Expedition to the Demonweb Pits ToC

[Celeblas]

Well it looks like Expedition to the Demonweb Pits was delivered to Germany a little bit earlier and so I found a packet containing the book in my mailbox. It seems that my FLGS sent it out a little bit earlier. Well I certainly won't complain .
So far I haven't read very much of the book but it looks quite nice.

The Background Story of the Module centers around Graz'zt. He made a proposal to Lolth suggesting to ally against Orcus and divide his power base between them. Well Lolth rejected his offer and so he started plotting against her spreading a rumor that the Spiderqueen is going to take a more offensive role in the war against Corellon and the surface elves. Graz'zt also tries to ally with his longeterm enemy Malcanthet against Lolth.

The Layout of the book is quite nice and so far I have only recogniced the reprint of two maps (Sigil from the Palar Handbook and Graz'zts Realm from FC1). It also looks like they reprinted some of the Demonlord Aspects from FC1 webenhancement. Well fair enough in my opinion .

Well for now I can only provide the ToC and try to answer questions .

Table of Contents
Introduction 4

1: The Demonweb Campaign 5
Background 5
A1: Drow Attack! 8
A2: Lizard Riders 9
A3: The Gate Room 9
Encounter Descriptions

2: Sigil: City of Doors 14
Entering and Exiting Sigil 15
B1: Rats That Talk 18
The Styx Oarsman 19
The Tower of the Prophet 23
Ambushes in Sigil 26
B2: Guradians of the Tower 26
B3: Mercenary Yugoloths 26
Other Information Sources 26
B4: The Jackal Scholars 26
B5: The Libaray of The Lady 27
Encounter Descriptions

3: Yggdrasil and Beyond 38
Traveling Yggdrasil 38
C1: The Ratatosk Tribe 40
C2: The Branch That Walks 40
The Beastlands 40
C3: The Hunted 41
C4: The Hunter 41
C5: Gate Guardian 41
Rime Thuras, the Iron Wastes 42
C6: The Demon-Quelling Sword 43
Encounter Desciptions

4: The Demonweb 52
Deonweb Features 52
Pathways 52
Random Encounters 55
Arrical Chamber 56
The Demon Shrine 56
Hall of th Great Web 57
Encounters D1-D10 58
The Fane of Eclavdra 58
Entering the Fane Without a Fight 61
Starting a Fight 52
Patrol Tower 62
Web Drawbridge 62
Swarm Pits 62
Priestress Tower 62
Eclavdra's Tower 62
The Fane 64
Planar Doors and Keys 64
Planar Door to Caer Sidi 65
Planar Door to Erelhei-Cinlu 65
Planar Door to the Iron Wastes 65
Planar Door to the Red Forest 65
Planar Door to the Spiral Desert 66
Planar Door to Truegard 66
Encounter Descriptions

5: Zelatar, City of Demons 82
City Adventure Pacing 83
Zelatar 83
City Locations 86
1. The Giants' Gate 86
2. The Roosting Wall 86
3. The Camps of the Legions 86
4. The Argent Palace 86
5. The Bonebreakers' Pit 87
6. The Queens Causeway and the Plague of Rats 87
7. The Boulevard of Fortunetellers 88
8. The Grand Shrine of the High Lamia 88
9. The River of Salt 88
10. The Bridge Gate 88
11. Viper Tree Boulevard 88
12. Sign of the Black Heart 89
13. The Swordsmith's Pit 89
14. The Golden Opportinuty 89
15. The Running Market 89
16. The Chosen's Tabernacle 89
17. The Great Green Oven 89
Encounters in Zelatar 90
Zelatar Plot Points 91
City of Zelatar Encounters 92
E1: The Frogfaced Slaver 92
E2: The Viper Gate 93
The Sign of the Black Heart 93
E5: Chased Out of the City 98
Encounters E6-E8 99
Encounter Descriptions

