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Age of Worms Upgrades - Encounter at Blackwall Keep (Spoilers, don’t read if you’re playing in the campaign!)
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<blockquote data-quote="TheSword" data-source="post: 8501846" data-attributes="member: 6879661"><p>I’ve broken the adventure down into several phases. Here are the first two.</p><p></p><p><strong>Getting In: Whereby the PCs travel to Blackwall Keep and confront the Lizardfolk Picket.</strong></p><p></p><p>I’m gonna start the adventure with a combat to keep things spicy. An ambush with the lizard king’s favored son and six lizardfolk. I’m sticking with the theme that Ilthane has enhanced the Lizardking to half dragon status and his children carry that bloodline… so acid breath and tougher scales, stronger hitting etc. The son will speak a tiny bit of common… enough to be belligerent and say this is twisted branch land. Human trespassers will die. The fight should be relatively straightforward but show the strength of the half-dragons.</p><p></p><p>Arriving at the pickets they will see something is amiss. Blackwall is scarred and the PCs can see a lizardfolk assault repulsed in the distance. Now there are three camps around the keep blocking the the way in. The main one in the center is the lizard kings and covers the main route up to the keep. The second is the shaman’s and covers the left hand most waterlogged side. The kings other favored son runs the camp to the east which guards the cave entrance. The north side is sheer cliff and practically impossible to attack. Each camp will be more than the PCs can handle in this status even with fireball. There are dozens of lizardfolk in each one, along with shaman and enhanced lizard folk known for now as blackscales more half dragon lizardfolk.</p><p></p><p>Defeating the camps isn’t necessary at this point. Though any lizardfolk killed may benefit the later parts in the adventure. In particular killing or disabling named characters. If the PCs want they can run a guerrilla fight against the camps to the same effect as the later siege. If enough lizard folk/black scale lizard folk are killed, or if the lizard king is wounded the lizard folk will break off the siege and retreat back to their village. Allowing the PCs to explore the keep without the threat of siege. Though any camp they make in the swamps will be at great risk, and there are more lizardfolk than they can hope to defeat in one go.</p><p></p><p>Getting to the doors of the keep in a running battle will be enough for the guards to help repel the Lizardfolk and for them to get inside. Though it may be a tough fight. The players are free to use any tricks and stratagems they can think of to sneak past or distract the Lizardfolk camps.</p><p></p><p>At this point, the full strength of the lizard folk tribe has marched on Blackwall keep. Why? Two reasons. Firstly the chief has told the tribe that a worm monster lives in the keep… the same worm monsters that destroyed the tribes eggs. The grand shaman has reluctantly confirmed this with the auguries. Secondly the lizard king has said that the humans have a sword of lizard slaying (partially true but the sword is actually a sword of dragon slaying. Ilthane knows of it and has commanded the sword be returned, both to prevent it being used on her and also to recruit its master - more on that later. The king doesn’t tell the tribe this, just that the humans have a sword of lizard slaying. The shaman reluctantly promised the same.</p><p></p><p><strong>Reinforcing Blackwall: Whereby the PCs explore the keep and use resources to shore up the defenses.</strong></p><p></p><p>This is where the Allustan and the PCs come into their own. The keep has 14 surviving guards… I’ll keep this the same. 12 are regular guards and 2 veterans. (1 veteran, and 6 more guards were killed in the first surprise attack, and a further 3 guards and Marwenna were captured in the first raid) The Lord Captain of the tower is quarantined in his rooms, the keeps Chaplain died in an accident.</p><p></p><p>The original keep was deadly boring, apart from the thing in the cellar, so I’m using the map of the Keep from Seafoot games. It has a great underground area which I’m repurposing into crypts and some battlements which are great for a siege fight. There are three key areas the PCs can explore.</p><p></p><p>Marwenna’s Lab: A basic wizards lab with lots of notes on the lizard folk, and a couple of a spell scrolls and a dodgy looking potion that Marwenna notes as dangerous. There is also a scrying mirror gifted to her by Allustan that he can use scry the camps - useful! There are notes inside that detail the Captain condition.