Eberron DCC part 1 [SPOILERS!]

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DanFor
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Eberron DCC part 1 [SPOILERS!]

Post by DanFor »

SPOILERS!!!

I know the “official” DCC world book is due out soon. But, I recently ran DCC#1 using Eberron and DCC#14 (Dungeon Interludes) as the back-drop for an on-going campaign. My players don’t know anything about Eberron (other than it’s a D&D campaign setting). I really like the Eberron setting and I’ve invested a lot of money on the books, so the pieces of Eberron that I added were more for my benefit than anything else. I am posting this to provide ideas for like-minded DMs who would like to set a DCC campaign in the world of Eberron.

In my campaign, Skullshank is trying to open a portal to Xoriat using the Oculum Infernae. Since I’m using the Dungeon Interludes/War of the Summoner campaign, I decided to incorporate the dungeon from Chapter 1 (The Eye of the Night) as a fifth level to the silver mine dungeon. The PCs were hired to rescue Thistle, the thornblood druid, from Lawrence Gannu’s daelkyr-worshipping wererat goblins. In my campaign, Thistle has connections to the Gatekeepers. Other changes to the dungeon(s) included switching locations for Gannu and Blood Whisker. I changed the domains for the goblin clerics from Destruction/War to Earth/Evil (Cults of the Dragon Below). The rat god statues were replaced with daelkyr statues. The fiendish dire rats in the mud maze were replaced with chokers (aberrations of the daelkyr). I removed all references to the Gannu family found in the original DCC#1 module, and Gannu’s revenge was targeted at the Church of the Silver Flame rather than Silverton. A letter found in the last chamber revealed that Gannu was trying to obtain the Eye of the Night for someone named Tsathzar Rho (who in turn works for the Summoner). The letter mentioned that the gem was needed before the “astral conjunction” occurred.

The PC party consisted of a human fighter, a halfling rogue, a dwarf wizard, a female elf cleric, and two elf rangers (one male and one female). I halved all experience points earned to prevent the PCs from leveling up too quickly (they still made it to 3rd level by the end). We ran the entire dungeon in two 8-hour sessions (starting at 2:00 PM and ending around 10:00 PM) with a pizza break for each session. The elf rangers both had high Search modifiers, so all but two secret doors were found. The secret door leading to Serenna’s prison was one of the undetected doors. Bonus experience points were earned by the halfling rogue when he used a ring of climbing and a coil of rope to create a make-shift rope “bridge” along the ledge of the gray ooze pool. The player of the dwarf wizard also earned bonus experience points for providing comic relief (every time a room was cleared of monsters, he was always the first to yell, “SEARCH!”). Thistle gave the Eye of the Night to the elf cleric for safe-keeping since she was the only divine spell-caster in the group.

All of the players are planning to attend the next session, so it appears that the module (plus a level) was a success, despite my changes. Everyone agreed, though, that they do not want to fight another wererat ever again. :lol: I intend to run DCC#11 (The Dragonfiend Pact) next, so I’ll probably replace the werebadger in that module, for their sake. I plan to have Malchor, who is also working with Tsathzar Rho and Skullshank, steal the Eye of the Night from the elf cleric during an overnight stay at the inn in Welwyn.
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Eberron DCC part 2 [SPOILERS!]

Post by DanFor »

I’ll go ahead and post Part 2 to this thread.

SPOILERS!!!

As I said in my previous post, the next dungeon in my campaign is “The Dragonfiend Pact” (DCC#11). During an overnight stay at Welwyn, the Eye of the Night was stolen from the elf cleric. The only clues were rat tracks leading to the well in the center of town. In my campaign, Malchor has acquired it for Tsathzar Rho.

Since most of the PCs were third level, I scaled the dungeon up as suggested in the module. I also replaced Tarn the werebadger with a dolgaunt Mnk4, and I replaced Goren the Ftr2/Rog2 goblin with a Ftr3/Rog2 warforged. The human fighter wasn’t able to participate this session, and the halfling rogue was replaced by a 1st-level human druid. The PCs were really paranoid that their improved reduce person potions would wear off before they made their way through the rat tunnels. But, the pseudodragon turned out to be the biggest challenge for the party. With its damage reduction and spell resistance, along with the PCs reduced combat damage (from the improved reduce person potions), Blackspine was not taking any damage. The elf cleric decided to attempt a bribe. With a really good Diplomacy roll and 1,800+ gp (her share of the silver ore found in the previous quest), she actually succeeded. Following the final battle with Malchor and the warforged, the warforged’s final messenger detached and flew away with the Eye of the Night attached to it. Clues found in Malchor’s diary led the PCs to the kobold caverns at Hadler’s Gap. This was a really short dungeon, and some of the players were disappointed that we finished so early. I made the promise of a much bigger dungeon for next session, though. The druid was the only PC to gain a level. Bonus experience points were granted to the elf cleric for all the gold she sacrificed in order to bribe Blackspine.

The next dungeon will be a scaled-up version of “The Lost Vault of Tsathzar Rho”.
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Post by ynnen »

Great, great stuff!

I've had quite a bit of fun in the Eberron games I've played in, and it's interesting to see how you've woven elements from several DCCs (including my beloved Interludes) into that setting.

It sounds like you and your players are having a good time. And that is indeed the most important thing. Please keep us posted on how things progress, and whether the group ultimately can stop Skullshank's diabolical plans to use the Occulum Infernae to destroy the world!
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Post by bighara »

Great post! Be sure to keep us in the loop on how the campaign progresses.

I found your choices of which DCCs to use and blend interesting because I'm looking at a kickoff adventure where I'm planning to run a blend of "Idylls" and "Dragonfiend" using C&C rules. I'm trimming it down a fair bit (trying to get it into somthing that will run in one session).

My hope is that I can rope these players into a semi-regular game and start sprinkling some "Interludes" plot points around.
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part 3

Post by DanFor »

SPOILERS!!!

War of the Summoner (in Eberron) part 3

First of all, thanks to ynnen and bighara for their interest!

The third part of our campaign took place in “The Lost Vault of Tsathzar Rho” (DCC #2). Since most of the PCs were 3rd-level, I had to make some scaling changes to the module. As in previous modules, a lot of the changes were made to emphasize the Eberron theme. All “dragonkin” kobolds and all named kobold NPCs received the full half-dragon template. I used the black dragon sub-type instead of the white dragon sub-type that was used in the module (just because acid-spitting half-dragon kobold mutants are cooler than half-dragon kobold mutants that breathe icicles). The named kobolds also received one of the daelkyr-bred symbionts from the Eberron Campaign Setting book. I replaced all of the ghouls on level 2 with ghasts. I replaced some of the kobold crossbowmen with dolgrim crossbowmen. With 4 arms and dual minds, they could shoot one crossbow and re-load a second crossbow in the same round. I replaced the lemures with dolgaunts, and the derro with gibbering mouthers. Finally, I applied the pseudonatural template (from Manual of the Planes, etc.) to Tsathzar Rho. The pendants that the kobolds (and dolgrims) wore were representations of the unholy symbol of the Cults of the Dragon Below.

