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Ahwe Yahzhe
Acolyte
Iraq
36 Posts |
 Posted - 15 Jul 2006 : 04:41:04
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My party of "Rescuers":
Barbarian 1/Hexblade 4
Sorceror 5
Druid 5
Sorceror 3/Monk 2
Druid 5
When this party snuck into Xul-Jarak, this is what happened:
(spoilers?)
After sneaking past the wyvern, they stumbled into the main chamber of Vhazror. After getting cornered in a big nasty fight, they ran away- down into the dungeon.
So, being chased from above by nearly the entire citadel guard, they made a commando-style raid of every level of the dungeon, straight down to the main baddie himself. By the time they defeated him and rescued the scions, they were beaten to within an inch of their lives and fresh out of cure spells and wands.
Of course, there was still an entire citadel full of orcs descending to find the party, so like the earlier poster, I had to add a geographically convenient cave-in to the bottom level so they hide out and heal for a couple days. Even then, getting out was "tricky"...
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webmanus
Learned Scribe
Sweden
338 Posts |
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Brenigin
Learned Scribe
New Zealand
117 Posts |
Posted - 05 Dec 2006 : 20:19:38
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| I don't believe there is an official date. There's no direct ties to other Realms events, and the info on the ruling families of Melvaunt is a little out of kilter with Mysteries of the Moonsea and the 2E Moonsea sourcebook. |
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WalkerNinja
Senior Scribe
USA
575 Posts |
Posted - 23 Feb 2007 : 19:08:48
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For what its worth, I am now running this adventure. I will be posting its progress here: http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8540 in the Adventuring section of this forum. Alternately, it appears in the Campaign Journals section, but the scribe overseeing that appears to have gotten back-logged.
Characters are currently:
Angorn the Black: Barb1/Fighter2/Ranger1 Dwarf male
Elsanoth New Moon: Rogue2/Fighter2 Moon Elf Male
Davram Dvorak: Fighter2/Cleric of Shaundakul1/Ranger1
Bartolous Dvorak: Wizard 4 (divination)
Elsvelle Dvorak: Bard 4
Danirri Lathen: Wizard2/Cleric of Mystra1 |
*** A Forgotten Realms Addict since 1990 ***
Treasures of the Past, a Second Edition Play-by-Post game for and by Candlekeep Sages--http://www.rpol.net/game.cgi?gi=52011 |
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WalkerNinja
Senior Scribe
USA
575 Posts |
Posted - 26 Feb 2007 : 15:40:11
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First Contact at Xul Jarak has been made.
The party flouted convention by sending Elsanoth and Davram up the walls to swiftly and silently dispatch the guards up top. Both were reasonably invested in Hide/Move Silently, and Davram wields a Greatsword with Favored Enemy (Orc) from his level of Ranger. Additionally, Davram stripped his armor and most of his equipment to avoid penalties.
Rooms 18, 19, 21, 22, 23A-B, and 24 of the top floors were cleared with little disturbance. They also managed 3A-B, 5, and 7 quite neatly. 7 (the tavern) gave a bit of trouble, but a sleep spell by a party wizard cut down a lot of combat, in addition to a good use of a surprise round. I will note that 7 was taken on after the upper levels was the second to last area cleared. 24 was the last, and their presence was made known to the inhabitants of area 14 at that time. The session ended before the repurcussions of that revelation were realized.
What was your party's experience up to this point? |
*** A Forgotten Realms Addict since 1990 ***
Treasures of the Past, a Second Edition Play-by-Post game for and by Candlekeep Sages--http://www.rpol.net/game.cgi?gi=52011 |
Edited by - WalkerNinja on 26 Feb 2007 15:43:02 |
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MerrikCale
Senior Scribe
USA
947 Posts |
Posted - 01 Mar 2007 : 02:01:27
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quote:
Originally posted by WalkerNinja
Angorn the Black: Barb1/Fighter2/Ranger1 Dwarf male
Elsanoth New Moon: Rogue2/Fighter2 Moon Elf Male
Davram Dvorak: Fighter2/Cleric of Shaundakul1/Ranger1
Bartolous Dvorak: Wizard 4 (divination)
Elsvelle Dvorak: Bard 4
Danirri Lathen: Wizard2/Cleric of Mystra1
I like that group. anything written on them somewhere here? |
When hinges creak in doorless chambers and strange and frightening sounds echo through the halls, whenever candlelights flicker where the air is deathly still, that is the time when ghosts are present, practicing their terror with ghoulish delight. |
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WalkerNinja
Senior Scribe
USA
575 Posts |
Posted - 06 Mar 2007 : 21:41:47
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Just here
Mod edit: Tweaked the URL coding. 