</p><p></p><p>The Captains Room: The previous Captain has taken I’ll after drinking a potion gifted to him by the Lizardfolk. One week before the attack a tribute was brought by two Lizardfolk. It consisted of several deer, a large amount of fish, some bone necklaces and three potions of strength. The potions were in ornate silver vials. They were said to be a gift from the lizard king. The Captain drank one in order to help repair the and a few days later fell ill. The chaplain attended him (a junior priest of Helm) but on the fifth day the Captain got up from his sickbed and bashed the chaplains skull in. The soldiers, unable to reason with the Captain locked him in his rooms and have barricaded both it and the room beyond. </p><p></p><p>The soldiers don’t know what to do, but have removed all light from the entry room as the Captain seems to react badly to the light outside the room. Of course the tribute was a ploy by the lizard king and the soldiers know it weakened the keep.</p><p>The last area is the crypts beneath the tower. The only people who went there were the Chaplain and the Lord Captain. It had an ill reputation among the guards as haunted. While secured with strong doors the guards won’t stand on watch down there so it is a potential weak spot. They do have keys though.</p><p></p><p>The crypt is in fact haunted. The inspiration for this section came from a very old copy of Ruins of Myth Drannor! A previous lord commander who built the keep, was a famed dragon slayer who had a powerful magic sword. He is buried in the crypts beneath the keep.</p><p></p><p>His weapon was a magic sword +1 sword/+2 vs reptiles/+3 vs dragons called dragonslayer. Dealing an extra 2d6 damage against dragons. The sword is also an intelligent weapon and can cast the spell protection from energy without concentration 1 per day. It’s purpose is to slay dragons. The sword is in truth named Dragons Lair and is the phylactery of a dracolich. What better way for a dracolich’s spirit to find a new dragon corpse to inhabit than to have its phylactery kill one. What this means effectively is that any dragon the character kills in the campaign (there are a lot) could come back as a dracolich. It sets up the backstory for the end game well with Dragotha, and gives the Pc a difficult decision of using the sword or not when they work out what is happening. I love the play on words of the phrase Dragons Lair.</p><p></p><p>When the PCs head down to the crypts for the first time they see the door to the caved beneath carved in and lizard folk corpses all over the room, sliced to ribbons. The crypts are closed again. The lord commander and his three subsequent commanders are wights that protect the resting place of the sword. They incidentally will also protect the crypts from lizardfolk siege.</p><p></p><p>The Wight will only give the sword to a lord commander of the tower. If the PCs have defeated the existing commander they might be able to convince him that one of them is the acting lord commander. With a cryptic warning that sometimes killing isn’t the answer or words to that effect. The commanders are a tough foe and undead and if the PCs defeat them for the sword they will lose the protection they provide for the crypts. This sword is also the main reason the lizard folk are attacking the keep. Giving the PCs a way to end the siege without further risk to the guards. If they do take the sword though the wights crumble to dust. So either way, take the sword and that entry to the crypt is vulnerable.</p><p></p><p>Allustan will support however the PCs want and will remark that he has enough diamond dust to cast glyph of warding twice in the keep. He will ask the party where they wish him to place them as he is no tactician. He can also place four alarm spells at locations they suggest (regaining the slots with arcane recovery). He will then offer to scry on one of the camps - saving the rest of his magic in case of an attack. Finally he can cast wall of stone to reinforce the east wall that is badly damaged. Or another place the PCs suggest. Allustan is a sage, not a warrior wizard though he will use his magic carefully. He didn’t reach this age by taking undue risks and using up all his magic. By using Allustan’s highest slots for scrying and wall of stone I hope I can reduce his impact on the siege, while also tying him up while the PCs deal with the crypt and the commander. At the same time keeping him useful and a good friend to the PCs.</p><p></p><p>With these three areas, after exploring the second an attack will be triggered. A lesser shaman will entangle the roof guards and cast levitate to raise a lizardfolk with ropes up onto the roof and start attacking the guards posted up there. A group of five lizardfolk will try and take the roof. The attack will fail with the intervention of the PCs but it will hopefully get them to consider the use of magic in both attending and defending the keep.