| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Fokker |
Posted - 24 May 2021 : 16:50:13
Hi all, next part of my “Home before the sky falls” campaign continues based on my player choices. Defeated, but unbroken army of Impiltur is trying to return home from frozen Vaasa and PC’s input is that they would like to take option of moving through lost “dwarven freeway” which was part of ancient Sarphil kingdom. I used Sarphil pdf found here for inspiration, and my idea is that there is (un?)broken underground route starting from Hillsafar halls in the Galenas mountains, all the way to Laviguer/Vordric Dun or some similar area (maybe Dunfee) in Earthspur mountains.
Besides aforementioned Sarphil, what other (mega)dungeons would you recommend to buy/look into for inspiration. Idea us to have a kind of linear, Moria-like dungeon where an army (approximately 5000 people) would enter on one side (Hillsafar halls) and travel underground/under the mountains for a period of time before hopefully appearing on the other side. Any input, not just FR specific, is more then welcome.
Thanks |
| 14 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Eilserus |
Posted - 21 Jun 2021 : 16:16:26
The Fall of Myth Drannor adventure book has some Sarphil info that may be of interest. Page 34 under The Lost Trench entry details a highway of sorts in the form of "old diplomatic-access tunnels from Sarphil under the Old Elven Court ruins." While this was collapsed in that epic battle, it's reasonable to believe they may have had others in different areas. |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 01 Jun 2021 : 19:30:06
Just wondering, when did they actually destroy the tree (mind you, wouldn't be surprised by it)?
On Orcus getting revenge on Damara. Yes, I was very much surprised to see him coming back in the 5e adventure and him not being at all interested in Damara... it felt wrong. That being said, as a god of the undead, he could very much still raid Damara even with the white tree/tree gem gone. Of course, since Yarin Frostmantle took over and supposedly killed off all of the descendants of the Dragonbane family twenty years ago as of the writing of the 4e campaign setting... so 1460'ish.... maybe Orcus ALREADY came to Toril and VIA Yarin Frostmantle or some other source initiated the killing off of the descendants of Gareth and Christine Dragonsbane and the replacement of its leaders.
One thing I will note regarding demons is that the novels in 4e related to the "Chosen of Nendawen" are based on the border of Damara as well, and involve Narfell being invaded by demon-like entities, plus Impiltur sees a rise in Demonic activity according to the 4e FRCS.... so at least on the borders of Damara (which don't forget Dun-Tharos / Narathmault) there's a burgeoning demonic presence. |
| PattPlays |
Posted - 01 Jun 2021 : 03:51:55
quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
quote:
Originally posted by Fokker
quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
Ok, so without reading through the other thread, some things to bear in mind given the timeframe mentioned. Within Damara, fiends should not be a problem for NOW, because of the Tree Gem provided by Bahamut to Gareth and company. It very well could be an interesting thing for you to run if fiends actually contact these avatars to try and lead an army to destroy the tree gem and the party has to defend it (maybe said army is trying to get into bloodstone pass via the underdark and the party has to block them IN the underdark).
Also, during this timeframe, because of the "killing" of Tiamat by Gareth and company, chromatic dragons may still be on the border and looking to invade Damara. There might be some of these traversing through the underdark as well. Former members of the cult of Orcus... with their drive towards necromancy and undeath... might also be recruited by the Cult of the Dragon, and dracoliches of various sorts might be something you might want to use (including things like half-dragons that become dracoliches).
Where can I find more info on that Tree Gem provided by Bahamut?
Btw in my previous campaign Gareth died, along many others, assaulting Castle Perilous. As Realms is now cut off from all other planes, fiends are not in the picture anymore, but there are plenty of their (former) agents left taking advantage of the opportunity/new order of things.
The FR9 Bloodstone Lands accessory, which if you are adventuring in the area, I'd highly recommend. That being said, if you've removed Gareth and totally changed the area...
Notes from FR9
"The adventure did not end there. Bahamut, the Platinum Dragon, gave Gareth the Tree-Gem, and sent the victorious heroes back to Bloodstone. Once planted, the gem grew into a beautiful white tree, a symbol of hope with the power to forever banish Orcus and the other monsters of the Abyss from the Bloodstone Lands."
Also from the 1e Throne of Bloodstone (some of which is retconned, such as Orcus being banished, etc...)
Although the Tree-Gem of Bloodstone works as "demon repellent",
keeping all demons of all sorts from entering the lands under the Throne of Bloodstone, Orcus never forgets the injury the adventurers have done him, and he vows eternal revenge. Using his evil magic to bring neighboring princes under his sway, Orcus
might stir up war against Bloodstone, or recruit assassins and agents to wreak havoc inside the kingdom. Should the heroes venture outside their borders for any reason, such as to lead their armies in battle, powerful demons are likely to attack.