6: The Demon Council 113
The Soul Fogs 113
The Council Pass 114
F1: The Bone Naga Ambassador 114
F2: Warlocks Beyond the Gate 116
F3: The Carnevus and the Drow 116
F4: The Harpoon Spiders 116
F5: The Celestial Cyst 116
F6: Sleeping Beasts 117
F7: Spider Assassin 117
F8: Crystal Tower 119
F9: Prison of the Yochlols 119
F10: Spider Folem Door 119
F11: The Great Mirror
The Grand Council Chamber 120
F12: Ambassador of Pazuzu 124
F13: Keen-Eyed Oculus 124
F14: Aspect of Obox-ob 124
F15: Ambassador of Kostchitchie 124
F16: The Word of Demogoron 125
F17: Aspect of Graz'zt 125
F19: The Throne of Lolth 126
F20: The Bebilith Porter 126
F21: The Audience Chamber 127
Future Adventures 129
Encounter Descritptions

Appendix 168
Prestige Classes 168
Demonwrecker 168
Jaunter 172

The Book of Flesh and Mirrors 176

Items of Legacy 178
Spidersilk 180
Thaas 182

New Monsters 184
Aspect of Graz'zt 184
Aspect of Obox-ob 186
Aspect of Yeenoghu 188
Corrupted by the Abyss 190
Dabus 182
Demon, Cambion 195
Demon, Carnevus 198
Demon, Oculus 200
Envoy of Lolth 202
Giant, Abyssal 204
Lamia Noble 206
Mirror Mephit 208
Ratatosk 210
Viper Tree, Elder 212

Player Handouts 214

Edit: Corrected some typos

 

[Shemeska]

Above and beyond anything else in this, I'm grinning with glee over the inclusion of Ratatosks and Yggdrasil. And apparently Rule-of-Three shows up from what I've heard (from somebody who has the book).

And of course it goes without saying that I'm curious about

B3: Mercenary Yugoloths 26
Other Information Sources 26
B4: The Jackal Scholars 26

 

[Razz]

I am definitely getting this book! They made a better version of the Viper Tree, the Dabus are back, an aspect of Grazz't is in it, some cool new monsters and the Ratatosk is in it too?!

Ok, a couple of questions:

1) What are the Abyssal Giant, Corrupted by the Abyss (sounds like a template), Cenbian and Carnevus Demons? I know what the Oculus is, that's from an issue of Dungeon Magazine, can't remember which

2) The prestige classes sound neat. Can you tell us a summary of the Demonwrecker and Jaunter PrC and a summary of its abilities and what it can do?

 

[Razz]

And of course it goes without saying that I'm curious about:

B3: Mercenary Yugoloths 26
Other Information Sources 26
B4: The Jackal Scholars 26

Wow, I am quite curious myself...I wonder if converted/new yugoloths are coming in MMV or...*gasp* an FC3!?! (high hopes, I know)

 

[NarlethDrider]

AHHH! I want this book now!!!!
Anywho, I just gotta figure how to get my players from 2nd level to 'up there' to go to sigil----

 

[Oryan77]

I knew it was going to be worth waiting to spend my amazon gift certificate!

Yggdrasil, Ratatosk, & the Beastlands....I can't believe it! Perfect timing too. I just started running Dead Gods and the players should be heading towards Yggdrasil in about a month. I even threw in a romp to the Beastlands via Yggdrasil. So I'll be gutting this adventure out a lot and adding it into Dead Gods.

Wow, I can't wait

 

[kenmarable]

Quick question - how much drow is in it? (Not just pure # of drow encounters, but general "drow-ness" level is what I'm curious about.) Looks like just in parts 1 and 4 if that, but I'm curious.

Mainly I'm running a very drow-centric campaign right now (yeah, I know they've been published to death, but I've never actually used them beyond an encounter or two) and was thinking of using this adventure given the Lolth focus.

I know for a fact I'll be running it someday, just wondering if it'll be in this campaign or another. Seems very demon-centric from the table of contents and general plot, but if there's still some drow goodness in there, I can make it fit sooner rather than later.