</p><p></p><p>That’s probably enough to get through tonight’s session. The siege can continue in my next post.</p><p></p><p>As always, feedback and suggestions are appreciated.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="TheSword, post: 8501846, member: 6879661"] I’ve broken the adventure down into several phases. Here are the first two. [B]Getting In: Whereby the PCs travel to Blackwall Keep and confront the Lizardfolk Picket.[/B] I’m gonna start the adventure with a combat to keep things spicy. An ambush with the lizard king’s favored son and six lizardfolk. I’m sticking with the theme that Ilthane has enhanced the Lizardking to half dragon status and his children carry that bloodline… so acid breath and tougher scales, stronger hitting etc. The son will speak a tiny bit of common… enough to be belligerent and say this is twisted branch land. Human trespassers will die. The fight should be relatively straightforward but show the strength of the half-dragons. Arriving at the pickets they will see something is amiss. Blackwall is scarred and the PCs can see a lizardfolk assault repulsed in the distance. Now there are three camps around the keep blocking the the way in. The main one in the center is the lizard kings and covers the main route up to the keep. The second is the shaman’s and covers the left hand most waterlogged side. The kings other favored son runs the camp to the east which guards the cave entrance. The north side is sheer cliff and practically impossible to attack. Each camp will be more than the PCs can handle in this status even with fireball. There are dozens of lizardfolk in each one, along with shaman and enhanced lizard folk known for now as blackscales more half dragon lizardfolk. Defeating the camps isn’t necessary at this point. Though any lizardfolk killed may benefit the later parts in the adventure. In particular killing or disabling named characters. If the PCs want they can run a guerrilla fight against the camps to the same effect as the later siege. If enough lizard folk/black scale lizard folk are killed, or if the lizard king is wounded the lizard folk will break off the siege and retreat back to their village. Allowing the PCs to explore the keep without the threat of siege. Though any camp they make in the swamps will be at great risk, and there are more lizardfolk than they can hope to defeat in one go. Getting to the doors of the keep in a running battle will be enough for the guards to help repel the Lizardfolk and for them to get inside. Though it may be a tough fight. The players are free to use any tricks and stratagems they can think of to sneak past or distract the Lizardfolk camps. At this point, the full strength of the lizard folk tribe has marched on Blackwall keep. Why? Two reasons. Firstly the chief has told the tribe that a worm monster lives in the keep… the same worm monsters that destroyed the tribes eggs. The grand shaman has reluctantly confirmed this with the auguries. Secondly the lizard king has said that the humans have a sword of lizard slaying (partially true but the sword is actually a sword of dragon slaying. Ilthane knows of it and has commanded the sword be returned, both to prevent it being used on her and also to recruit its master - more on that later. The king doesn’t tell the tribe this, just that the humans have a sword of lizard slaying. The shaman reluctantly promised the same. [B]Reinforcing Blackwall: Whereby the PCs explore the keep and use resources to shore up the defenses.[/B] This is where the Allustan and the PCs come into their own. The keep has 14 surviving guards… I’ll keep this the same. 12 are regular guards and 2 veterans. (1 veteran, and 6 more guards were killed in the first surprise attack, and a further 3 guards and Marwenna were captured in the first raid) The Lord Captain of the tower is quarantined in his rooms, the keeps Chaplain died in an accident. The original keep was deadly boring, apart from the thing in the cellar, so I’m using the map of the Keep from Seafoot games. It has a great underground area which I’m repurposing into crypts and some battlements which are great for a siege fight. There are three key areas the PCs can explore. Marwenna’s Lab: A basic wizards lab with lots of notes on the lizard folk, and a couple of a spell scrolls and a dodgy looking potion that Marwenna notes as dangerous. There is also a scrying mirror gifted to her by Allustan that he can use scry the camps - useful! There are notes inside that detail the Captain condition. The Captains Room: The previous Captain has taken I’ll after drinking a potion gifted to him by the Lizardfolk. One week before the attack a tribute was brought by two Lizardfolk. It consisted of several deer, a large amount of fish, some bone necklaces and three potions of strength. The potions were in ornate silver vials. They were said to be a gift from the