City of the Dragon Lords

A little Turkey day bonus post (btw a belated Happy Thanksgiving to all). Here's a concept sketch I did while waiting for the turkey to cook, after spending the night before looking at maps of Crater Lake. It's the fabled City of the Dragon Lords (read my Dragon Armies posts for more information) where commands for the Dragon Armies issue forth. My players have picked up a teleport card to this spot while raiding the Fortress of the Black Dragon pirates. Therefore I need to be prepared before some fool ranger decides to bring matters to a head by launching a frontal assault on many thousands of spawn of Tiamat backed by dozens of dragons on his own.

Dragon Armies 17 Rats in the Walls

So our illustrious ranger puts his clever plan into action. Five drow guards prove no match for our party. After the raid the party returns to the hidey hole to celebrate. Two hours later the drow outpost is manned by 10 guards. The party returns to attack again. However this time as the guards are being overwhelmed, one of them puts a horn to his lips and sounds the alarm. As they retreat towards the hidey hole they are peppered by crossbow bolts from the permanent darkness area that covers their escape route. They charge into the darkness only to be bushwhacked by a black dragon exterminator. A desperate melee ensues. However eventually the party gains the upper hand and retreats to the hidey hole to celebrate again. The next day the dwarves spying on the main chamber report the arrival of a small blue goblin with a flute accompanied by a eight foot tall insectiod creature with powerful forearms and a weird set of four eyes (umber hulk). Once again the party sallies forth, at which point a force of 30 drow led by a priestess of Loth attacks immediately from the darkness. As they battle this set of foes they are charged from behind by drow spider knights. The party eventually turns the tide against the drow at which point the spider knights grab the fallen body of the priestess of Loth and race off to the south. The party decides not to pursue, but retreat to their hidey hole. As they retreat they hear a loud thump as the drow reinforcements trigger the block trap in the drowstopper secret door. However, whats this? To their horror they hear the sound of claws scrapping on stone as the umber hulk begins breaking through the stone block. The party rushes back to defend the secret entrance. As they begin their battle with the umber hulk, the little blue goblin blows a shrill note on his flute and disappears. Eventually the umber hulk is slain, and the drow warriors are dispersed, but what happened to the little blue goblin? As the party starts back the hobbit in the lead has to nimbly dodge a backup block trap which comes thundering down to block their retreat. Slowly the awful truth of where the little blue goblin is dawns on them. More next time (hopefully a lot sooner than last times 6 week gap).

Dragon Armies 16

When we last left our intrepid adventurers they were enjoying a bowl of mushroom soup in the secret hidey-hole of the last remaining dwarves of Blackstone mine. The dwarves explain that since the drow invasion the Tunnel Brothers have been honeycombing the mines with secret tunnels to spy on the drow, and developed their "Drowstopper special": a secret door, a 16 ton block dead fall trap, and another secret door behind it at an elevation other than floor level. There is usually a secret switch on the dwarven which deactivates the trap, which you can set if you need to go out, but usual the dwarves just use strategically placed spy holes to watch and listen. Having been at this a few months, the dwarves have of course picked up a few rumors.

• The dark elves are building an altar to their dark gods


• There are over 150 drow warriors in the mines


• One female elven priestess seems to be in charge, although she is assisted by two others and accompanied by a male elf in robes.
  
• The dark elves need royal elven blood to consecrate their altar


• When the altar is complete it will be usable as a gateway bring dark forces in from other parts of the world


• The dark elves have struck a deal with the Black Dragon pirates to use an elven royal the pirates hold captive to consecrate the altar


• The altar is nearing completion, the captive will brought soon


• Although the lesser treasuries of Blackstone mine have been looted, the great treasury has not been found


• When the mines were overrun the master artificer set off an explosion in the workshops which buried the tools and equipment needed for the manufacture of constructs under tons of rubble


• Buried in the rubble is a book which explains the manufacture of amanitium constructs and how to control them

They also provided the players with the map below

***Warning not for the faint of heart, my players have rated this map worst player handout ever***

After reviewing the map, and inspecting the amount of rubble in the workshop (a lot!!). The party formulates a cunning plan (unlike the rangers "lets drop down from the secret door in the ceiling of the main hall and kick their ass"). They will tunnel into the sleeping quarters of the high priestess and slay her by surprise. Unfortunately two days into the seven days required for the secret tunnel a band of black dragon spawn shows up to reinforce the drow, and the ranger comes up with an alternative plan "Lets attack the guard post we past on the way here". More next time.

Dragon Armies 15 Meet the Dwarves

So after diving through the trap door our Dwarven adventurer winds up in a tunnel network face to face with Yellow Bill. Yellow Bill explains that he and 11 other dwarves are all that remain of the dwavern City of Blackstone Mine. Blackstone mine used to be famous for its adamantium mine, the shrine of the Golden Hammer, as well as the adamantium constructs it made. Several months ago Blackstone mine was overrun by a drow army. After King Hrothgar and his shield thanes fell in battle what few dwarves that remained retreated to the secret tunnels to eke out a meager existence staging hit-and-run raids and foraging the fungus caverns below. One of the raids did successfully recover King Hrothgar's crown and return it to the throne room, but none of the survivors felt they had a good enough blood line to claim the throne themselves. For some reason the drow don't seem to bother the adamantium constructs in either the throne room or the Shrine of the Hammer. However they are hard at work forcing their slaves to build a dark altar of adamantium in the central hall of Blackstone mine. A quick review of dwarven genealogies (only 10 minutes) reveals that the parties dwarf is closer to the Royal bloodline (after all he is second cousin once removed to Kings), but having hung out with "Yellow"(wink wink nudge nudge) Bill too long he decides to decline the offer of Kingship of this glorious city. Yellow Bill has yet one more piece of disturbing news. Although the golden hammer of the Shrine of the Golden Hammer rested within in the shrine until last week, a loud explosion then collapsed part of the roof damaging the guardian constructs. Shortly after this the golden hammer disappeared. Strangely enough, Leather Larry disappeared about the same time. Once the conversations have concluded Yellow Bill and the party's dwarf return to the rest of the party via a secret tunnel which bypasses the throne room. After the party's dwarf vouches for the rest of the party, they are invited back to hidden living quarters off the secret passage for some mushroom soup and some needed sleep.