 

[Celeblas]

@Shemeska
The Mercenary Yugoloths is a reusable encounter. During their journey around the planes the PCs will probably gain some enemies. They will place a 10,000gp bounty on the PCs head and some Yugoloths are going to collect it.
The encounter consists of 3 Mezzoloths and Ekzireth the Nycaloth. The Nycloth begins the assault from the air after his Mezzoloth servants shroud the PCs in couldkill spells. During the combat there are four Dabus in the street. One tries to flee and get help to stop the fighting, while the remaining Dabu project illusinary pictures telling both parties to stop. A nice idea in my opinion as it adds quite well to the flavour of Sigil .
Although I haven't read Expedition to Castle Ravenloft I heard the complains about the missing information from where monsters were taken. It seems WotC listened as they included the source of the monster below its name.

The Jackals Scholars: At some point the PCs probaly will try to aquire more information concerning the Demonweb and Rule-of-Three names Kemet and Gbemisola as a possible source. Both are Jackal Lords who will disguise themself as a pair of dog-headed Hound Archons. For some money the PCs can gain several bits of useful information during this roleplaying encounter.
If the PCs see through the Disguise this encounter may result in combat but it seems as if it isn't intended this way. Nontheless a description oof a possiible combat encounter is given at the end of the chapter.


@Razz
The monster entry about the Dabus is quite cool. I especiall liked the advice how to roleplay the picture language of the Dabu.

Abyssal Giants are, well... giants living in the Abyss. One theory claims they originated on the Material Plane but were dragged into the Abyss as a result of their way of life, another theory claims they made an unfortunate bargain with the Prince of Demons. They can throw exploding rocks, reshape the ground around them permanently as a full-round action (e.g. creating a pit below the PCs feet) and deal extra dice of vile damage on a critical hit. Personally I am not very impressed by this monster.

Corrupted by the Abyss is indeed an inherited template which can be added to any corporeal creature. The entry states that it forst appeared in the Book of Vile Darkness. The creature gains fracial d8 Hit Dies, improved natural armor and natural attacks, some ability score adjustments, damage reduction and resistance against electricity, fast healing, resistance to poison and higher DCs for every special attack the base creature has.
The CR-adjustment and several of the mentioned abilities depend on the base creatures number of hit-dice.

Cembion actually should read Cambion. Looks like I generated some typos while typewriting the ToC. Sorry about that. I suppose the Cambion demon was introduced way before 3rd Edition and it is the offspring of a male demon and a female planetouched like a tiefling. The term is quite often used to descripe any humanoid half-fiend. Cambions are spurned by their fathers and specialize in gathering information to exchange them for power and prestige. They have the Alternate Form ability and do not suffer from armor check penalties when it comes down to Hide and Move Silently.

The Carnevus Demon is a CR9 Tana'ri with four arms and two mouth (but one head). It can cast two spells per round, can fight with a weapon in each hand without penalties, and can decide to cast only one spell per round and instead counterspell another spell as if using dispel magic one per round. In the Bloodwar they serve as backround tropps using their spell-like abilities. They are the child of a tanar'ri and a lamia noble and are often found in Graz'zts realms or on other planes.

I'm going to have a look the PrCs next and will provide some information on them later .

@kenmarable
Sorry I cannot tell for sure at the very moment as I haven't read very much of the book so far. The initial encounter includes several drow, the Sigil part seems to be almost drow-free, same for the Yggdrasil chapter, the Demonweb chapter is very drwo heavy and includes several spider-monsters from MM1-4 as well as some demons, the Zelatar chapter seems to be non-drow as well and the final chapter takes place in the Demonweb again.
Seems to be not so drow heavy at all.

 

[kenmarable]

@kenmarable
Sorry I cannot tell for sure at the very moment as I haven't read very much of the book so far. The initial encounter includes several drow, the Sigil part seems to be almost drow-free, same for the Yggdrasil chapter, the Demonweb chapter is very drwo heavy and includes several spider-monsters from MM1-4 as well as some demons, the Zelatar chapter seems to be non-drow as well and the final chapter takes place in the Demonweb again.
Seems to be not so drow heavy at all.

Great, thanks! That's exactly what I was looking for (and expected from the ToC). Actually that looks like a nice balance of drow. I certainly don't want the campaign to be all drow all the time, but if there's enough of a theme there, I can hook it into the campaign.

And thanks again for giving this overview! I've been eagerly waiting for the WotC website to include anything like this.

 

[Pbartender]

How setting specific is the adventure?