For this adventure, all of the PCs from the last session played, and the human fighter from the earlier sessions returned (with a new rogue level). On the first level, the druid and the dwarf wizard lost quite a few Constitution points after being ambushed by the stirges in the second chamber. The male elf ranger was instantly disabled by Slazzik Balefire’s acid breath (6d8 damage), and the female elf ranger’s Dexterity score was greatly reduced after she was poisoned by Slazzik’s tentacle whip. On the second level, the dwarf wizard cast obscuring mist in the Chamber of Portals for some bizarre reason. He did this after the rogue/fighter and the druid’s wolf were blown across the chamber by a gust of wind from the Plane of Air gate! The dwarf’s companions weren’t very happy about his strange spell choice, but they managed to work around it anyway (the male elf ranger eventually managed to re-open the Plane of Air gate to clear out the mist).

While the party was resting after the Chamber of Portals encounter, the elf cleric received a vision during her meditations. In the vision, she saw a silver flame in the middle of a cathedral-like chamber that was domed with stained glass. Tapestries depicting the legend of the Silver Flame adorned the walls. From within the flame, a woman’s voice forewarned the cleric of the impending battle with Tsathzar Rho. It also hinted that this battle would only be the beginning of a great struggle with the forces of evil. After the cleric awoke, the party discovered that they had all been fully restored and that each member had received some sort of magical equipment or benefit while they were resting (magical arrows in the rangers’ quivers, re-charged wands, transformed weapons, and so forth). The cleric also discovered a holy symbol of the Silver Flame among her possessions.

On the last level, the PCs encountered more of the half-dragon kobold mutants. These encounters weren’t as devastating as the encounter with Slazzik, though. The PCs also had to contend with the hallucinations which, in my campaign, were caused by the vault’s exposure to the coterminous effects of Xoriat, the Eberron plane of madness and home to the daelkyr. The party eventually prevailed, and Tsathzar Rho was beaten. In the last encounter, the dwarf wizard made up for his previous botched spell selection by using spectral hand to reveal Tsathar’s location to the PCs who couldn’t see him/it. After his defeat, the PCs found the Eye of the Night and a letter amongst the treasure in Tsathzar’s locked wooden cabinet. The letter addressed someone called the “Summoner” and provided the following info: 1) a lich mercenary has been hired to find the Lens of Detection which is hidden somewhere in the magically-fortified wizard’s tower near the village of Blessings-Be; 2) a couple of henchmen by the names of Odolan and Virkus are searching for clues to the whereabouts of the Blackened Pearl of Ages; 3) reports from Tarrak indicate that the dragonshard mining operation is proceeding as planned; 4) the Eye of the Night, the Lens of Detection, and the Blackened Pearl of Ages are needed, along with the dragonshard crystals, to construct something called the Oculum Infernae; and 5) only one of the magical items are needed to construct the Oculum Infernae, but (according to Lord Malotoch) all three would make the Oculum even more powerful.

We completed this module in one-and-a-half sessions. I’m still awarding half experience points, so the druid made it to level 3 by the end of the crawl and the rest of the party are now at level 4. I presented the prestige class, Exorcist of the Silver Flame (from the Eberron rule book), as an option for the elf cleric player. She doesn’t meet the requirements, but she was definitely psyched and plans to acquire the skill ranks that the PrC calls for. I promised similar perks to the other players, as the campaign progresses.

Next: The Mysterious Tower and the Dread Watcher!
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Post by Harley Stroh »

Very cool. It sounds like your players are having a good time. Nice job porting to Eb, too – it's the same adventure, but different. :)

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part 4

Post by DanFor »

SPOILERS!!!

War of the Summoner (in Eberron) part 4

For the fourth part of my campaign, I combined “The Mysterious Tower” (DCC #3) with Part 2 of “Dungeon Interludes” (DCC #14). To achieve this, I placed another corridor on the east wall of DCC #3 area 19 (Tomb level). The new corridor led to the Defiled Sanctuary of DCC #14. The cave-in at area 18 was removed by Dread Watcher’s minions. As mentioned in the previous post, Dread Watcher is actually a mercenary for Tsathzar Rho (rather than a minion of Skullshank, as in the original DCC #14). I made this change because it made more sense for my campaign (since undead NPCs would probably be more inclined to follow the Blood of Vol rather than the Cults of the Dragon Below). The Lens of Detection changed location to the treasure hoard on the top floor of the dead wizard’s tower. When the PCs arrive, Dread Watcher is in the Defiled Sanctuary, searching for a way into the tower. The entire tomb level became a shrine to Dol Arrah (Eberron goddess of valor). The images for the statues and tapestries were changed accordingly (Dol Arrah is portrayed as a female knight or a red dragon). The animated statues at Dread Watcher’s location were portrayals of champions of Dol Arrah that were entombed in the shrine. I replaced the townsfolk with skeletons, and the ghost of Jarsen Tender was replaced by a centipede swarm. I changed the cleric domains for Dread Watcher to Death and Evil, and his phylactery was now in his possession. The Sword of Conviction, which I re-located to Jarsen’s secret room, became a nifty piece of treasure for a very lucky PC to find and use. In the wizard’s tower, I replaced the two earth elementals with a sillit (one of the nerras from Fiend Folio) – just for fun.

All six players from the previous session returned. In the ruins area, the giant stag beetle turned out to be the biggest challenge. The fighter/rogue thought he would be able to quickly dispatch it with a sneak attack (it was just a big beetle, after all). But, the beetle almost disabled the fighter/rogue after it struck back. After exploring the ruins, the PCs entered the tombs/sanctuary area. The dwarf wizard player caused everyone to groan when he said his PC was throwing a Halls mentholyptus at the animated coffins (since cough drops stop the “coffin”). The fighter/rogue was almost disabled again on this level (by an owlbear this time). The biggest challenge in the tombs/sanctuary area actually turned out to be the centipede swarm that I placed in Jarsen Tender’s secret room. The players had a hard time trying to figure out how to hurt the swarm without hurting the people who were being attacked by it. They finally fled back to the lacedon pool to escape the swarm; then, they flung oil and torches back into the room to burn them out. The fighter/rogue took possession of the re-located Sword of Conviction. After the tombs area, the players entered the wizard’s dungeon. This level, which almost entirely consisted of traps, provided an interesting break in the combat-oriented dungeons that the players (and the DM) had experienced up to this point. The fighter/rogue and the female elf ranger lost their armor to the rust monsters at the end of the level. The challenges inside the tower proper were no problem for the group; they had fun figuring out the nymph/quasit puzzle. After obtaining the Lens of Detection, the players opted not to explore the sinkhole, and they have decided to use the tower as their base of operations.