P.S. I used the above sketch to flesh out character ideas for the few remaining soles of this once proud City. Drawing can be very useful for designing NPCs even if I am not Frank Frazetta or Michangelo. I find drawing figures allows ones brain to process character ideas subconsciously while drawing. Note also although there is a label for Leather Larry there is no picture because he's gone (he likes it that way too!)

Sneak Peak Reme

As promised a look a the map I use for Reme. It is in a lot better shape than when the Party blew through it like a warm Summer breeze. However after finishing the map She-Who-Must-be-Obeyed posed the following questions. Where do you buy riding tack, saddle horses, mules, wagons, medicines, potions, fabric, meat or fish for dinner, a new chamber pot, fuel for your fireplace, dishes for your table, glassware to drink from, perfumes and smelly oils for the bath.

Can you buy a warhorse? How would find one? A reference from the armor shop or a listed stable? Where does an adventurer stable a horse? If you live here do you subscribe to a fuel delivery service? How do you get a hold of them? The fine items for the dinner table are they just at the import market or is it a shop that specializes? Do they weave cloth in this town? Can I buy it from a weaver or the guild hall? Are all luxury items like perfume only at the import market or is there a shop or wandering merchant? Can we buy Jewelry? Gems? Is there a bank in town? Is the adventure supply the only place to buy a healing potion? What about refilling your healing kit? Someplace for a housewife to buy cough syrup?

So many questions! I must admit leaving a stable out might be a mistake. However most of MY ADVENTURERS seldom feel the need to purchase fine china, perfume, fuel, cloth or cough syrup. Given the seven markets in the town one thinks one could find a stall with any of these thing. There are also many houses in the town unmarked which could be shops for whatever. However one ignores She-Who-Must-be-Obeyed questions at ones peril, so I must get busy.

Dragon Armies 14

So the party returns to the rubble filled breakdown. It turns out the broken automation are easily outrun and don't have much interest in chasing anyone who leaves the magic circle they guard alone. After a trip through a room of magically suspended pillars and another with a continual darkness at the entrance inhabited by shadows (both in the orginal crypt of Yedloon, new stuff after this point). They arrive at a room with four dark skinned gentlemen in chainmail with pointy ears. "Oh? you must be hear to see the merchants. Well take that passage to the south. No we don't care if you go that way we're not guarding that. " After travelling the corridor south for 50' they arrive at a 30'x 50' chamber with a tent pitched at the southern end were they meet three humans who claim to be merchants. The "merchants" are more than willing to show their wares but insist the party enter the tent one at a time. Once the sorcerer entered the tent its true purpose became apparent as the so called "merchant" transformed into the sorcerer's twin and attacked. Unfortunately the sorcerer was better with a dagger than expected and had the sense to scream "Doppelgangers" loudly. The party made short work of the two doppelgangers and the third decided discresion was required and high tailed it out the northern passage. Rummaging the tent revealed it was blocking a passage heading south. Following the southern passage the party arrived at a large chamber with a central pillar surrounded by 12' tall dwarven statues very similar to the automations in the entry chamber. As the ranger crosses the threshold a voice booms out in Dwarven "State your name and purpose". The ranger says "I'm Shawn, and I'm hear to take a look around". This is followed by "You are unworthy, return from whence you came". Of the ranger wasn't going to let a mere voice boss him around but when he took the next step forward and saw the blue flash from the statues he decided turning around was not such a bad idea. When he consulted with the dwarf, the dwarf told him well that's not a proper name and purpose. The dwarf then crossed threshold and on recieving the challenge again spends five minutes reciting his name and linage back to the begining and explains the party quest for the pillar of history and greeted with "You may approach the throne". On rounding the pillar he sees on a raised platform in alcove on the southern wall a throne carved out of a single block of black stone. Resting in the seat of the throne is an iron circlet set with a blue saphire. As he ponders whether to climb the steps to the throne and grab the circlet, a small panel opens in the western wall and a dwarven voice whispers "Hey budy over here!"

Dragon Armies 13 Into the Dark halls

Well after the Crypt of Yeldoon fiasco a little damage control is required. So on returning to Candololian the elf princess informs the party they have found a interesting notebook hidden in the desk of the lorekeeper and perhaps the party would like to take a look at it (long term readers will remember the party missing this a few installments back). The notebook says that lorekeeper has found a way to open a gate to an ancient dwarven stronghold and this stronghold may be the one with pillar of history which chronicles the history back to the time of legends and may contain clues to the location of the Valley of Ferns. One brief reminder that the automatons looked like dwarven work and the party sets off once more into the breach.

Dragon Armies 12 The Sandbox and the Railroad

***Spoiler Expedition to Undermountain (not that it's not already spoiled)***
In effort to pick up some extra DM points from the Role Playing Gamers Association (RPGA), I decided to try and incorporate some RPGA adventures into my campaign setting. I duly registered my game, downloaded Crypt of Yeldoon from the Undermountain mini campaign. To connect I added added a cave-in to the underdark highway that the Mountain Man card gates to. On game night I issued RPGA cards to the players and had them set out. Well, one look at the arcane magic arcing off the Helmed Horrors in the first room of the Crypt of Yeldoon and the ranger decides well maybe the ice caverns weren't such a bad idea. The party retreats to Candololain for a two hour discussion of what to do next. Then its oh my look at the time it's 11:00 already (did I mention my party plays sloooooow?) we'll pick it up here next time. O.K. so the Crypt of Yeldoon which was supposed to be run in a single four setting on a specific night is now complete (100 ep to the party for peaking their heads into the first room). To add insult to injury the RPGA cards I passed out were too old for the online event reporter to take so I had get every one new cards. Well at least I got a week to rethink this fiasco and come up with a more enticing approach.

