Scene Notes – C01.S02.14
Cycle 01 Shield 02 – Scene 14 – Notes
What happens in this scene?
The party discovered the presence of the Red Wizard, Hamun Kost, from a surprising source… Agatha, the banshee of Neverwinter Wood. Kost came to her seeking the location of Bowgentles Spellbook. Whether she was actually honoring the aggreement with Garaelle, or she just loves playing games with mortals, she lead Kost on a wild goose chase, telling him that Bowgentles Spellbook is nearby, in a secret underground location that is only accessible by climbing down the well at Old Owl Well.
The spellbook is indeed far underground… but nowhere nearby. It is in a sunken citadel that once held a lofty seat in the Sunset Mountains, overlooking what is today, Asbravn and Iriaebor. The mountain shifted one day, now one knows exactly how, and swallowed the ancient monument of a long lost dragon cult. Very few even know of the once famous citadel, and fewer know its location. But Tsernoth did. He used it to hide secrets, and himself when the need arose.
The citadel was also discovered by a tribe of goblin vampires (The Crookbite Tribe) who had developed a taste for “stinkmeat”… that is… specifically… the blood of Troglodytes. The underground caverns around where the citadel sunk was full of Troglodytes… still is to this day – mostly because the vampires farm them. Kobolds are forced to serve as their “farmers”… they venture into the caverns and trap troglodytes and bring them back to the table for the vampires. They also, and I don’t know how, work to keep the population of food strong and growing. (This way I can run Sunless Citadel almost as is… with some embellishment rather than a rebuild)
But… what is under Old Owl Well?
Lore says nothing… but Agatha says otherwise. What is the truth?
Party arrives at Old Owl Well and first does a little reconn
They see the Red Wizard and 3 orcs (undead ones). The wizard has a tent set up near the well itself and is securing a rope to lower down into the well. They watch as he climbs into the well and begins to descend.
Kill the orcs and cut the rope – easy!
There is a splash from the dark depths. They drop some large rocks to ensure.
Investigate the tent and its contents – as per LMoP
They hear a scratching sound from the well. It echoes and gets louder. Suddenly there is a stench unlike any.
Troglodytes begin pouring out of the well… undead ones – bones and scales without meat
Beneath the waters of the well there was an escape. A cavern had been sealed off but Hamun Kost found a way through and found an ancient Troglodyte battlefield
He raises as many as he can before he runs out of spell slots (???)
Above ground, the battle against the worst smelling undead continues.
Troglodytes used reptilian dogs of war – like a Durzog… throw one or two of these in the mix
Leely will eventually use the Moonglare (double dmg against undead)
At some point, I should dive in and explore all things undead in D&D. The fact is, however, that I dislike zombie movies and vampire movies and most of how the culture defines and describes undead monsters… it is really just a bit too much. However it is, in my imagined possible Sword Coast, a real threat against the living. Not only the incidents of an undead killing the living, but on a much larger scale, like global warming… several criminal slash evil organizations are ramping up their efforts to control the living by controling the dead and having too many undead in play is also killing the ecosystem.
But there are lots of things I run into… like how to make a bad guy like Hamun Kost powerful enough to raise a dozen or more corpses, how far can they roam from his presence, it is possible to scry thru undead eyes? Many don’t even have eyes… What is the difference between sentient and non-sentient undead? A vampire is undead and possesses a will, a skeleton is undead but does not possess a will.. It has a programs, orders, or perhaps just some instinct to destroy the living. I have lots of questions and need to dive in to learn more if I am going to make the undead a central theme of the Iron Aegis shield (which I am)
The Roven’Ris sisters were raised with a deep hatred of necromancy by their monastery. They are to become the Vandor Aegis – the protectors of the forest – but what Mieliki means by the forest is life itself… so they are protectors of life itself and undeath is the greatest looming threat against the forest.
Deynn started with a brief encounter with two corpses. These were members of the Dawnguard – vampire hunters from another dimension – killed and their bodies kicked through a portal like a trash shute.. The Insight emblem he found on their bodies, and now wears, gives him not only the aware of the undead, but a growing conviction that undeath is evil and threatens the thing he holds most dear – goodness.
Roonoo does not have a specific connection to the undead except maybe for the fact that he spent a tenday dead and floating in the sea of swords after the spellplauge shipwrecked him and spellscarred him. He can’t explain what happened, and I don’t think I need to.
Tanala Solo – I keep making plans for how to introduce her… latest thought is that the party finds her in the domains of dread somehow. She is Aasimar. “Aasimar bear within their souls the light of the heavens. They are descended from humans with a touch of the power of Mount Celestia, the divine realm of many lawful good deities. Aasimar are born to serve as champions of the gods, their births hailed as blessed events. They are a people of otherworldly visages, with luminous features that reveal their celestial heritage.” Perhaps she was in Raveloft for a reason – to rescue someone, perhaps an Aasimar who had turned evil… I’ve got time to figure that out.
I plan three cycles leading up to the guild. Iron Aegis is now just two scenes away from cycle two… which is the Sunless Citadel. I am thinking that the end of that cycle – the gulthias tree – somehow transports them into the domains of dread. Replace Belak the Outcast with a Hobgoblin Vampire. When he fears defeat, he, with the spellbook of Bowgentle, runs into the gulthias tree which transports him to one of the domains of dread… I could probably make up my own domain… the mists seem to make that a distinct possibility… but maybe the vampire masquerade thingy… maybe that is a domain of dread? Or just blend the masquerade domain from ravenloft book with something more vampirey… or use the same, just populate it with vampires? Or maybe not… maybe Tanala is locked away somewhere and prevented from dancing rather than being forced to? At any rate, cycle three – recover Bowgentles Spellbook from one of the domains of dread (hey… maybe it is here that the vampire pirate thing can happen? Maybe… Tanala is somehow forced to become a living figurehead on the prow of a pirate ship. First the party gets the book back and then try to get home. They are told a ship can take them – a specific ship.