This crawl was spread out over three sessions. Since we started it half-way through a session, the dungeon would have actually only taken two sessions to complete. By the end of the dungeon, the druid had made fourth level and the rest of the party was at fifth level. The male elf ranger and the druid chose to multi-class. The ranger took a level of wizard because he plans to take the arcane archer prestige class. The druid took a level of psion – just to be different. We played the mini-dungeon from Part 3 of “Dungeon Interludes” (The Hunter of Worlds) after completing “The Mysterious Tower”. I will post the highlights from it as soon as get them typed up.
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part 5

Post by DanFor »

SPOILERS!!!

War of the Summoner (in Eberron) part 5

For part five of my DCC/Eberron campaign, I used the mini-dungeon from Chapter 3 of DCC #14 (“The Hunter of Worlds”). I only made a few changes to this scenario. First, I replaced the drow Rog5/Asn3 with a changeling Rog5/Asn4. Second, the assassin was to collect his bounty from Sslithia, the water naga, instead of from Chundag, the ogre mage. To reflect this change, the map to the Dunerain mines (in T’Klack’s possession) was replaced with a map to the lighthouse at Smuggler’s Cove. Finally, I added masterwork versions of a couple of the exotic weapons from the Eberron campaign book into the martial trophy room – one Valenar double-scimitar and one Xendrik boomerang.

To kick-off this adventure, I had the PCs encounter Thistle, the thornblood druid. He informed them that he knew the hidden location of the Blackened Pearl of Ages, the last component of the Oculum Infernae. And, he offered to guide them to the site in question (a hidden fortress in the Eldeen Reaches). Later that night, the dwarf wizard heard a noise during his watch. He turned in time to see “Thistle” going through the party’s supplies. The changeling dropped his disguise, revealing his changeling nature, and cast darkness before the dwarf could react. By the time the darkness spell was dispelled, the assassin was long gone. They discovered that their provisions had been poisoned, and pursuit of the assassin was undertaken. The two rangers and the druid’s wolf easily tracked the changeling assassin to T’Klack’s lair.

After defeating the animated door, the party entered the dungeon and discovered the trapped doors and panels spread throughout the first level. They didn’t have much luck with the puzzles, and they set off all but one of the traps. After muddling their way through the trapped doors and easily defeating the various creatures along the way, the party came across the two flesh golems. The golems were a much more exciting challenge for the group; one of the golems managed to disable the elf ranger/wizard twice before it was eventually defeated. On the second level of the dungeon, the PCs coup-de-graced the changeling assassin and avoided the ochre jelly that was lurking in the drain. In the final encounter, T’Klack trapped the fighter/rogue and the elf ranger/wizard on one side of the portcullis trap, and three ethereal marauders materialized to occupy the rest of the party on the other side. The good guys prevailed, of course.

This mini-dungeon only required a little bit over one-half of a session’s time, and was the perfect follow-up to the previous module, which was spread out over three sessions. The psionic druid was the only PC to level up during this dungeon (he took a second level of psion). All of the PCs are now at level 5, and most are nearing level 6.
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part 6

Post by DanFor »

War of the Summoner (in Eberron) part 6

SPOILERS!!!

For part six of my DCC/Eberron campaign, we played DCC #7, “The Secret of Smuggler’s Cove”. Instead of weapons, Sslithia and the locathah were acquiring slaves from Mortimer Mortensen. The slaves, primarily human or half-elf adolescents and small humanoids of various races, were to eventually be transported to Skullshank’s dragonshard mining operation at the Dunerain Mines. The four gnolls and the gnoll Ranger 4 leader located at area 2-3 were replaced with agents of Nockmort (the evil treant from DCC #10). The replacements consisted of two bugbears and a bugbear Ranger 3, all equipped with masterwork whips. A paneled wagon, used for transporting their prisoners, was placed outside the manor house. Area 3-9 became holding cells for the slaves, and the succubus was re-located to one of the antechambers in area 3-11. Grog, the ogre, guarded the holding cells in addition to the entrance to the smugglers’ caves. Area 4-6 became a staging area for off-loading slave prisoners. Area 4-12 became a daelkyr shrine for the locathah. Finally, rather than a weapon stockpile, area 5-4 was reduced to a normal armory.

This module took two sessions to complete, and everyone from the previous session participated. They started by exploring the manor house first. The highlight of the manor house level occurred when the rogue/fighter fell through the unstable flooring into the yellow mold room in the level below. He made his Fortitude save, and then used a ring of jump to leap back up into the manor house. The party handily dealt with all the monsters inside the manor itself.

In the level beneath the manor house, the rogue/fighter was very nearly killed by Grog the ogre, slaves were freed, the gray oozes in area 3-3 were avoided, and the dwarf wizard placed Cyrilla’s flask into his backpack without opening it. He still hasn’t tried to open it, so I might decide to remind him about it the next time he falls for any reason.

In the smugglers’ caves, the party easily handled the smugglers that were found on that level. In area 4-7, they wisely killed the oar signaler first (before the scrag could be alerted). The fighter rogue accepted Mortimer’s challenge to a duel, but the dwarf wizard cheated and Mortimer used his cape of the mountebank to teleport away. Before pursuing Mortimer, the party found Jared Goldtooth who decided to help them when he found out that Mortimer was still alive. After Mortimer was defeated, Jared left the party alone and departed, since there weren’t any other smugglers left in the caves for him to rally.

The party then proceeded to clear out the locathah caves. At first, the male elf ranger was extremely hesitant to rely on water breathing spells in order to venture into the locathahs’ domain (I think the -2 penalty per 5 feet for ranged attacks had something to do with it), but he eventually worked up the courage. The psionic druid decided to leave his wolf companion behind. Sslithia and the various locathah were easily dealt with by the party. The psionic druid acquired Pomatomus’ masterwork “shell mail” (scale mail made from natural materials and with a -1 check penalty). In the module, Sslithia is above the surface of the water, so there were no ranged attack penalties for the male elf ranger to worry about. He managed to score multiple critical hits with his longbow, killing Slithia before she even got a chance to act! (After Sslithia was slain, our irrepressible dwarf player just had to ask if nagas were the source of nagauhide.) The huge monstrous crab actually provided the biggest challenge on this level. It managed to grapple both the dwarf wizard and the fighter/rogue. While the cleric healed the grappled party members, the others managed to destroy the crab before it pinched their comrades to death. I could have released the succubus during this encounter, now that I think about! I’m sure there will be other opportunities, though.