P.S. It takes the experienced professionals of the Editions that must not be named to take a sprawling sandbox dungeon like Ruins Undermountain and linearize it into a single track plot hammer railroad. As one my old gamer friends puts it "It should Expedition to a tiny little scrappy piece of Undermountain". In the Crypt of Yeldoon the linearization is handled by the crude expediency of collapsing all the passages which don't lead down the linear track. I can hear my players breaking out the picks and shovels even as I describe it to them. Well at least they finally published maps of all the levels, giving a good 25 pages of useful stuff in 221 pages of text, a better return than many books in the Editions that must not be named .
P.P.S Doppelganger merchants will be borrowed from the Crypts of Yeldoon for the follow-on adventure as well.

Dragon Army 11 A Time of Dwarves

After their hasty retreat to Candololian the party decided to explore the cards and mirrors more. Using the card from the dragon they land in the back alley of a strange and mysterious City travelling out of the alley they arrive at a street selling various strange arcane items. Asking about the dragon they are pointed towards a palace at the center. Asking about where they can sell magical wares they are pointed towards several shops. A bit further conversation leads to a dwarf capable of reforging the dwarf's heirloom axe into a +2 weapon (remind me never to pass out heirloom weapons again). It was a masterwork weapon which was pretty good for first level.Unfortunately by 6th it was significantly underpowered, but there was no way my dwarf was giving it up. After all as the dwarf said "It's an heirloom, all I have left of the Hold I was born in before the evil army burned it to the ground. The evil army army will pay dearly for that!!! Wrooo!!! Wroo!! Booyaah!!" It takes about 10 minutes to get him to stop frothing at the mouth after that (perhaps I will pass an heirloom weapon again, so much role playing for so little). They then decided that they would explore the underground passage reachable from "The Mountain Man". The dwarf voted for underground passages and no one was going to argue with him.

P.S. They spent alot less time shopping in the City (It's Brigadoon but don't tell the players that the'll run away screaming) than I thought they would perhaps running the campaign cash poor has its advantages
P.P.S No map for Brigadoon yet. She-Who-Must-be-Obeyed suggested a maze of streets that rearrange themselves every time they visit. I just may go with that.

Dragon Armies 10 Tomb of the Dragon Lords part 2

Well after two diversionary posts I am back to the main story. When last we left our intrepid adventurers they were standing on a rock bridge in a subterranean cavern. I originally had some ideas about an encounter involving giant bats and people getting knocked off, but we were running late so it got deleted. On either side the cavern drops a 100' to a shallow subterranean pool with no apparent exits. However the hole in the center of the bridge leads to a hidden ledge with a passage leading back under the stone bridge. A 100' along this passage ended in a double iron door of dwarven smithwork covered in runes with a Celtic knotwork dragon on each leaf of the door. The door leaves swing open easily to a light touch. They enter a round chamber with a single door leading off to the side (Battle mat for both this cave and the next shown above, artwork by She-Who-Must-be-Obeyed [unfortunately it was a rush job and not as nice as the previous battle mat]). Again the door is iron with a knotwork dragon, but this dragon wears a crown. This door leads to a large cavern with two stone pillars and a raised stone platform on the far side. On the floor lining the walls of the chamber are six black cauldrons worked with knotwork motifs and handles in the shape of dragon heads. A the iron door is opened a shower of sparks shoot out from the dragons crown lighting a fire in each of the cauldrons. On the stone platform is a two step wooden platform. On the wooden platform sits a wooden throne decorated in (you guessed it) Celtic knotwork dragons. On the throne sits a skeletal form of a robed figure with a golden crown on its head, a golden scepter in his right hand, a golden orb in his left hand, and two gold rings on his fingers. To the left of the throne sits another skeleton on a wooden camp stool dressed in brown wool robes with a dagger made of a 24" long tooth thrust in his belt. A small pouch hangs off his belt as well. To right of the throne sitting on the steps is a skeleton dressed in motley (jester's clothes) with a fools cap on his head, in his right hand is a jester's stick, in his left hand a rubber ball, on his fingers are tied two pieces of string. Further to the right is a large free standing floor mirror covered in black cloth. The party uncovers the mirror at which point the iron double doors in the first chamber slam shut. The party finds the Harrow card The Beating tucked in the mirrors frame. The they hold the card to the mirror and it begins to glow a sickly greenish blue. A bolt of greenish blue energy shoots of the mirror zigzags off every single party member and flies through the single door with the crowned dragon into the antechamber, at which point the single door slams shut. The monk runs over, reopens the door and is confronted by nine adventurers looking identical to the party except for the green glowing eyes, and the gnome who has been replaced by a lizardman. It's roll for initiative time! After soundly trashing their unfriendly counterparts (The party's elven wizard managed to roll high on initiative and get the opening fireball off first), the party investigates the three skeletal figures further and discovers in addition to the merchants belt pouch filled with gold coins, the crowned skeleton has a belt pouch full of gems, and the jester a belt pouch full of rocks and pine cones. Being uncertain what to take they take everything off the three skeletons (Of course nobody bothers to check the cauldrons. If they had wiped the tarnish off of the cauldrons they would have discovered they were pure silver). They retrace their steps to the entrance to the tomb. When they exit the tomb through the rows of pillars in the lake a bolt lighting flashes from the pillars striking the monk who is carrying loot from the jester and the hobbit who is carrying loot from the crowned skeleton. The loot from the king is transformed into a black sword, a black crown, a black orb, a pouch of rocks and pine cones and two pieces of string. The loot from the jester transforms into a golden sword, a golden crown. a golden orb, a pouch of gems, and two golden rings. The old man waits on the far shore to greet them. When they step out from the lake, he asks them for the dagger make from the tooth and they give to him. He then tells them the tale of the six dragon lords, one for each color dragon. He explains when the other five decided to seize control of the world from the elder races (dwarves and elves) how he argued against that course of action. However, the other dragon lords knocked his tooth out and used a magic spell they linked to it to prevent him from interfering with their plans. He points out that now he has the tooth he will be able to unravel this spell. When asked about the other items from the tomb, he explains they will help the party with its struggle against the other dragon lords. When asked about the black sword and crown he suggest caution since they are aligned with evil (they are now stone shaped into the rock in an undisclosed location in the cliffs south of Candololian). He suggests if they have need of him again to contact him to visit him in his city using the Harrow card they just acquired, when the look at the card they notice it has changed into The Keep. He then changes back into his yellow dragon (i. e. gold dragon) form and flies away, mentioning in an oh by the way fashion that the other dragon lords surely have wards around this place and will be on their way to investigate. A brief sound of leathery wings flapping in the distance is more than enough to send the party scrambling back to the obsidian cliffs and through the portal back to Candololian.

