- In the mountains, bested a stone golem, raided his treasure.
- In the plains, beat two mummies, but were sickened.
- Orcish night raid on party, killed one of Tassadar’s followers.
- Navigated a confusing swamp, encountered a Hydra. Finally beat the beast in a brutal fight. Found a treasure chest, solved a puzzle to open, poisoned by an item, left everything to rot in the chest.
Leaving Ryndanhaven Behind
The party will need to make a decision about where to head. Give some detailed descriptions of their options, which should make it obvious that their choice will determine if they have an increase in seafaring style adventures, or wilderness adventures, or city drama.
You mull over your options of a destination city, while your friends from the ruined city look on expectantly. The smith sits quietly in his pint sized wagon, Kesta asleep in his lap. Lysander babbles constantly at Niac Drakced, who seems to be ignoring him while he awaits your decision. Batrim comforts his daughters, who are sobbing quietly, already missing their lost home.
The remnants of the army
The party encounters some leavings of the orcish army. This is a nighttime encounter for during a rest period. This should be the same orcs used as grunts for the last adventure, 1.5x the number of party members.
The varied paths
Choose just one of the following encounters, depending on where the group has decided to go (or more, if you have the time or interest):
(A) En route to Citadel of Udkig
Plains encounter on the way to the seafaring city.
The heat shimmers over the plains, the day is blisteringly hot. There are some trees and shrubs occasionally along the road. Waves come and go through the long grass, the wind making its presence known. The road casually winds around the taller hills, preferring the easy valleys instead of up and over every bump in the land, but aside from this slow meander, it is almost straight as an arrow. (Spot DC15 Failure) The wavering heat tricks the eye into seeing movement where there is none, or is it the constant breeze moving the grass?, water where it doesn’t exist. (Spot DC20 Success) Shambling through the tall grass is, a form comes in to view. The creature is just shy of 6’ tall, its emaciated body cannot weigh more than 120 lbs. The skin you can see is black; the rest of the creature is wrapped in rotted cloth. (Spot DC25 Great success) A second creature can be seen, approaching the party from another angle.
2x Advanced Mummy: 130HP, 20AC (8/20), Init -1, large sized, speed 20’, 20ATK 1d816+mummy rot (Fortitude DC21), F+8, R+7, W+13, Power Attack. Mummy rot deals 1d6 CON, 1d6 CHA damage daily. Any healing spells must pass a DC20 caster level check. Must first be removed with ‘Remove Curse’ or ‘Break Enchantment’ (also a DC20 caster level check), after which the rot can be cured normally and healing no longer requires a check.
• Search DC12: a scattering of copper and silver pieces left behind in a rotted pouch.
(B) En route to Porta Ponte
Marshlands encounter on the way to the bridge stronghold.
The party has a hard time picking their way through the massive marshlands. The horses shy away from the soft earth, the wagons get stuck easily, what seems to be a broad path can quickly turn into a sinkhole. Despite teamwork and best efforts, the band is forced to back track and find alternative paths time and time again. The day wears on and travel is tedious and downright exhausting. The steep mountains on one side, the vast sea on the other, the party presses on.
In the late afternoon, the copious amount of vegetation is mixed in with some charred pieces. As you travel further, more and more scars of fire can be found. The ground cover seems normal, but the upper portions of trees are burned. Your horse whickers and sidesteps nervously as you examine the oddity. Then you feel it, a slight tremor in the ground, then another. You turn ahead and see a monstrosity lumber into view. The massive beast resembles some great reptile with a dark brown body, tan underbelly. A veritable forest of heads on long slender necks sprouts from the body. A head roars and spews a tiny spout of flame, a large puff of smoke. Enraged by the failure, the beast’s heads scream and writhe about. Suddenly, one obviously spots your little band, as all of the heads turn to face your group. You hear the creature make an odd hissing sound, a trio of heads attempt to blast fire, but with much the same result. The creature roars in anger and lumbers directly at the party.
11-Headed Hydra MM155: 120HP, 21AC (9/20), 11x 16ATK 1d106, Init+1, Huge sized) F+12, R+8, W+5, Combat Reflexes (no limit to AOO), Fast Healing 21. Heads can be individually targeted by Sunder (or magic that deal slashing damage), requiring 10 points to sever a head. Heads grow back double in 1d4 rounds, preventable by dealing 5 points fire or acid damage to the stalk (or by using a fire/acid weapon to sunder). Can never have more than 22 heads; extra heads wither and die within a day of being grown.