Inside Sslithia’s ziggurat, the party found clues regarding the fate of the slaves that the locathah were acquiring for the Summoner. According to a letter and an accompanying map, the slaves were to be delivered to someone named Nockmort in the Eldeen Reaches. Nockmort would then be responsible for making sure that the slaves made it to their final, undisclosed destination (the Dunerain Mines).

All of the PCs reached level 6 by the end of this dungeon delve. For part seven of the campaign, the party will be following the slavers’ trail to the Dunerain Mines, via “The Sunless Garden” (DCC #10).
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Post by Jeff LaSala »

Nockmoort in the Eldeen Reeches? A daelkyr shrine placed in a DCC dungeon? Wow, my worlds are colliding. Pretty damned cool, DanFor.

What if Nockmoort was once a servant of Oalian and the Warden of the Wood and went rogue due to his connections with the Dragon Below? :twisted: Have you plotted out his origin?
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Post by DanFor »

Jeff LaSala wrote:Nockmoort in the Eldeen Reeches? A daelkyr shrine placed in a DCC dungeon? Wow, my worlds are colliding. Pretty damned cool, DanFor.

What if Nockmoort was once a servant of Oalian and the Warden of the Wood and went rogue due to his connections with the Dragon Below? :twisted: Have you plotted out his origin?
Warning! This post contains spoilers for DCC #10 (The Sunless Garden)!

Jeff LaSala:

Actually, I hadn’t given Nockmort’s origin much thought until I read your post. On the one hand, he’s pretty much doomed to die at the hands of my players’ characters, so his background is basically a moot point as far as my players are concerned. On the other hand, from my point of view, a background story for Nockmort would add a little bit more depth to the eventual encounter.

I’m thinking Nockmort would be aligned with the Children of Winter druidic sect. He would hold the belief that the Gatekeepers postponed the inevitable cleansing (by plague or disaster) of the world when they defeated the daelkyr during their first invasion. So, now Nockmort is correcting this imbalance by aiding Skullshank with his plans to bring about a second invasion. Oalian and Nockmort would certainly be aware of the other, but Nockmort would probably try to conceal his ties to the Cults from Oalian. Otherwise, the Wardens and the local Gatekeepers would have already tried to put a stop to his slaving operation. (He may have been paranoid about spies in Garland’s Fork, which would explain why he poisoned their drinking water). In my campaign, Garland’s Fork and Nockmort’s cavern are located along the border with Droaam, so Nockmort and his followers are more or less isolated from the rest of the Eldeen Reaches community anyway. I primarily located these areas along the Droaam/Eldeen Reaches border because, without actually traveling through Droaam, that is the quickest overland route from western Breland to the Shadow Marches, which is where I’ve located the Dunerain Mines.
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Post by Jeff LaSala »

That's pretty cool stuff.
On the one hand, he’s pretty much doomed to die at the hands of my players’ characters, so his background is basically a moot point as far as my players are concerned.
Personally, I always find an excuse to flesh out a villain's background, whether they're doomed to die or not. Even if the PCs inevitably defeat Nockmoort, there's no reason they can't find something in his lair that both tells his story somehow (journals?) and drops a hook for a future adventures.

Basically, there's always a bigger fish. "Well, we beat Nockmoort, but it looks like he served a power bigger than him..."

Aligning him with the Children of Winter sect seems pretty good. If it were me, though, I'd want to come up with a stronger evil to root him in. Get it? Root him in? Moot point...? Heh. :roll:
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Post by DanFor »

Jeff LaSala wrote:Aligning him with the Children of Winter sect seems pretty good. If it were me, though, I'd want to come up with a stronger evil to root him in. Get it? Root him in? Moot point...? Heh. :roll:
I suppose I could branch out his interests a little more. :wink:

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part 7

Post by DanFor »

War of the Summoner (in Eberron) part 7

SPOILERS!!!

For part 7 of our Eberron/DCC campaign, my players confronted the dangers lurking in “The Sunless Garden” (DCC #10). In my revised version of this module, Nockmort is yet another servant of Skullshank the Summoner. As in Tsathzar Rho’s vault, the mutations that appear in Nockmort’s domain are caused by the coterminous effects of Xoriat (not by the meteorite as presented in DCC #10). I removed the prisoners from area 1-11A, and I replaced the prisoners in area A-15 with slaves bound for the Dunerain Mines. I removed the ettin guard from area A-15 and replaced him with three ogres (slavers working for Chundag the ogre mage from DCC #14). Area B became a chapel for the daelkyr-worshipping inhabitants of the Sunless Garden. I replaced the two dire wolverines in this area with two dolghasts (Magic of Eberron), and the dark naga was replaced by a mind flayer. The hill giant in area C-22 was replaced by a lesser battlebriar (MM3), and the mummy in area C-26 was replaced with a gibbering mouther. I made Level 2 into a storage area for the bugbears to stow their treasure, i.e., there were no prior smuggler-type inhabitants as mentioned in the original version of the module. I replaced the three gargoyles in area 2-41 with three dolghasts. Area 2-42 became a normal, unshuttered room inhabited by three grells (MM2). The sea hag in area 2-48 was replaced by a woodling leopard (MM3). Finally, I replaced the shield guardian in area 2-51 with a dire tiger.

In the Garland’s Fork encounter, the PCs fed the tainted well water to the poor, starving farm dog. They suspected that the well had been poisoned and, when the dog transformed into a tree, their suspicions were confirmed. The male elf ranger was disabled during the party’s encounter with the scavenging troll at this location.

At Nockmort’s lair, the PCs avoided the vegetated areas and explored the edges of the cavern instead. They peered into the refuse pit, but didn’t attempt to explore it. Their first real attempt to explore this dungeon was to enter the Bugbear Prison. Their encounter with the ogres was challenging, but they eventually managed to defeat Chundag’s agents and thus free the slaves that were bound for the Dunerain Mines. They next entered the Chapel of Entropy, easily defeating the dolghasts and the mind flayer that were located there. The PCs found the trap door that lead to the lower level, but decided to finish exploring the upper level first. Their next encounter was the dryad in the crate in the main cavern area. They released her and escorted her back to her tree, and then she rewarded them with her treasure. After the dryad encounter, the PCs entered the Bugbear Refuge. Before defeating it, the battlebriar in this area managed to surprise the PCs by causing lots of damage with its volley of thorns attack. The bugbears and the gibbering mouther in this area were all easily defeated.