Dragon Army 9 Tomb of the Dragon Lords

OK so back to our story. The party having rescued Candololian from the Mists and picking up a new toy to teleport them across the world, are accosted by a strange old man. After assembling the entire party in the brown hills (and several checks to make yes the portals do work both ways), they inquire what the old man has in mind. He explains that not far from here is the ancient tomb of the Dragon Lords which contains an ancient dragon tooth which he is need of. Unfortunately the magic wards surrounding the tomb prevent him from retrieving it himself, but it should not affect a party of unknown adventurers. He will grant them whatever else they can find in the tomb as long as they return the tooth to him. Smelling an obvious plot hook (I try to make them obvious so the players don't miss them). He also warns them in an oh by way fashion that much of whats in the tomb is not as it appears. Arriving at large tumulus in the center of a shallow lake (illustrated once again with a picture from Mysteries of the Himalayas) they spot a path lined with columns leading to the side of the tumulus. The old man whispers a secret word (open turmeric perhaps) and an archway appears in the side of the tumulus. At this point the old man informs them he can go no further, wishes them well, and reminds them of their promise to bring him the tooth. They enter through the archway into a set of stairs leading down. The stairs end in a landing with a hall leading to the right down the hall in the alcove is a giant statue with the palms of its hands upraised (I used Cartophile #7 from Skeleton Key for this level). Continuing down the passage they enter a large chamber near an oval pool. Half oval risers lead up from the pool to a giant statue identical to the first but with a large stone sword laying on the upraised palms. Quickly figuring things out they transfer the stone sword to the statue in the alcove (they may have had to fight some undead as well my notes don't show it though). A loud click is heard and the bottom of the oval pool falls away to reveal a shaft leading down. Dropping down on a rope they descend into a subterranean cavern of flow stone. This portion of the dungeon was drawn by She-Who-Must-be-Obeyed after staring lovingly at the underground caverns in the Rackham Reversible Gaming Tiles (another out-of-print item for you to lust after). Here is the battle mat. More next time!

Older blog posts updated

Being new to blogging I am not sure about the proper morays and protocols for updating older posts. However, since this blog also documents my campaign I feel the need to keep the campaign posts accurate and have figured how to post the campaign maps to the blog (also blogger makes re-editing pages easy). Therefore, I have revised Dragon Army 1 and Dragon Army 3 with new campaign maps, and fixed up the rumor list in Dragon Army 2 to be more flashy and easier to read. I have made several other tweaks throughout the posts to satisfy the whims and dictates of She-Who-Must-be-Obeyed, but if you understood what I said the first time (never mind the spelling and grammar) I wouldn't bother going back to read it again.

Dragon Army 8 Rough Night in Candololian

Most of the party is asleep while the Monk keeps watch by using the throne of Candololian to scrye. Observing the room with the two portals the Monk sees a strange grey four foot long dragon (its a portal drake from the forgotten realms underdark setting) emerge from the lower portal. It sniffs the air as if looking for something winks an eye and disappears. The Monk searches frantically for where it went. A blood curling scream from the bedchamber soon reveals its location. After a desperate melee which wakes the entire party up to rush to the aid of a frantic Magic User, the fell beast is put down. But how did it get in? The sole clue is that the cover has come off the mirror in the antechamber. Whats this wedged in the frame of the mirror? Four cards from a Harrow desk (pazio 2nd adventure path prop) The Big Sky, The Tangled Briar, The Mountain Man, and the Devils Lantern. Touching the mirror reveals the surface to soft and liquid. After sticking the hand and pulling it out a few times one brave soul sticks his head through and notices he is in a pitch black cavern. He hears the sound of dripping water far off, and picks the dang musty smell of wet rock. He looks around his head and notices it is sticking out of a glowing portal similar to the two down in the dungeon. Perhaps the portals are worth investigating further. The party descents to the portal chamber and are promptly jumped by White Spawn who spring from the upper portal, The 12 hordlings go down quickly, the 6 hunters last only a little bit longer, but the chain wielding berserker gives then a decent fight. After the "funny looking lizardmen" are defeated one of the adventures pokes his head through the lower portal and sees rolling hills of reddish clay (Illustrated with a picture from Mysteries of the Himalayas which I had picked up for 5 bucks at Half Price Books) he looks around and sees his head sticking out of the side of a small cliff of obsidian glass. Another adventurer sticks his head through the upper portal and sees a gravel streambed at his feet and above his head Aquamarine light filtering through a ceiling of ice. He notices his head is sticking out from a floor mirror similar to the one in the elven tree house. After the magic user complains about not having enough sleep to get spells back yet. The party returns to the tree house for some more shuteye. Morning finally comes after another tense moment while the ranger uses the throne to scrye another White Swarm patrol which searches the forest in vain (not noticing the secret doors in the trees) and returns back through the portal to their glacial layer. Being severely warned he more sense than to wake the spellcasters yet again. OK time to see what the cards do. Perhaps something to do with the mirror? Holding the Tangled Briar to the mirror switches its destination to a steaming tangled jungle swamp. Holding the Mountain Man to the mirror returns in to the dark cavern it was at originally, risking a light reveals this to be a 30' wide tunnel of natural stone, a rangers practiced eye on the floor reveals a trail worn smooth by the passage of many generations of feet. Holding the Big Sky to the mirror reveals the same red clay hills as the lower portal in the dungeon, in fact there is a small obsidian cliff with a stream of water flowing out from it ab out 100' away. No one feels like using The Demons Lantern. Feeling bold with the mirror tuned to the Big Sky the ranger steps through. He is just about to push back through a liquidy feeling portion of the obsidian cliff when he hears a shrill whistle and a shout of "Hey you". Looking behind he sees a small wizened old man in a sheepskin cloak clutching a gnarled staff. The man beckons the ranger to come towards him and says "Come, Come your already terribly late".