Poster edit:Thanks Wooly. Alaundo taught me how to do that once, but I have forgotten... |
*** A Forgotten Realms Addict since 1990 ***
Treasures of the Past, a Second Edition Play-by-Post game for and by Candlekeep Sages--http://www.rpol.net/game.cgi?gi=52011 |
Edited by - WalkerNinja on 06 Mar 2007 22:41:34 |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 07 Mar 2007 : 00:16:23
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I figured out how to do it by quoting other people, and seeing what they did... But it's easier to use info that someone else nicely explained. The Forum FAQ gives examples on the forum code used herein.
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Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen!  |
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Diffan
Great Reader
USA
4441 Posts |
Posted - 28 Mar 2012 : 03:47:40
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*Casts Reanimate Scroll*
Well I'm DM'ing through this adventure with my group and I'm currently at an impasse. I have two PCs and two DMPCs in the adventure. The first PC is a Chondathan human Scout 4/ Ranger 1 (from the Dalelands) who's secretly working for the Zhentarim, though he's Chaotic Neutral and happily plays both sides. The Zhents just pay more. He's here because he's rooting out followers of Cyric that are still within the Zhentarim. He also knows that to get higher prestige within the organization, he'll need to prove himself with grand tales and adventures (and sport a few magical items) to be taken seriously. And he hates Orcs so going into their stronghold and killing them all is a grand good time.
The second PC is my wife's half-wild elf Spirit Shaman 5 of Rillifane Rallathil who's main goal is keeping the balance of peace in the Moonsea. She's also looking for her half-brother and a whole backstory about their father's legacy (possibly bringing in Legacy Items from v3.5).
The two DMPCs are a LE covert-Zhentish Fighter 5 (named Grakul) and a LN Aasimar Cleric of Kossuth. The Fighter was a PC but the player left for a time so nothing backstory is really going on with him and the cleric was investigating a plague that broke out in Glister (how he met the other PCs) and he's pretty much just stuck with them for now.
So the situation: First they snuck into the fortress through a crack into the Kitchen wall. They were aided by the Shaman's Obscuring Mist spell and the Scout's impressive Hide checks. They kill the orcs there, hide the bodies (rather poorly), and barricade the kitchens. After that they slew 3 guards on the roof and made sure their bodies fell outward, into the bog. Then they proceeded into the Dungeon-level areas and thus completely by-passing all the action on the main level.
In the dungeons, they slew everyone up to the 3rd sub-level. At this point in the adventure the Orcs above have found the dead bodies in the Kitchen and have sounded the alarm. With some fast thinking and the Shaman newly gaining the ability to Stone Shape, the quickly cut off any pursuit of the orcs above. They ventured further into the 4th sub-level and slew the Tanarukk guards (4 of them) and 8 other Orc soldiers. But they're nearly depleated of spells and healing and need to rest. If they go further into where they're headed, they'll face the BBEG and his minions which most likley will kill all the PCs. If they go the other way, they're sure to run into the lesser drakes (I believe) and might die there. I'd rather have them NOT die under these circumstances but I'm left with litte choices.
So I'd like some ideas or advice. I could move the Drakes to another section of the dungeon and show them the passage to the Underdark (which isn't mapped, just shortly explained where it goes) and hope they travel down there for about 1/2 hour and rest for 8 hours. I could have the BBEG underpowered to meet their lower equipped selves, but that seems like it defeats the purpose of it being challenging. I could have them hold up in a section of the dungeon but with Orcs on both sides, I highly doubt they'll rest undesturbed for 6-8 hours and probably die being penned in, plus it seems to me that Orcs wouldn't stay stationary for that long a period. Or I could leave it completely up to them and see if they get themselves killed.
Other ideas or suggestions?? |
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Icelander
Master of Realmslore
1864 Posts |
Posted - 28 Mar 2012 : 04:09:02
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When the players planned the infiltration, what were their goals, how did they plan to accomplish them and what was their planned exfiltration point?
If the answer boils down to 'what do you mean, planned?', then let them die, by all means.
Sounds to me like they've wandered in with little idea what they hope to accomplish there and how they are going to go about it.
If they did plan, then they must have anticipated that at some point, the alarm would be called. After all, they did kill guards and leave their bodies, which even the least competent enemies tend to notice.
Assuming that they didn't plan on fighting an unknown number of enemies on unfamiliar ground for no clear reason, they surely had some method of exfiltration while under attack, right? They'll try that and either it will work or it won't.
Sounds like they could have used some reconnaissance, in any case. Discover the strength of the enemy inside Xúl-Jarak and from that, either come up with a plan to defeat them all by themselves* or estimate what would be needed to fight them and go and arrange for a force of that size. They work for the Zhentarim and the Zhentarim have an organised military, with magical support. If I was a Zhentarim officer, I'd rather have paid agents who brought me useful information than ones who snuck into forts for fun, especially if they then didn't know how to get out.
If the PCs were looking for the noble kid, did they have any reason to know where in the fort they could find him, how he was guarded, etc.? If not, sneaking into the fort and starting to kill guards would seem like a good way to get him and themselves killed. Even if they did, killing guards is unlikely to succeed without rousing an alarm. People don't die silently all that often, unless you're extremely lucky. And if they live long enough to wound you, well, you've probably made a hellish racket.