Still avoiding the vegetated areas in the cavern area and still unaware of the secret door leading to Nockmort’s Workrooms, the PCs proceeded to explore the level below the Chapel of Entropy. On this level, the dire lions got to make a surprise attack against the fighter/rogue. The deadwood treant posed a big challenge for the party due to its extremely high AC. It focused all of its attacks on the psionic druid (the only party member with a sonic attack), and the elf cleric had to continually heal him in order to keep him from being disabled. The fighter/rogue and the female elf ranger activated the spiked pit trap, and the fighter/rogue made his Reflex save while the ranger did not. The secret room containing the three dolghasts went undiscovered, so they were able to slip out and make sneak attacks against the male elf ranger who was in the rear of the party. In the encounter with the grells, the female elf ranger failed another saving throw and was paralyzed by their tentacle attacks. The dwarf wizard failed his saving throw in the corridor with the underground river trap, and he was disabled and dying by the time the water had finished gushing through the trapped corridor. The other combat encounters on this level went smoothly for the party, although it took them awhile to defeat the dire tiger. To my surprise, the male elf ranger made successful Search checks for the two high-DC secret doors in the south part of this level. The not-so-lucky fighter/rogue set off the poison gas trap and the pendulum blades trap in these rooms, though. Several of the party members lost Constitution points because of the poison gas.

Since it was getting late, I gave a not-too-subtle hint that the dryad in the cavern area would be able to help the party find Nockmort’s secret lab. The PCs easily defeated the dire bats in this area, and they used lots of fire magic to take out Nockmort himself. After defeating Nockmort, in addition to the antidote for the Garland’s Fork townspeople, the PCs discovered a map to Gurnard’s Head and the Dunerain Mines.

This dungeon took two sessions to complete. By the end, all of the PCs were at 7th-level. For part 8, I’ve merged “Aerie of the Crow God” (DCC #5), “Seed of Evil” (DCC #5.5), and “The Dunerain Mines” (DCC #14, Chapter 4) to make one huge dungeon. I have a lot of surprises in store for my players with the next dungeon, so I’m hoping it will be a memorable experience for them.
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part 8

Post by DanFor »

SPOILERS!!!

War of the Summoner (in Eberron) part 8

Part 8 of our Eberron/DCC campaign took place in the “Aerie of the Crow God” (DCC #5). The dungeons from DCC #5.5 (Seed of Evil) and from Chapter 4 of DCC #14 (“The Dunerain Mines” in Dungeon Interludes) were added on to make one huge dungeon. I placed the grove area from DCC #5.5 above Temple Level Three of DCC #5. In other words, the top of Gurnard’s Head was a small plateau with an entrance to the temple from DCC #5 and another entrance to the DCC #5.5 caverns. I extended the corridor in Area 1-1 of DCC #5 (located in Temple Level One). The extended corridor descended into the Dunerain Mines. In my Eberron-ized version of these dungeons, Gurnard’s Head was once a Gatekeeper fortress on the coast of the Shadow Marches. The orc druids that dwelt in this fortress guarded two entrances into Khyber. One entrance, in the caverns below the grove area, was a magically-sealed prison that prevented the daelkyr prince, Malotoch, from entering the surface world. The other entrance was a tunnel that led to a Khyber dragonshard crystal deposit that lay several miles beneath the Gatekeeper fortress. Since Gurnard’s Head is only accessible by sea or air, Skullshank sent an army of rooks to assault the fortress from the skies above the fortress. Another army of dolgaunts raided the fortress from the sea tunnel beneath the watchtower. After the orcs inside the tower and temple areas were slaughtered and the fortress was taken, Skullshank hired Chundag, an ogre mage, to act as mining foreman. Chundag and his band of ogres used the slaves, supplied by Sslithia and Nockort, to extract the dragonshard crystals which would be used to construct the Oculum Infernae. The slaves transported the crystals to the surface, and the rooks would then carry these crystals by air to Skullshank himself. In the meantime, Kaymos Born, a mind flayer cleric of the Dragon Below and ally to Skullshank, had discovered a way to temporarily allow Malotoch to leave his subterranean realm.

I made several changes to these dungeons to reflect the situation as described above. The Star Arms were given to the Gatekeepers by Vvaraak, the green dragon who helped the orc druids defeat the daelkyr and who taught them the magic to seal the daelkyr in Khyber. The skeletons and zombies found in the tower and the temple areas were the animated corpses of the slaughtered orc druids. Areas 1-8 and 1-9 in Temple Level One were combined to become a staging area for the mine slaves to deposit the dragonshard crystals that were brought up from the Dunerain Mines. In this new staging area, I placed three ogres and one rook for the PCs to deal with. All of the acolytes became dolgaunts (Eberron Campaign Setting), the two ghast clerics (Anselm and Tarrak) became CR-equivalent dolgaunt monks, and the duergar expert/wizard (Xander) became a daelkyr half-blood artificer/wizard (Magic of Eberron). The Sickle Grove area of DCC #5.5 served as the plateau of Gurnard’s Head. In the DCC #5.5 cavern area, the dryad sorcerer was replaced with a gauth (lesser beholder from Monster Manual) and the half-elf druid was replaced by the mind flayer cleric, Kaymos Borne. Instead of the canopied forest described for area 2-13, Kaymos had constructed a throne surrounded by a circle of Khyber dragonshards. Using Xoriat magic, Kaymos was able to call forth Malotoch, allowing the daelkyr to temporarily leave his magically-sealed prison at will. Thus, the daelkyr could communicate with his followers, but he could not venture past the dragonshard circle that Kaymos had constructed. I replaced the roost dretches with dolgaunts in this area. In area 3-1, I replaced the 3 ghasts with 2 dolghasts (Magic of Eberron). For the Dunerain Mines area, I placed magma pools in area 4 of level 1 and in areas 6, 7, and 9 of level 2. Instead of poisonous vapors, the party would have to contend with severe heat conditions on the second level. I replaced the black pudding in area 4 with a magma ooze (Tome of Horrors) and the vapor demons on level 2 with huge magma paraelementals (Manual of the Planes).

The party decided to attempt entry of the Gatekeeper fortress through the sea tunnel at the base of Gurnard’s Head (as opposed to attempting an aerial assault). They dealt with the scrags that were guarding this particular entrance and proceeded up the stairs towards the tower. They encountered rooks twice along the way; the female elf ranger lost her Will save versus the rooks’ frightful caw on both encounters, so she had an immediate dislike for them. Some of the rooks flew away, to be encountered later. The psionic druid took possession of Cruel Justice, which was found in the courtyard outside the tower. Inside the tower, the male elf ranger opened the chest containing the ochre jelly and was immediately grappled. The rogue/fighter hit the ochre jelly with a slashing weapon (which split it into two ochre jellies, of course). At the top of the tower, the party encountered more rooks (including the wounded rooks from the previous encounters).