DM Tips

• If your DM imagination ranges from sweltering jungles to glacial tundras its good to have magical transport available
• Props are cool even if you don't use for what they were originally designed for
• Bargain books of photos of strange and exotic locale are a good for inspiring the imagination
• Little old men wandering the wilderness are seldom as vulnerable as the they appear

Dragon Army 7 Candololian Part 3

After pangs of conscience successfully dampen the lusts of greed, players decide to explore the visible door in the library. They open it and discover it leads to a tree limb, not very interesting until the keen eyed ranger spots a well worn train of elven leading out on to the limb. Traveling down the limb they discover the limb of an adjacent tree butting up against the current limb. Traveling up that limb to the trunk they find a secret door to the interior of the new tree. The door leads to an octagonal chamber with a table on one side and a mirror draped with a black cloth on the other side, One side of the octagon is an arch which leads to a circular balcony with two more arches. One arch leads to a bed room. The final arch leads to an alchemists lab. There is also a door on the balcony which leads to a 5' square chamber. Lowering a rope down the central shaft (players of the Elder Scrolls; Morrowwind will be quite familiar with the central shaft style of elven tree architecture) the party thief descends to a 30' by 30' chamber with a large throne carved out of the living wood sitting on a raised dais and two stair cases leading down. Following one of the staircases down the thief discovers that both staircases lead to a 30' x40' muster hall, A quick for secret doors reveals one that leads to the exterior of one of the 50' diameter trees at ground level. Once the thief returns the magic user uses a quick fly spell on the ranger and sends him up the shaft. 20' up is another balcony with three doors. One door leads to a bedchamber, another to a second library, and the third door to a small armoury with a gleaming set of golden chainmail, a golden shield and several masterwork weapons. 40' up the shaft ends in a 30' flat to flat octagonal chamber with a large double bed, two chests and another bookcase. Round portals of stained glass are set in the corners of the room. After the ranger returns he ferries the rest of the party down to inspect the throne. Sitting on the throne the sorcerer discovers something interesting: By focusing his thoughts he can use the throne to scrye areas within a 1/4 mile radius of the throne room. At point the party realizes that they have discovered enough bedchambers that the whole party can get some shut-eye. They promptly assign sentry duty to those nimble enough to use the rope to get up and down to the throne room, show the sentries how to use the throne to keep an eye out, and go to sleep. However, their rest does not go undisturbed. More next time.

Dragon Army 6 Cadololian Part 2

After starting blankly at the giant trees and mumbling about "where's the city?" The lightbulb starts to come on. Elven City? Giant Trees? Hey! Maybe the trees ARE the city? A quick thump on the trunk of a 30' diameter tree reveals it to be hollow. A quick search for secret doors finds one in the trunk. Opening the secret door reveals a 15' x20' chamber whoose walls are lined with a wooden stair case leading upwards. After about three complete turns around the staircase (taking them 90' above the floor) they arrive at a chamber with a roll-top desk sitting in the corner. A short 10' flight of stairs takes them to a 20'x25' with three sides lined with bookshelves and a doorway on the fourth. A quick check for secret doors (after all it's my dungeon right?) reveals a pivoting bookcase behind which lie another set of stairs. Up these stairs another 10' is a bedchamber with a chest at the foot of a bed and another bookcase. Jimmying open the desk reveals three small journals. Persuing the book cases of the library reveal many books on practical arts in many languges. The bookcase in the bedroom holds a set of wizards spellbooks with spells up to 5th level. Openning the chest reveals wizards robes of finest silk. Reading the the jorunals (written in elven of course) reveal that this is indeed the redisence of the loremaster of Candololian as well as the history of the long struggle against the green and white dragon armies as well as the fall of two other elven cities. There is also indirect references to a fourth secret journal which may contain the location of the Valley of Ferns. A search for secret panels reveal one on the back of the scroll top desk and a false bottom in the chest. A detect magic reveals something rod shaped in the false bottom and a couple slips of paper with magic writing gluing both the false bottom and compartment shut. At this point the party's ranger launches into a long soliquiy about whether or not this is really the parties stuff to take in the first place and convinces the party not to open either panel. As a consequence both the fourth journal and a nifty magic item go undiscovered. 500 miles of wanton smash and grab but time to grow consience when a 1/4" of oak separates you from your goal it's enough to make a DM cry or tear his hair out (perhaps it is because small slips of magical paper tend to say " By the time you have finished reading this I will already have expl...."). More of Candololian next time

Dragon Army 5 Candololian

***WARNING RUINS OF CANDOLOLIAN SPOILER***(Aw, Who am I kidding? If you don't read this you won't know anything about Candololian anyhow. Maybe the warning is for later)