The massive corpse leaks ichor from scores of wounds, the nest of heads finally lies still. You feel winded; the whirlwind of a fight took its toll. You look about the soggy clearing, and see your way forward is clear until your sight disappears into the mist. Then you see it: on one side of the clearing, at the edge of the marsh, half sunken into the soft ground is a massive chest. Closer inspection shows a weathered but intricately carved and bound chest of some unknown material. There seems to be no obvious lock on the chest, but also no obvious way to open it. The front of the chest has a large sun carved into it, as if the sun is rising on the lid, and the base is the line of the horizon. Inside the sun, are three concentric discs, only half of which is visible. Each disc has detailed carving of some sort of strange creature on it (Knowledge: Nature DC15 to identify animals), but you must rotate the discs to see them all.
• The largest disc has 5 animals carved on it: lion, alligator, whale, eagle, fish.
• The middle disc has 4 animals carved on it: eagle, fish, lion, whale.
• The smallest disc has 3 animals carved on it, whale, eagle, lion.
Lining up, in order, eagle-lion-whale will allow the chest to be opened normally. Spot DC20 to see more carvings on the inside of the lid. Knowledge: Nature DC20 to recognize them as a warning of poison. Inside, the group finds a rather large treasure, but any item taken results in poison (Fortitude DC18 – 1d6Str). Inside, they will find 240g each, Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds (2d84) for half the party, 2 Charred Chainmail (DR5 vs Fire), +2 Charred Short Sword (1d6 fire damage), 2 Charred Longspear (1d6 fire damage).
© En route to Geweldig Mesto
Mountains encounter on the way to the capital city.
The party winds deeper into the mountain pass. Taking your time and watchful of anything out of the ordinary, progress is somewhat slow. Picking your through the fallen rock littering the valley floor is slow going, but the wagons make their way without troubles. On the second day of working your way ever higher, you come around a large boulder and see a strange sight. The valley floor has widened here. On the northern slope you can see the dark outline of a cave. However, blocking almost the entire entry to the cave is a nine foot tall crude stone statue of a warrior standing with its arms resting on its massive stone sword. (Spot DC20 Failure) The statue is ancient and weathered, any details, if any, has long since been worn away with the cruel passage of time. (Spot DC20 Success, read the previous and) There are old brown stains upon blade and upon the great stone hands. (Spot DC25 Great success, read the previous and) There are ancient rotting remains of humanoids inside the cave, bones brutally crushed.
The statue takes no actions, unless any person attempts to enter the cave. Then combat ensues, with the golem attempting to slow the closest combatant. Stone Golem MM136: 107HP, 26AC (8/26), 2x 18ATK 2d109, large sized, Init -1, 20’ speed, F+4, R+3, W+4, DR10/Adamantine, immune to most magical effects. Once every 2 rounds may use Slow as a free action (Will DC17), at a range of 10’ lasting for 7 rounds.
If the cave is searched, the party may find some of the following treasure:
• Search DC12: 175gp per party member in the disappointingly empty cave.
• Search DC18: additional 125gp per party member, Boots of Elvenkind.
• Search DC25: Ring of Sustenance, Wand of Levitation (12 charges, 5m duration), +1 Studded leather armor.
Reward
At long last, your new home comes in to sight. What a massive city, larger than any you have seen before. The sun is setting, the waves glitter in the fading light, and lights are just being lit inside as you approach the gates. Massive stone walls rise high above your heads, periodic towers make you feel as if you are being watched from multiple places. One of the gates stands closed, its opposite half stands open with a handful of guards still admitting people into the city. You feel the tension in your shoulders relax somewhat as safety draws near. Niac Drakced gets down from his perch on the creaking wagon and approaches the guards. The officer in charge seems to recognize him and waves your little band beyond the gate and into the city. Even so, each person entering the city, since they are not citizens, must pay an entry tax of 1 gold piece each.
You try not to stare in wonder at the sheer size of the city. The market courtyard right inside the gate seems large enough to hold the entire town of Ryndanhaven. Your flash of memory to the ruined city is a sobering thought; you look about and to each other. Where to start?
Experience awarded per DMG, no special loot rewards.
Comments