Next, the PCs explored the caverns in Level 1 of the subterranean temple area. The dwarf wizard took possession of Kang, the male elf ranger took Ta’kira’kerymor, and the players, much to their delight, discovered the telepathic bond that existed between the Star Arms. The party slew the ogres and the rook found in the revised area 1-8/9 and rescued the slaves there. The slaves confirmed their suspicion that the downward sloping tunnel was actually the entrance to the dragonshard crystal mine, and they also informed them that it was a one- to two-day journey to reach the mine. The players wisely decided to clear out the temple area before proceeding into the mine itself. At the tar pool encounter, the dwarf wizard fell victim to the noxious fumes surrounding the plague tar elemental’s lair. He used feather fall to drop down to the ledge next to the pool, and then proceeded to miss successive Fortitude saves. The elemental emerged from the pool and began to pummel the helpless dwarf. Using ranged attacks, his companions managed to slay the creature before it killed him, though. In the forge area of Level 2, Xander was killed before he could do anything other than summon 3 hell hounds; all of the work I put into changing him from a duergar wizard/expert to a daelkyr half-blood wizard/artificer turned out to be wasted time, unfortunately. The female elf cleric took possession of the Star Arm called Qi, which was found in Xander’s forge. The class-advanced rooks and Anselm, the dolgaunt monk (formerly a wight monk), were able to provide more of a challenge for the PCs. At the rope bridge, the rogue/fighter and the male elf ranger hastily decided to cross without securing themselves first. When the wind blasted them from below, the ranger made his Reflex save. The rogue/fighter did not make his save though, and he was almost killed by the fall. On Level 3, Tarrak and his acolytes were defeated and the party proceeded upward to the plateau of Gurnard’s Head (Sickle Grove area of DCC #5.5). The female elf ranger took possession of Azurak, the last Star Arm.

Inside Kaymos’ lair, the male elf ranger was the only player affected by the mind flayer’s mind blast. The rest of the party was able to defeat both Kaymos and the gauth “watch-dog” without his help, though. The dwarf wizard was disabled by the razor chute trap leading to the dolghast cave (area 3-1). In area 2-13, Malotoch appeared after the first four PCs entered the room to engage the dolgaunts in battle. They lost their Will save to the daelkyr’s aura of madness ability, of course, so only the dwarf wizard and the rogue/fighter could do anything. The dwarf correctly deduced (from my non-subtle description) that the dragonshard crystals had allowed Malotoch to appear, so he summoned a mindless monstrous vermin and commanded it to retrieve one of crystals. Malotoch howled in hatred as he disappeared, and I informed the dwarf that he had just acquired a very powerful enemy. To reward the wizard for his quick action, he received the blessings of Vvaraak, the draconic mentor of the Gatekeepers. A green mist appeared before his eyes and entered his lungs. The spirit of Vvaraak then appeared and informed him that he had been granted the ability to use the breath weapon of a young green dragon every four days.

After clearing the temple and grove areas of villains, the party then proceeded into the Dunerain Mines. On the first level, the party encountered the magma ooze along with Broggab and his crew of ogre taskmasters. One of the ogres killed the psionic druid's wolf companion, apparently foreshadowing the tragic event that would occur on the next level; while the first level was challenging, the second level proved particularly deadly as the party experienced its first PC death! On this level, I had the players make frequent Fortitude checks for severe heat (except for the female elf ranger who was wearing a ring of fire resistance). They defeated the destrachan and Chundag without mishap, but the magma paraelementals managed to kill the psionic druid. (He made himself a target for their burning slam attacks because he was using cold energy against them.) The psionic druid's player rolled up a male kalashtar psion to replace the druid, and this new character was among the slaves that had been forced to work in the tortuous heat of this level. The female elf ranger took Cruel Justice from the druid’s incinerated corpse, and she gave Azurak to the fighter/rogue. When the bruised and battered party made their way back to the tunnels beneath Gurnard’s Head, they found a gathering of grateful Gatekeepers awaiting them. The party also received news that the Blackened Pearl of Ages, the last component of the Oculum Infernae, had been located.

The combined dungeons (Gurnard’s Head, the Sickle Rock Grove caves, and the Dunerain Mines) took three and a half sessions for the players to complete. They were at the brink of ninth level by the end of the crawl. The newest party member is starting off at the beginning of eighth level, slightly below everyone else. The male elf ranger took his first level of arcane archer, and the female elf cleric has now become an exorcist of the Silver Flame.

Next: The party travels to Xen’drik to solve the “Mysteries of the Drow”!
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Post by Jeff LaSala »

Malotoch as a daelkyr! Wow, that's different! Male or female, then?

Will your Xen'drik drow be subterranean based, like in Mysteries, or will you move it closer to the surface like the Eberron drow seem to be? Will you change spiders to scorpians?
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Post by DanFor »

Jeff LaSala:

From what I've read, daelkyr don't really have a gender. Although, they all seem to possess the form of a male human. The image of Malotoch that I showed my players was of a "male" daelkyr; I printed it off of the Wizards of the Coast art gallery site.

I don't want to say too much about "Mysteries of the Drow" just yet, in case any of my players are reading these forums. I'm not giving away too much by saying that the first level will be wilderness-based, though.
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Post by Jeff LaSala »

Eavesdropping players not welcome!

Sad to say, my own book won't involve the daelkyr. :( But...if you want to see a daelker in action for inspiration, you should check out Don Bassingthwaite's trilogy the Dragon Below, which begins with The Binding Stone. An excellent entry in the Eberron line!
Goodman Games: DCCs: #29, #31, #35, #48, #49, #51; Hero's Handbooks: Dragonborn, Tieflings; Level Up
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part 9

Post by DanFor »

SPOILERS!!!

War of the Summoner (in Eberron) part 9

Part 9 of our Eberron/DCC campaign took place in Xen’drik. I based the encounters for this part of the campaign around DCC #8 (Mysteries of the Drow) and Chapter 5 of DCC #14 (“The Sinking Spire”/Dungeon Interludes). At the end of the last dungeon crawl, the PCs learned from the Gatekeeper druids that the last component of the Oculum Infernae, the Blackened Pearl of Ages, is rumored to be part of a dragon’s hoard. The dragon’s name is Pyraxus, and his lair is located on the untamed continent of Xen’drik. (This lair is, of course, DCC #6 “Temple of the Dragon Cult”). Their druidic allies provide the party with passage to Xen’drik and a map to Pyraxus’ lair.