*Unlikely, given that they had trouble with a small part of them. |
Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela!
Forgotten Realms fans, please sign a petition to re-release the FR Interactive Atlas
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Edited by - Icelander on 28 Mar 2012 04:17:23 |
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Diffan
Great Reader
USA
4441 Posts |
Posted - 29 Mar 2012 : 06:28:10
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quote:
Originally posted by Icelander
When the players planned the infiltration, what were their goals, how did they plan to accomplish them and what was their planned exfiltration point?
If the answer boils down to 'what do you mean, planned?', then let them die, by all means.
Sounds to me like they've wandered in with little idea what they hope to accomplish there and how they are going to go about it.
Well, yea that's pretty much what happened. They went on a quest to infiltrate the Orc temple yet had no idea there were sub-levels. They did a decent job of getting in unobserved and an even more impressive job mopping up stragglers that might sound the alarm. The orcs haven't been posing big problems, but they have been hammering away at their resources, which is what the crux of the problem is. They're on the 'final' level of the dungeon and possibly facing the main enemy of the adventure. I'd like this part to be difficult, but not so much that chances of success are near impossible.
Now, the orcs who've sounded the alarm and rushed into the dungeons have been held...well....for a long while due to the Shaman's multiple castings of Stone Shape. This is something I was particularly proud of because they came up with a nice solution for something I personally added. See, the adventure says nothing of the orcs above assaulting the lower dungeons because it assumes the PCs either kill them or do a good enough job hiding the bodies that the main part of the dungeon adventure is over before the alarm is sounded.
So I can leave them to their fate, having the main BBEG attack the PCs with his spellcasting buddy and demolish the PCs in one battle OR I can give them another out, possibly holding up in the Underdark and resting until the final ritual starts. This would prolong the adventure by giving them an opportuinity to defeat the main foe. The catch, however, is that they're most likely going to have to face more monsters (ie. lots of Orcs) to get to the bad guy, but at least they're starting fresh. |
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Diffan
Great Reader
USA
4441 Posts |
Posted - 04 Apr 2012 : 05:32:49
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Well last night they did something that I should have assumed from the start, they went after the BBEG with 1/2 their spells gone and at least with 3/4 their hit points. But they stuck true to their characters and did what they felt their characters would do. I did not pull any punches and freely rolled out in the open, letting the dice speak for themselves. And they won.
Suffice to say, Entangle and Hold Person are some wicked spells to have ready. The scout of the group was the only one who started near max Hit Point (2 below full) and after the suprise round and 1st round, had a whopping 5 HP left. When the other PCs join the fray, things got better as the Cleric held Thrull (the main BBEG) for 4 rounds with Hold Person and the Spirit Shaman uses Entangle to keep most of the bad-guys from trying any flanking shenanigans. And I also rolled terribly with my attacks against the PCs, pretty sad indeed.
Suffice to say, the encounter ended with One PC dead (not coming back at -16 HP), 1 PC that carried 5 HP throughout the whole battle, and 2 fairly un-injured PCs. Needless to say, the dice favored them considerably. |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7989 Posts |
Posted - 04 Apr 2012 : 06:12:09
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The dice are wonderful at times, even when they roll apparently awful, incomprehensible, or meaningless things. I'm a firm enforcer of open dice rolling (dice clattering actually, upon The Cookie Sheet Of Doom) by all participants, including the DM (me), and stubborn believer in applying the rolled results without any fudging. This sometimes requires some head scratching or causes climactic events of tremendous import to happen "differently" than desired. In fairness though, I'll allow sometimes extraordinary modifiers to apply, and the players sometimes have no idea why they're rolling dice.
My logic is that if, being being honest with yourself, you really favour or expect certain results or rule out others ... well, that's hardly random at all. Either determine results beforehand or fully accept whatever you randomly roll - no such thing as a bad roll breaking the game. Every utterly random, merciless, and somewhat boggling random encounter adds to the adventure, as does every spell failure, every missed strike, every failed skill check. |
[/Ayrik] |
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Eli the Tanner
Learned Scribe
United Kingdom
149 Posts |
Posted - 06 Apr 2012 : 17:22:27
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I have a few lore questions for the scribes here about this module.
Firstly I can't seem to find any reference to what year the adventure is set in. I'm assuming this was done to make it a 'pick-up and play' and avoid clashes with other canon. Have any of you learned folk managed to place it chronologically though...given the events and political setting?
We went with 1372 when we ran it and given the weather (when cross-referenced with Mysteries of Moonsea) I'd place it in the later half of the year...autumnish.
Considering some of the political differences between the Mysteries of the Moonsea and Sons of Gruumsh, this probably could occur anytime during 1360+
Secondly I'm curious about stuff like the council of iron and other unexpanded nuggests like that...do these still exist in 1373 or has some reforming gone on?
Disentangling knowledge
-Eli |
Moderator of /r/Forgotten_Realms |
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Sons of Gruumsh