So gentle read bear with us as our tale continues. Having avoided certain doom in the Battle of the blue mist (there is a way to escape but its not going to be easy), the party rests in the secret elven watch post. The next day an elven ranger takes them to the graveyard of Candololian which is still outside the mist and shows them the right button to push on the right crypt to reveal a hidden stairway which leads to an underground passageway. After travelling north along the passageway about a mile ( a distance which they reckon puts them well within the mists) the passage turns 45 degrees to the east. Lying on the left side of the passage is an elven skeleton carrying a longbow. Nimbly avoiding the poison spike trap marked by the skeleton they fail to notice the portcullis until it comes slamming down behind them. They continue around a few turns and arrive at a set of double doors. On opening the set of double doors they enter a 30'x30' chamber with a large throne and no obvious exits other than the double doors. Seated on the throne is a skeletal form in black robes with glowing red eyes (old school DMs should recognize this monster immediately). The skeletal form informs them that he can take them further, but once he does there is no turning back, they must conquer all or be doomed to fight for ever. The party, bold adventurers that they are, inform him no thank you and immediately begin to comb the corridor they came down for secret passages. The do find a secret door which leads to a chamber with the windlass to raise the portcullis. They raise the portcullis and "high tail it" back to the watch post. There they consult with the elven princess. She thanks them for returning the skeleton of one her rangers, but informs them she can provide little more assistance than she already has. She has already lost too many rangers trying to reach the center of Candololian, and will not jeopardize the mission to watch Candololian while her liege the elf king still lives. How does she know he still lives, she has an amulet which glows as long as he is alive (this will prove of interest to the party later). She hands them some healing potions, tells them chin up and try again tomorrow. They head back the next day and after hearing the crypt thing's speech again inform them "Yes, yes they are are ready to hazard all". Some get cold feet after the first few disappear in a puff of black smoke, but decide that keeping party together is more important than chickening out, so eventually everyone accepts the crypt thing's offer. They are teleported to several 10' wide 70' corridors each party member to his own individual 10' separated from the next nearest party member by 10'. They establish by shouting that all the corridors are connected. However when they attempt to move back together they discover the true sinister nature of their location the empty 10' squares are all pit traps each with its own spear wielding skeleton warrior (No big shakes for the elven ranger, but it was touch and go for the sorcerer). After dealing with the pits they are able to establish there are four corridors which form a closed loop. In middle of the north most corridor there is a set of double doors which lead to 30'x30' chamber just like the crypt things except here the throne is empty. After various machinations and some grumblings about how long it might take to starve to death, they finally decide to search for secret doors in the pits themselves. Yes there are secret doors in the pits. Where do these secret doors lead? Why 10'x10' chambers with no visible exits. Ignoring one of my newer players stentorian pronouncements "Dave would never put a secret door behind another secret door" the more experienced players ignore him and proceed to navigate the secret door maze (which requires finding FOUR secret doors behind secret doors to get through, sometimes it is very hard to DM with a straight face but such is the cross DMs must bear) and arrive at a landing with a staircase leading down. As usual they cleverly avoid finding the secret chamber filled with treasure so they can continue complaining about what a stingy DM I am. They do however find a magic longbow as well as an additional elven skeleton to return for burial. They descent to a 30' wide by 40' deep chamber with alcoves along the walls. There is a double door on the north, but it is locked. As the party thief fiddles with lock, white spawn ambushers emerge from the alcoves and attack (first indications that perhaps the dragon army is involved with the fall of Candololian). After defeating the ambushers (surprise was not as effective as I had hoped), the party opens the doors to reveal an octagonal chamber containing two glowing portals and a strange device. The device resembles one of those Japanese bamboo fountains where a tube on a pivot gradually fills with water. At a certain point when there is enough water the tube pivots downwards spilling its contents into a pool below (usually with a loud clonking sound as well). Relieved of its load of water the tube swings upwards again to refill and repeat the cycle. The tube in the dungeon is made of iron 6' long and 1' diameter and has a small steel spike in the back from which blue mist drifts upwards through a hole in the ceiling. Water trickles into the tube from a glowing portal 5' above the floor and runs out through another portal behind the device at floor level. Every time the tube dumps its water a big puff of blue mist is generated. The party opens a set of double doors on the far side to reveal a staircase leading up into the blue mist. After some thought the party flips the tube over causing it to be enveloped in its own blue mist at which point it promptly vanishes (not quite the solution I had planned but quite acceptable). They then wait for the mist to clear. Once the mist clears they head up the staircase and find themselves not in a city, but instead a grove of giant trees with tree trunks 30-50' in diameter. More next time.

Dragon Army 4

The players board a boat and head North for Winterhaven. After chasing off a Sea monster and fighting Orc pirates of the coast of Long Island near Cantoon, the party arrives at Winterhaven (I'll post a map sometime soon). Again they collect a page of rumors [Which I seem to to have mislaid for the moment]. The important rumor is about an endless battle which wanders the North woods being demarcated by a blue mist. After carefully avoiding the dwarven mining camp (the sound of blasting was apparently too scary), They encounter Snow Barbarians. They resolve the diplomatic impasse and lack of common language skills by slaughtering all of the barbarians. They then encounter the barbarian encampment and decide, rather than listen to the rangers suggestion of slaughtering the women and child to spare them the agonizing death of starving to death because the are not enough menfolk to provide for them (see prior encounter for what happened to the menfolk), to just sneak past. They then encounter an area of the forest filled with blue mist (see I told that rumor was important). After circling south around the zone of mist (unfortunately the zone seems to be located precisely where they think the ruins of Candololian are) they decide what the heck they'll head in. At which point a stately elf maiden backed by a dozen elven longbow men emerges from the trees and tells them "I wouldn't do that if I were you". She informs them that she is the elf princess left to watch Candololian after the elves fled the coming of the blue mist. She also informs them that the blue mist which normally wanders the forest at random, has remained fixed over the location of Candololian for the last three years. She also informs them that these is a secret underground tunnel, who's entrance is outside the blue mist, that leads to the center of Candololian. Although the ranger elves she has sent to explore this passage have never returned she is certain a party of brave and powerful adventures could succeed in getting into Candololian and breaking the spell which holds the blue mist in place without getting sucked into the eternal battle which occurs in the blue mist above ground.

Dragon Army Part 3

Tonight more rumors. These are from the port town of Reme. The players boarded a ship and headed North for Winterhaven to search for Candololion.