lizard king. The Captain drank one in order to help repair the and a few days later fell ill. The chaplain attended him (a junior priest of Helm) but on the fifth day the Captain got up from his sickbed and bashed the chaplains skull in. The soldiers, unable to reason with the Captain locked him in his rooms and have barricaded both it and the room beyond. The soldiers don’t know what to do, but have removed all light from the entry room as the Captain seems to react badly to the light outside the room. Of course the tribute was a ploy by the lizard king and the soldiers know it weakened the keep. The last area is the crypts beneath the tower. The only people who went there were the Chaplain and the Lord Captain. It had an ill reputation among the guards as haunted. While secured with strong doors the guards won’t stand on watch down there so it is a potential weak spot. They do have keys though. The crypt is in fact haunted. The inspiration for this section came from a very old copy of Ruins of Myth Drannor! A previous lord commander who built the keep, was a famed dragon slayer who had a powerful magic sword. He is buried in the crypts beneath the keep. His weapon was a magic sword +1 sword/+2 vs reptiles/+3 vs dragons called dragonslayer. Dealing an extra 2d6 damage against dragons. The sword is also an intelligent weapon and can cast the spell protection from energy without concentration 1 per day. It’s purpose is to slay dragons. The sword is in truth named Dragons Lair and is the phylactery of a dracolich. What better way for a dracolich’s spirit to find a new dragon corpse to inhabit than to have its phylactery kill one. What this means effectively is that any dragon the character kills in the campaign (there are a lot) could come back as a dracolich. It sets up the backstory for the end game well with Dragotha, and gives the Pc a difficult decision of using the sword or not when they work out what is happening. I love the play on words of the phrase Dragons Lair. When the PCs head down to the crypts for the first time they see the door to the caved beneath carved in and lizard folk corpses all over the room, sliced to ribbons. The crypts are closed again. The lord commander and his three subsequent commanders are wights that protect the resting place of the sword. They incidentally will also protect the crypts from lizardfolk siege. The Wight will only give the sword to a lord commander of the tower. If the PCs have defeated the existing commander they might be able to convince him that one of them is the acting lord commander. With a cryptic warning that sometimes killing isn’t the answer or words to that effect. The commanders are a tough foe and undead and if the PCs defeat them for the sword they will lose the protection they provide for the crypts. This sword is also the main reason the lizard folk are attacking the keep. Giving the PCs a way to end the siege without further risk to the guards. If they do take the sword though the wights crumble to dust. So either way, take the sword and that entry to the crypt is vulnerable. Allustan will support however the PCs want and will remark that he has enough diamond dust to cast glyph of warding twice in the keep. He will ask the party where they wish him to place them as he is no tactician. He can also place four alarm spells at locations they suggest (regaining the slots with arcane recovery). He will then offer to scry on one of the camps - saving the rest of his magic in case of an attack. Finally he can cast wall of stone to reinforce the east wall that is badly damaged. Or another place the PCs suggest. Allustan is a sage, not a warrior wizard though he will use his magic carefully. He didn’t reach this age by taking undue risks and using up all his magic. By using Allustan’s highest slots for scrying and wall of stone I hope I can reduce his impact on the siege, while also tying him up while the PCs deal with the crypt and the commander. At the same time keeping him useful and a good friend to the PCs. With these three areas, after exploring the second an attack will be triggered. A lesser shaman will entangle the roof guards and cast levitate to raise a lizardfolk with ropes up onto the roof and start attacking the guards posted up there. A group of five lizardfolk will try and take the roof. The attack will fail with the intervention of the PCs but it will hopefully get them to consider the use of magic in both attending and defending the keep. That’s probably enough to get through tonight’s session. The siege can continue in my next post. As always, feedback and suggestions are appreciated. [/QUOTE]
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Age of Worms Upgrades - Encounter at Blackwall Keep (Spoilers, don’t read if you’re playing in the campaign!)
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