It will take a full century for Orcus to rebuild the Wand of Orcus. Until that time the demon#146;s power is lessened. But Orcus has a long memory, and the descendants of the heroes may be the targets of his wrath.
Fast forward a hundred years and orcus DID show up on the material plane, in the east, with his wand. And the white tree withered in 1480. Imagine if WOTC had actually given Orcus his due in the rage of demons, and he launched an assault on the now undefended Damara...
Do we think there is an underdark passage underneath The Ride or other northeastern areas on the way to Damara? I always imagined to get out there through the underdark you'd have to navigate those terrifying caverns somewhere west of Thay, with that sea of skulls or something. |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 27 May 2021 : 16:18:09
quote:
Originally posted by Fokker
quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
Ok, so without reading through the other thread, some things to bear in mind given the timeframe mentioned. Within Damara, fiends should not be a problem for NOW, because of the Tree Gem provided by Bahamut to Gareth and company. It very well could be an interesting thing for you to run if fiends actually contact these avatars to try and lead an army to destroy the tree gem and the party has to defend it (maybe said army is trying to get into bloodstone pass via the underdark and the party has to block them IN the underdark).
Also, during this timeframe, because of the "killing" of Tiamat by Gareth and company, chromatic dragons may still be on the border and looking to invade Damara. There might be some of these traversing through the underdark as well. Former members of the cult of Orcus... with their drive towards necromancy and undeath... might also be recruited by the Cult of the Dragon, and dracoliches of various sorts might be something you might want to use (including things like half-dragons that become dracoliches).
Where can I find more info on that Tree Gem provided by Bahamut?
Btw in my previous campaign Gareth died, along many others, assaulting Castle Perilous. As Realms is now cut off from all other planes, fiends are not in the picture anymore, but there are plenty of their (former) agents left taking advantage of the opportunity/new order of things.
The FR9 Bloodstone Lands accessory, which if you are adventuring in the area, I'd highly recommend. That being said, if you've removed Gareth and totally changed the area...
Notes from FR9
"The adventure did not end there. Bahamut, the Platinum Dragon, gave Gareth the Tree-Gem, and sent the victorious heroes back to Bloodstone. Once planted, the gem grew into a beautiful white tree, a symbol of hope with the power to forever banish Orcus and the other monsters of the Abyss from the Bloodstone Lands."
Also from the 1e Throne of Bloodstone (some of which is retconned, such as Orcus being banished, etc...)
Although the Tree-Gem of Bloodstone works as "demon repellent",
keeping all demons of all sorts from entering the lands under the Throne of Bloodstone, Orcus never forgets the injury the adventurers have done him, and he vows eternal revenge. Using his evil magic to bring neighboring princes under his sway, Orcus
might stir up war against Bloodstone, or recruit assassins and agents to wreak havoc inside the kingdom. Should the heroes venture outside their borders for any reason, such as to lead their armies in battle, powerful demons are likely to attack.
It will take a full century for Orcus to rebuild the Wand of Orcus. Until that time the demon#146;s power is lessened. But Orcus has a long memory, and the descendants of the heroes may be the targets of his wrath. |
| BadCatMan |
Posted - 27 May 2021 : 03:47:10
The dwarves have a much, much, much longer tunnel running under much of Faerűn. It could easily have an extension eastward to wherever you need. You could say it's a part that Sarphil built.
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Long_Road_(Underdark)
The route would also like run through the fallen dwarf realm of Roldilar in the Vast.
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Roldilar
Earthfast is a good dwarf city to visit on the Impilturan side:
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Earthfast |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 27 May 2021 : 03:26:19
You'd have to dress and populate them yourself, but there are a metric buttload of free maps available at http://paratime.ca/friday.html
And that guy has done a lot of stuff for WotC, including the recent Undermountain book. |
| Lord Karsus |
Posted - 27 May 2021 : 01:58:29
-I just did an abandoned ancient mine thing in my own campaign, and Skyrim was pretty useful in terms of maps and ideas. |
| Fokker |
Posted - 26 May 2021 : 21:45:52
quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
Ok, so without reading through the other thread, some things to bear in mind given the timeframe mentioned. Within Damara, fiends should not be a problem for NOW, because of the Tree Gem provided by Bahamut to Gareth and company. It very well could be an interesting thing for you to run if fiends actually contact these avatars to try and lead an army to destroy the tree gem and the party has to defend it (maybe said army is trying to get into bloodstone pass via the underdark and the party has to block them IN the underdark).