From Town guards:
I got this nice plus two weapon at the price the town asks for a plus one from a man in a wizard hat who came to the town gate from the Tradeway alone at night.
The reason for the truce with the pirates is so they will not need to fight a battle on two fronts when the northern Army arrives.

Folks at The sorcerer’s guild:I know of a wizard in Cantoon skilled at counter magic. He makes charms to counter various
types of magic. One of his that has been seen at the guild was against illusory terrain. Brave ship captains have acquired some of those charms.
We have an outpost on Long Island where Lord Bruce is now. The Sorcerers at outpost were offered a book written in ancient Elven by some pirates. They report it appeared to be someone’s diary and contained no usable spells so they refused it.
I am is considering buying the information that Gheed is selling about the next appearance of Brigadoon
Lord Bruce of the Sorcerer’s guild was directed by the king to go to Cantoon last month.
Lord Bruce is negotiating a truce with the pirates of Long Island. He has not yet returned.

When you ask about Candolion and the Elves that live near there the St. Cuthbert Cleric introduces you to a smith who is a parishioner: “A former apprentice of mine works now in Wahoon and has these last five years. When I was up there last year he told me some well respected Elves live in Wahoon, the merchants there would never side with the snow barbarians against the Elves, it is the Winter Haven folks that like the snow Barbarians.”

From one or more Elves in Reme:
When the Elves of Candolion were over run by the snow Barbarians they fled on foot
to Winter Haven. When they had all reached the port they hired three ships to take them to Reme. Most of the court, including the lore keeper went on one ship. Only two of the three ships reached Reme. The one missing had the king on it. For the past three years we have been seeking
information about the missing ship. We have not seen it since the storm that hit shortly before we reached Reme.
When we lived in Candolion the lore keeper had many books written in ancient Elvish. He was only able to take a few books with him.
There is lore of an old Elven city named Rivendel.
There is a city named Rivendel south of Wahoon but that city is human.
There is lore of a pass through the coastal mountains protected by magical wards and guards somewhere south of the one we used to get to Winter Haven.
Candolion used to trade with Winter Haven for supplies and weapons. The pass between Candolion and Winter Haven is wide and low and easy to find. It can be traveled even in winter as long as you do not get caught in a storm.
Now that we are not up there I expect the next winter the snow barbarians need food they will attack Winter Haven.

From talking to sailors in taverns or on the docks:
Cantoon on Long Island is a known stronghold of the sea Pirates.
Fierce sea creatures guard Cantoon and the chaotic winds thereabout make the shoals near that town tricky to navigate.
Captain Hedric has a charm against running aground that he got off a pirate captain. He had it identified by the sorcerer’s guild.
The lessening in pirate activity is due to the negotiations Lord Bruce is having with them.

Heard in Taverns in Reme:Some of the merchants of Wahoon sold weapons to the snow barbarians to use against the Elves.
Some of the merchants of Winter Haven sold weapons to the snow barbarians to use against the Elves. Candolion was the city of the Elves that got sacked by snow barbarians three years ago.
A ship must carry a secret charm to enable it to make port in Cantoon.
The Sorcerer’s guild has a secret proving ground somewhere on Long Island.
Gheed , a man in a pointed hat has been seen traveling the Tradeway at night with a single wagon.
Wahoon is a small port north of Reme and south of Winter Haven. There is a cleft in the mountains near the city that would seem to be a useful pass but when one goes up the cleft you find it is blocked by a fast ,deep and turbulent river. The river comes out of the northern mountain itself and flows south across the valley before turning east down to Wahoon.
Up in the mountains near Rivendale a friend of a friend uncovered an old spell shaped rock with something he thought was written in Elven on it.

Here is a map they bought off an old sailor (courtesty of She-Who-Must-be-Obayed)

Dragon Army Part 2

Well now it was decision time. Rather than write a dungeon and railroad the party down it. I generated a list of rumors and presented it to the players. We could have role played collecting them from Bards gate, but for my players is usually speedier to hand them a list. I make the rumors sufficiently obscure so no direct information is given away. Here is the list:

Rumors of lost cities:

The Elves speak of the “City of Ferns” believed to be somewhere in the Northern forests. This City is said to be the home of several giant creatures including badgers, frogs, turtles wasps and beetles. The local is said to be a deep valley set within towering crags. In some versions of the story the streams of the valley ran into a lake with a whirlpool, which was its only outlet. In other versions a river ran into the valley and disappeared into a mountain. The last travelers known to have come from the valley died about nine centuries ago. A copy of the diary of these travelers is known to have existed in two of the Elven strongholds that were overrun by the northern army, the fleeing Elves did not bring either copy with them so they now are passing the tale on in oral story.

Another book now lost to the Elves because they had to flee spoke of a city of Mind Flayers in
the Underdark. Many centuries past a horde of Dark Elves succeeded in so damaging parts of the city that the Mind Flayers withdrew to another plane. At that time the Drow came into possession
of several artifacts which even they did not fully comprehend. One of those called a “Plane Cube” is said to be capable of moving a large number of creatures from one plane to another all at the same time.

“The Golden Plateau” was once home of the ancient religious shrine to Corellon Larethian. Only a century ago it was over run by red dragons. The dragons are still using the area for
nesting. It is located far away, beyond the route the Gypsies take. It is
rumored in the Human taverns of Bard’s Gate that a few of the Elves now living
in the city visited the plateau before it was overrun.

“Brigadoon” a city located somewhere in the hills South of Bard’s Gate. Rumored to appear only when celestial objects are in the correct alignment. It is said to be the home of powerful sorcerers who posses lost artifacts. There is a book belonging to a wizard in Bard’s Gate which is reputed to have come from there.