I revised the first level of DCC #8 to be a series of wilderness encounters that the PCs would come across on their way to Pyraxus’ lair. The radiation traps and the earth elementals were replaced with CR-equivalent monsters. The replacement encounters included a tyrannosaur, a dread blossom swarm (MM3), a glaistig (MM3), a needletooth swarm (MM3), and a forest giant (MM2). The venom zombie encounters were included as originally presented in DCC #8. I replaced the svirfneblin with drow and equipped them with sand pipes (Secrets of Xen’drik) instead of gewehr-splitters. The necroship became a crashed Lyrandar airship that the drow were attempting to salvage. Kayle, now a drow cleric of Vulkoor, possessed a censer of controlling air elementals rather than a stone of controlling earth elementals. The spider golem guarding level 3 was replaced by a huge warforged scorpion (SoX). Levels 2 and 3/4 were “mini-dungeons” for the PCs to explore along the way to Pyraxus’ lair. (I knew that my players would explore any dungeon that I placed along the way to their destination.) I replaced the radiation trap in Area 2-23 with a chain lightning trap. Otherwise, Level 2 (the lich’s ziggurat) was pretty much used as presented in DCC #8. The corpses found in the efreeti’s location were bearing unholy symbols of the Dragon Below, foreshadowing the party’s eventual encounter with Odolan and Virkus. On Level 3, I replaced the grimlocks, including Kali, with drow elves, and the radiation trap was replaced with a scorrow (SoX). For Level 4, Camber was just a local drow wizard responsible for creating the venom zombies that the party had previously encountered on Levels 1 and 3. “The Sinking Spire” (DCC #14) would be the final “mini-dungeon” encounter for this adventure. I relocated the Blackened Pearl of Ages to Pyraxus’ hoard. Odolan and Virkus, agents of Skullshank, were daelkyr half-bloods (Magic of Eberron) instead of tieflings. They were relocated to Area 5-1, where they had set up an ambush for the party (the shambling mound and deinonychus were replaced by this encounter). Tarfoot, the black dragon, was replaced with a chwidencha (Fiend Folio), and I placed two invisible stalkers in Area 5-9, Odolan’s and Virkus’ original location.

The group enjoyed the break from mapping out dungeons, and one encounter in particular turned out to be one of those memorable encounters that the players like to talk about long afterwards. The tyrannosaur and the dread blossom swarm were encountered together. There was a steep cliff and a lake flanking the path that the party was taking, and ahead of them was a field of red flowers. The tyrannosaur came bounding out of the jungle but instead of charging through the flower field, it ran around the other side of the lake to approach the PCs from behind. Meanwhile, some of the flowers began to drift up with the wind. The kalashtar psion summoned an astral construct to distract the tyrannosaur while the arcane archer and the others shot arrows at the beast. Meanwhile, the dwarf wizard hurled fireballs at the dread blossom swarm. The tyrannosaur swallowed the psion’s construct, but by the time they reached the party, both threats had been weakened with ranged attacks. So, the party had an easier time dealing with the dinosaur and the swarm than they would have otherwise. The party also encountered the forest giant and the needletooth swarm simultaneously. For this encounter, the party came across the giant as she was being attacked by a needletooth swarm. They tried to help the enraged giant by attacking the needletooth swarm, but unfortunately the fighter/rogue and the female elf ranger were both hit by the giant’s frantic attacks. The forest giant continued to attack even after the swarm was dispersed, but she was eventually calmed after the female elf exorcist cast some cure spells on her while the others tried to dodge the giant’s club. The pacified giant gave the party some items from her bag as a reward. The items included four magical items that she had acquired from a couple of unfortunate drow elves she had previously encountered. The items didn’t fit her, so she had no problems giving them to her rescuers. She didn’t share her gold, of course. The glaistig encounter (at a small lake) and the first drow encounter (at the airship’s crash site) were easily dealt with by the party. Both groups of venom zombies were instantly destroyed by the cleric/exorcist.

The airship encounter was the memorable encounter that I alluded to earlier. The PCs easily spotted the airship floating above the canopy of the trees. I told the players that they could see drow elves on deck and that there were signs of damage at the front of the ship. The fighter/rogue decided to run ahead to investigate the damage. To his dismay, he encountered a party of drow elves that were scouting the jungle below the ship. Fortunately for the fighter/rogue, the scouts were only first level warriors so he was able to easily slip back into the jungle and hide from them. Unfortunately for the fighter/rogue, the scouts signaled the airship and alerted them to his presence. So, Kayle summoned a huge air elemental and sent it into the jungle to hunt down any enemies it could find. The rest of the party, because of their telepathic connections via the Star Arms, knew that the fighter/rogue had encountered a drow scouting party. Then, they saw the elemental descend on the fighter/rogue’s location. The dwarf wizard cast spells while the arcane archer shot imbued arrows at the airship. Meanwhile, the rest of the party rushed to the aid of the fighter/rogue. The fighter/rogue was actually not in too much trouble, yet. During the rounds all of the actions described above were taking place, he had been darting in and out of hiding to sneak attack the low-HP drow warriors, slaughtering them one at a time. The wizard and the arcane archer had managed to catch fire to the airship overhead. Kayle, forced to make an emergency landing, crashed the already-damaged ship onto the jungle floor. The dwarf and the archer followed the falling ship to its newest crash site. The rest of the party had by now encountered the huge air elemental and were in combat with it. The wizard and the arcane archer began taking out the drow that were clambering off of the burning airship. As soon as Kayle was eliminated, the summoned air elemental vanished.

The first level of Kelborne’s ziggurat turned out to be quite a challenge. Because of their damage reduction and magic immunity, the stone and clay golems in this mini-dungeon took a long time for the party to defeat. Relatively speaking, the bone devil, efreeti, and lich found on the second level were much easier encounters for the party. Following the plunder of the lich’s ziggurat, the PCs then encountered and defeated the huge warforged scorpion which was guarding the entrance to Camber Sorethin’s underground domain. Upon entering the cavern level of Camber’s lair, the party was able to eliminate the drow, the lava creeps, and the other assorted creatures without too much trouble. They then proceeded to loot Camber’s underground tower. The fighter/rogue was almost killed by the reverse gravity trap on the roof of the tower, but the other encounters inside Camber’s tower were fairly easy for them to overcome.

At the Sinking Spire, it took awhile for the party to spot the daelkyr half-blood rogues that were hiding in the treetops. Odolan and Virkus were equipped with stormstalk and winter cyst symbionts (MoE) and were attacking the party with the symbiont’s eye rays. The female elf ranger managed to spot one of the daelkyr half-blood brothers and used a newly acquired ring of ram to knock him out the trees. Eventually, the arcane archer spotted the other brother and slew him with an onslaught of imbued arrows. Inside the spire, the stone golem provided the biggest challenge. It pounded the party members for huge amounts of damage, while they could only whittle away the golem’s hit points a few at a time. In Area 5-6, the female elf ranger used her ring of ram to knock the imp out of the air on the very first combat round. The imp failed his Reflex save and fell victim to its own greased floor trap. The PCs had no idea the trap existed until they watched as the imp slid into the hot tar on the other side of the loosened window grate and died a blistering, gooey death.

