with an even mix of Bullywug Croakers, Muckers and Twitchers. I was interested in using the same composition, but adding a bit extra to them. In my first iteration, I will be throwing the party against a 5th level encounter at 1,050 XP and up against 3 Bullywug Croakers, 2 Bullywug Muckers and 2 Bullywug Twitchers. In my version of the encounter, I am dropping one each of the Muckers and Twitchers, but I've increased their levels and also added an some powers.
The extra powers are to make the encounter a bit more interesting for the players, and with the additional powers, I've bumped up the base XP per Mucker and Twitcher by an extra 50 XP each. I am considering dropping the additional powers on the Twitchers and Muckers, lowering the XP value by the same 50 points each and then possibly adding several more Croakers or an additional Twitcher to the encounter. So there is my brainstorm on the first encounter. I am putting this out to provide some samples to the community for some feedback. Attached below is a zip file with the Monster write-ups. Hope you enjoy them!
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The Town of Greenheart
The party managed to narrowly escape the ambush set upon them by the gnolls in the southern woods of the Eldeen. The event left them very nervous and their progress through the woods has been cautious and slow paced to say the least. As the party traverses the wilds and come closer to civilization in the ancient woods of the Eldeen, the party sees more and more prevalent signs of human and demihuman activity.
They have made their way to Greenheart, capital of the Eldeen Reaches. Here they hope to find a guide that knows the ancient Eldeen woods and can assist them in their travels in search of the second piece of the ancient Cauldron of Ongur.
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Sterngate and Beyond
3rd of Eyre, 998 YK
With the baby hobgoblin wrapped in swaddling cloth, the party continues on after the slavers. Following the winding gully, the party eventually spots an abandoned wagon in the dried riverbed ahead. The party approaches cautiously, sending in young Nebin ahead to explore the wagon. Upon approaching, Nebin sees that the rear wheel has fallen off, and that the guavitx (ox-like creatures) are still harnessed to the wagon. As he approaches, Nedin hears the deep breathing and snoring of several people. He quickly realizes that the sound is coming from the inside of the wagon. Nebin quickly calls the remainder of the party over to the wagon. With some effort, they pry open the lock from the door, and release the slaves in the wagon.
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The Journey Home
2nd of Eyre, 998 YK
As the party of adventurers complete their quest in the depths of Ongurr's Watchtower, they must decide on their next course of action. They give the catacombs under the tower a thorough review, before deciding to head back up to the surface. Once on the surface, the party goes back to their maps and decide to travel overland to the village of Grellreach, from there, they hope to join a merchant caravan to Rhukaan Draal.
Upon arriving at the village, they waste no time in tracking down a merchant who is travelling to Rhukaan Draal. There is just a single caravan, taking assorted pickled fish and roots up to the city in hopes of earning a decent trade. The caravan is comprised of four rickety carts pulled by old oxen. The merchant and his guard number less than a half dozen, and they are obviously happy to have the extra bodies to bolster their numbers. During the course of the first day, the party discuss with the old merchant the trade routes and how frequently he travels to Rhukaan Draal. The old merchant mentions that the trade road to Rhukaan Draal has been plagued by slavers as of late. He mentions that they are travelling just off the trade road in order to keep out of the view of any possible slavers or bandits, as the attacks have become more and more brazen.
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The Cauldron of Ongurr
1st of Eyre, 998YK
As the party recovers from its most recent encounter, they go through the details of their encounters to date. The party discusses their possible options for continuing on through the depth that lie below them in Ongurr's Tower. The likelihood of finding the Cauldron is quite good according to the information they have gathered so far, and so they decide to continue their exploration of the catacombs below the tower.
As the party returns to the depth of the catacombs, they review the area where they have already explored and continue down the nearest branch of passages to that location. There they find the reason for the previous collapse of tunnels, as they locate a large underground river that has opened a grand cavern and series of cascades near the location of the collapsed chamber. They are forced to turn back, as the same underground river has cut through the series of passages that continue on through this end of the catacombs.
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Ongurr’s Tower
28th of Therendor, 998YK
As the party arrives at the base of Ongurr's Tower, they note that the ruins of the tower are very unimpressive. The remains of the tower is less than three stories tall, and the remains have windows along the second and third stories that are open to the elements. The party quickly traverses the walls of the ruins and make their way in from the second floor window. What they find inside, looks like a recently lived in study. The study contains various books in languages both mundane and arcane.
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