Rumors about known Cities and the routes to reach them:
The trade route over the pass: The gypsies are quoted as saying: ” We are willing to take you the one way but you must make your own way back. There are things up in the pass, which have power over us, we do as they say or we will not be allowed to travel there. We can travel the pass only as long as we can keep the passengers blindfolded through certain parts. If the secrets of the pass are ever revealed to those outside our blood we will not be allowed to go that way again. “ Humans in Bard’s gate agree that those who have gone without the Gypsies have never returned to Bard’s Gate. A few who have gone with the gypsies have come back by way of Port Saskatoon. The merchant Rupert is the best known of these few.

Port Saskatoon lies to the south of Bard’s Gate. It is commonly reached by caravan through hills that harbor bandits. Caravans go both ways and they are usually looking for guards but do not pay very well. It is rumored that if you must take a ship out of the port you should make arrangements to pay off the organization of pirates known as the “ Skull Society “ also known in more polite company as the “Secret Society” or simply as “SS.” The rumor continues that this group can be reached by consulting with the thieves’ guild.

Speculation from the Guards about the Northern Army:
The king’s griffins have made over flights of the northern army that is besieging the Dwarves. They say they have sited a few large probably ancient red dragons in proximity to the army, They speculate that one of them maybe in control of that army.

One of the items carried by the King’s man detected the aura of an artifact in the midst of the northern army. The guards think it was in the possession of one of the Gnoll leaders. The guards
speculate this maybe the artifact known as the Crown of Command or the Scepter of Ruling either artifact could allow its owner to command a very large following. The artifact that made this determination is rumored to be the “Sword of the Rites of St. Cuthbert.”

A massive avalanche was witnessed by the over flight. The avalanche buried many of the army.
The Army was spotted digging in the avalanche, a greater number of undead are now believed to
be in that army. There is speculation that avalanche was the work of the Dwarven high priest Thorwin the Grumbler. Dwarves who have witnessed guards raising a toast to the Grumbler have welcomed the action. One dwarf went so far as to buy a round for the table of guards who drank to the high priest.

News or rumors from the alchemist who works at the Abby:

The Gnome enclave in Reme is working on a clockwork dog to substitute for a riding dog. They are hoping to make one capable of caring a load as large as a Dwarf.

Reakle one of the gnomes who live in Bard’s Gate was given a large pendulum operated clock by his father, Samess before that gnome left with the Gypsies. The use of the clock is that as long as the father is healthy the clock will keep perfect time, if it falters it means he is unwell, if it stops abruptly it indicates he has died. The clock is still keeping perfect time and it has been six months now since the father left. The son is making preparations to follow.

Many Gnomes are worried that the King will not be able to protect the human towns once the northern army turns it’s attention to them. A number of the Gnomes in Bard’s Gate are considering
traveling across the pass to found a new community. Some want to wait for word back trough Port Saskatoon that the trip was a success before going. The gnome Reakle Samesson has promised to
send them a message.

The party caucused and decided to head for the port town of Reme book a boat for the Northern Wilderness and gather more information on the City of Ferns. Not the obvious pick to my way of thinking, but that's why I let the players decide. I think the fact that the party had three elves and only one gnome may help explain.

Dragon Army Campaign

***WARNING MILD SPOILERS FOR NECROMANCER GAMES MODULES AND PAZIO SCHACKLED CITY***
Way back in 2005 I dragged my players kicking and screaming into the modern area by starting this 3rd edition campaign. In honor of DM lack-0f-time and unfamilarity with the rules I started with some modules. Necromancer games 3e rules 1e feel sounded good and the Wizards amulet is free so I ran that one first. I followed it up with the Crucible of Freya and then the Tomb of Abysthor. Orginal party constisted of 3 players each two playing pregenerated characters from the wizards amulet. I placed it all on a homebrew wilderness map which included most of the key features of the Grand Duchy of bards gate but with some tweeks. It also contains the infamous Rappan Attuk, but the players have not stumbled on it yet (I am not pushing it either cause the traps and the entrance are just brutal). The Tomb of Abysthor is a sprawling multi level dungeon just shy of megadugeon status. So several trips were neccesary just to penetrate to second level. In between they paid several vists to the wilderness encounters included as a download supplement for Crucible of Freya. They also battled priests of orcus and gnolls rumored to be scouts for the massive evil army which had driven the Dwarves out of their moutain strongholds years ago (DM riff on a player backstory for the dwarven fighter). They assisted a band dwarves bring supplies into the last remaining Dwarven stronghold. The Surface route is blocked and swarming with gnolls and worse. The dwarves used a secret passage through the underdark which they refuse to show to the players. However they asked the players to lay a false trail through the underdark to through the hobgoblin trackers off the scent. The players did explore the underdark for a little while but decided after seening the trail lead to a rickey rope bridge with lots of stalagmites for cover on the other side to turn back. They did however solve the gnoll tracking problem by slaughtering hobgoblin rangers and their hynea tracking hounds on the way back out. They also found an abandoned gnomish workshop at the base of the mountain with the underdark which was actually a secret entrance to the lost gnomish city of Jzadirune (from the Pazio Shackled City book). Here they freed three elves from the underdark slave pits beneath Jzadirune (two more players joining in, one with sense enough to run only one character). The illustrious city of Bards gate had finally been published so a trip there was in order. There they hooked up with the temple of Thyr whose ruined temple they had run across previously in the valley in front of the Tomb of Abysthor. The high priest of Thyr hooked them up with a palidin of Muir to return to the tomb and recover some sacred relics which had been lost there. At the end of the mission I decided I had run enough "canned stuff" that I could start writing my own stuff again. More next time.

Lessons learned:

• My players play very slow. Mostly because we all work for a living and have many other social obligations. On game nights we usually don't get started until 8 and have to quit at 11


• Tailoring modules to your homebrew world is a lot of fun


• Necromancer Games is "Old school" the modules actually feel like C. Petersons and B. Webbs campaign. If you look for the downloads you can actually find some of their campaign notes


• Most canned modules are not geared for short term play


• Players like it better when the game is tailored to their hopes and wants canned modules have a rough time with this


• If you listen to your players the world writes itself