These two dungeons, “Mysteries of the Drow” and “The Sinking Spire”, actually took four sessions to complete. By the end of the fourth session, the PCs had achieved two more levels (from level 8 to level 10). Next up for my players is a scaled-up version of Pyraxus’ lair (DCC #6).
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part 10

Post by DanFor »

SPOILERS!!!

For part 10 of my Eberron/DCC campaign, I used DCC #6 “Temple of the Dragon Cult”. Since the party consisted of six level-10 PCs, I used the recommendations in the module for scaling the adventure up for stronger characters. To accommodate the Xen’drik background that I needed for my campaign, I replaced the dragonkin creatures used in the module with yuan-ti. The named NPC dragon-bloods became yuan-ti purebloods; the half-dragons became yuan-ti half-bloods; and the dragon-kin became yuan-ti abominations. I used the original classes that were given to the named NPCs, but I altered their class levels so that their CRs were increased by 1. I removed the camouflaged pit trap on the first level (I placed a fusillade of darts trap on the secret door, instead), and the rubble barrier on the fourth level was also removed. On the first level, I doubled the number of ankhegs in Area 1-3, and I replaced the half-dragon minotaur with a huge phrenic constrictor snake (Expanded Psionics Handbook). On Level 2, I doubled the number of rust monsters, I replaced the half-dragon troll with an advanced dream serpent (Secrets of Xen’drik), and I replaced the gibbering mouther with two ambush drakes (MM3). The collapsing wall trap located in Area 2-5 was replaced with a stone blocks from ceiling trap. On Level 3, I added another roper, I replaced the cloaker with two huge phrenic vipers (EPH), and I replaced the orcs and the dragon-blood orc with one yuan-ti half-blood and five purebloods. On the last level, I doubled the number of otyughs in Area 4-1, and I replaced the goblins in area 4-2 with a yuan-ti abomination and five purebloods. I replaced the assorted prisoners in Area 4-4 with an abeil soldier and five abeil vassals (MM2). Pyraxus was no longer wounded as portrayed in the original module; and as stated in my previous post, the Blackened Pearl of Ages was now a part of Pyraxus’ hoard. I omitted any references to dead soldiers or to dwarven mining features from the encounter descriptions.

After the discovery of the secret door inside the entrance to Level 1, the party wisely decided not to proceed down the central shaft. The highlights of this adventure included the dungeon layout, the mirror of opposition encounter in Area 1-6, the encounters with Iborsum and the advanced dream serpent, and, of course, the final encounter with Pyraxus. The abeil prisoners discovered in Area 4-4 offered to help the PCs defeat Pyraxus. The fighter/rogue drank an invisibility potion and tried to make a sneak attack against Pyraxus, but the dragon detected him. Fortunately, the fighter/rogue made his saving throw against Pyraxus’ breath weapon. The female elf ranger and most of the abeils, on the other hand, had a difficult time making their saving throws against the dragon’s frightful presence. Eventually, Pyraxus was defeated and the Blackened Pearl of Ages was acquired. After returning to the surface, the grateful abeils summoned giant wasp mounts and carried the party back to Stormreach and civilization.

This adventure was completed in one session. We actually had to end our session a couple of hours earlier than usual because I wasn’t prepared to start the next dungeon yet. There were no level increases this session. For part 11 of our Eberron/DCC campaign, the PCs will return to Khorvaire to face “The Blackguard’s Revenge” (DCC #12).
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Post by Jeff LaSala »

Wow, you seem like a really fast and furious DM!
For part 11 of our Eberron/DCC campaign, the PCs will return to Khorvaire to face “The Blackguard’s Revenge” (DCC #12).
Cool. Where will this be set?? Sounds Karrnathi to me!
Goodman Games: DCCs: #29, #31, #35, #48, #49, #51; Hero's Handbooks: Dragonborn, Tieflings; Level Up
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Post by DanFor »

SPOILERS!!!
Jeff LaSala wrote:Wow, you seem like a really fast and furious DM!
I suppose. Even though there were four levels to this dungeon crawl, there weren’t very many encounters per level (and most of those were single creatures). Plus, we don’t use miniatures.
Jeff LaSala wrote:Cool. Where will this be set?? Sounds Karrnathi to me!
Actually, the Cloister of the Ordocar was going to become the Cloister of the Silver Flame, and it would have been located in Thrane. It seems that Vol wants to use the Diamond Carceperis to resurrect the Mark of Death so she is responsible for sending the undead army into Thrane.

However, most of our group has decided to boycott Wizards of the Coast because of the cancellation of Dragon and Dungeon magazines. So, we are ending the Eberron campaign and switching to Castles and Crusades.

For anyone interested, after Blackguard’s Revenge, I was going to send the PCs to the island dungeon in DCC #4 (Bloody Jack’s Gold) in order to eliminate more of Vol’s undead army and end the threat to the Cloister of the Silver Flame. Then, the PCs would have proceeded to the showdown with Skullshank the Summoner, which would have occurred within a combined version of the dungeons presented in DCC #12.5 (Iron Crypts of the Heretic) and the last dungeon in DCC #14 (Dungeon Interludes). The destruction of the Oculum Infernae would have transported the PCs to Xen’drik (or Sarlona?) just outside the dungeon depicted in DCC #15 (Lost Tomb of the Sphinx Queen). Finally, a “final” showdown with Vol within the dungeons of DCC #13 (Crypt of the Devil Lich) would have been the last planned episode for the campaign.

P.S. for Jeff Lasala: Despite my group’s boycott, I still plan to pick up your novel when it comes out. Keep us posted!
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Jeff LaSala
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Post by Jeff LaSala »

The Silver Flame. Yeah, that's a perfect fit.
P.S. for Jeff Lasala: Despite my group’s boycott, I still plan to pick up your novel when it comes out. Keep us posted!
Boycott? Heh. Well, it's going to be a while still. But the first three in the series are starting to come out now.

Bound By Iron
Night of the Long Shadows
Legacy of Wolves
Goodman Games: DCCs: #29, #31, #35, #48, #49, #51; Hero's Handbooks: Dragonborn, Tieflings; Level Up
Wizards of the Coast: The Darkwood Mask
Blindsided Books: Savant
Ashlock.org; NY Speculative Fiction Examiner
ynnen
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Post by ynnen »

I'm so glad I came back to re-read this whole thread. I love seeing how you've woven different DCCs together and customized them to tailor your tastes and the group - and the little details for having it mesh with Eberron...

I'm also pleased to see so many Interludes elements strung through with the other DCCs, and the overarching plot of Skullshank and his Oculum Infernae woven into the fabric of the campaign.

Ultra mega cool stuff.
Crypt of the Devil Lich, Dungeon Interludes, The Mask of Death, Adventure Begins, Vault of the Dragon Kings, the Power Gamers Wizard Strategy Guide, The Adventure Continues, Palace in the Wastes and PhoenixCrawl Open
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