Also, during this timeframe, because of the "killing" of Tiamat by Gareth and company, chromatic dragons may still be on the border and looking to invade Damara. There might be some of these traversing through the underdark as well. Former members of the cult of Orcus... with their drive towards necromancy and undeath... might also be recruited by the Cult of the Dragon, and dracoliches of various sorts might be something you might want to use (including things like half-dragons that become dracoliches).
Where can I find more info on that Tree Gem provided by Bahamut?
Btw in my previous campaign Gareth died, along many others, assaulting Castle Perilous. As Realms is now cut off from all other planes, fiends are not in the picture anymore, but there are plenty of their (former) agents left taking advantage of the opportunity/new order of things. |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 26 May 2021 : 16:01:33
Ok, so without reading through the other thread, some things to bear in mind given the timeframe mentioned. Within Damara, fiends should not be a problem for NOW, because of the Tree Gem provided by Bahamut to Gareth and company. It very well could be an interesting thing for you to run if fiends actually contact these avatars to try and lead an army to destroy the tree gem and the party has to defend it (maybe said army is trying to get into bloodstone pass via the underdark and the party has to block them IN the underdark).
Also, during this timeframe, because of the "killing" of Tiamat by Gareth and company, chromatic dragons may still be on the border and looking to invade Damara. There might be some of these traversing through the underdark as well. Former members of the cult of Orcus... with their drive towards necromancy and undeath... might also be recruited by the Cult of the Dragon, and dracoliches of various sorts might be something you might want to use (including things like half-dragons that become dracoliches). |
| Fokker |
Posted - 26 May 2021 : 11:19:04
Thank you all very much for constructive feedback.
@HighOne - I have already downloaded Under Ilefarn from here, so am looking into that.
@PattPlays - My next purchase will probably be 3e Underdark, sounds like a very usable book in this case (luckily I already have a hard copy of Abyss campaign for 5e, so I might steal some things from there as well).
@sleyvas - as to your first question, Yes, exactly that. Current campaign date is very late 1371 DR (so no spellplague). If interested, you can find a bit more on my Dying Relms thread (here on Candlekeep, from early May 2021).
@PattPlays - Portals are very neat idea, but since I already had “chaos taint” affecting (my version of) Realms, most of the portals are not in usage anymore. Precious few that remained functioning still carry the risk of users being affected with “chaos taint” so probably is not a very valid option.
Major overall idea is that there are avatars of Maglubiyet and Bargrivyek, as exarchs of Bane, martaling hobgoblin army for an assault on Damara and/or Impiltur. Since drow elves all left the world, there’s also a kind of expansion of duergar or other underground races. I’m using Northern Journey campaign (Impiltur) as basis for the lore/canon for all these regions, and most of the effects from finishing that campaign are listed in Dying Relms thread mentioned above.
Once again, great inputs, thanks all. |
| PattPlays |
Posted - 26 May 2021 : 02:46:47
Not to mention the Shadow Path of portals, which are likely not where you're looking to run this thing but the articles and books on the realms that exist can sometimes produce close tied networks of portals that can take an elaborate trip across the world to save some time frm point A to point B, of course you're encouraged to create some. Why build a road when you could teleport across the best roads already laid? |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 25 May 2021 : 21:13:18
So, to be clear, you want to have your players travel from Vaasa to Impiltur via the underdark essentially, and you're looking for "what might be along the way"?
Just some things that come to mind are (with no knowledge of what "date" you're doing this in mind you)
In H2 Mines of Bloodstone, there's a bunch of duergar caverns and the temple of Orcus. Exactly what's in them now since they were kind of cleared around 1358? Who knows.
Post Spellplague there's Telos and the Warlock Knights of Vaasa, and there's where Telos' body is being mined.
There's Dun-Tharos/(Narathmault) and Dun-Orthass(which is in Impiltur)
There's V'elddrinnsshar under the entry for Kiaransalee in Demihuman Deities as an old dark elven city that was taken over by the duergar and then returned to dark elven hands.
|
| PattPlays |
Posted - 25 May 2021 : 03:08:12
Even if it's some superstructure built by hand and magic, if it's been left to ruin for some time it's basically underdark wilderness. So be sure to grab 3rd edition's Underdark for solid realms ecology and some great tables for dangerous inhabitants of this ancient freeway you suggest. It would be neat to have difficulty increase with a horizontal progression as opposed to a vertical progression for once in a megadugneon-like environment. |
| HighOne |
Posted - 24 May 2021 : 17:09:37
The first thing that came to mind (after Undermountain) was another FR-based under-a-mountain adventure, Under Illefarn. Eric L. Boyd created an excellent, greatly-expanded version called Under Illefarn Anew, which can be had for free online (http://www.candlekeep.com/library/lore.htm#rumours). The last chapter details Runedardath, an ancient dwarven stronghold beneath Mount Illefarn. I'm sure you could mine it for inspiration. |
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