PCs:
Isaacios, half-elf, R8
Kallistratos, human, P8
Romanos, elf, MU8
HENCHMEN:
Anonymous, human, F2
Anonymous, human, T2
Sigebert's shield bearer, human, F0
SESSION 1 RECAP:
My friend Mitch participated in the Adventure Site Contest II and since I had some free time during the holidays I decided to playtest it. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to run it before its submission but I ran it anyway!
Obvious warning: EVERYTHING FROM NOW CONTAINS MASSIVE SPOILERS! IF YOU WANT TO PLAY THIS MODULE, STOP READING, PLAY IT AND COME BACK HERE!
This module is about a vampire that takes residence in the dungeon bellow a small babrican. He managed to put under his charm a level 9 fighter named Sigebert who had just slain a dragon. Under the vampire's control, he protects the babrican After talking with Mitch and since I would run it for two sessions, we decided to skip the encounter with Sigebert, having him break off the charm, retreat as fast as possible (abandoning even the dragon's corpse in the babrican) and offer a huge reward for brave heroes who will rid the realm from this menace(I forgot to add his daughter's hand in marriage but nevermind)!
Three players responded to the call so they all had level 8 characters. I had Sigebert explaining what happened, making it clear that this is a vampire but trying to leave space for some doubt. I described how he was approached by a pale man with fangs and then he blacked out, remembering only glimpses of what happened. They believed that most probably it was a vampire so they equipped themselves with garlic, pointy stakes and any other anti-vampire protection they could find. They also thought he might use his gaseous tricks to escape so they bought equipment to tear down walls etc. This was nice because I was wondering what they would do if they realised that the vampire was hiding through the vents. They already took their measures however. They also hired a level 2 fighter and a level 2 thief (who to this day remain nameless) and also Sigebert agreed to have his shield bearer assist them! So we are good to go!
They reached the babrican and they entered very carefully. When they realised that noone is there, they searched the place and found out with the thief's skills that in the fireplace there was a secret door. They didn't know how to open it and while they suspected that something was odd with the bulls heads above the fireplace, they didn't want to risk it. They took the hard way in and with the equipment they bought, to broke everything near the fireplace, eventually opening the secret door.
They descended and reached the first room. They realised that something was up with the tapestry but they decided to leave it for when they came back. Then they started looking at the gargoyle statue and because they were afraid that something is strange with it, they took it and tossed it against the western wall, while they were at the eastern one, standing as far as possible. The green slime got out and filled half the room but they were at a safe distance! They put it on fire and continued.
They chose to examine the corridor to the east. Eventually, when 4 people were on the trapped area, the trap was triggered! Everyone made his saving throw with the exception of Sigebert's shield bearer who died from the fire that came from the ceiling.
Then they went back and walked the corridor to the north. They eventually met the annoying barbarian Harold Harrod who kept hitting them despite his very low attack rolls and couldn't be hit while most of the PCs' attacks should hit negative AC! I tried to make his "call your name before your attacks" gimmick as intense as possible but the players weren't sure how this thing worked, so once again they took the hard choice: Kallistratos the paladin will take the hits for a few rounds while the rest of the group runs to the other side. Indeed, despite the small damage Kallistratos and Isaacios received, they made it to the other side.
Romanos cast Strength upon Isaacios and so, when they reached the chess area they could easily open the portcullis. Soon enough they fell upon the invisible zombies and retreated behind the portcullis. Then, they covered the area in front of the entrance with flour in order to trace their steps, baited the zombies and used the portcullis as a weapon to turn them to pieces and easily kill them!
With that done, they reached the hall of goats, a room that had demon goat stone heads in every corner! It's worth saying that the party's fear is now completely gone due to their successes! The same group that was afraid to touch the head of a bull was now playing carelessly with the heads of demonic goats! After some research on them, they found the two that had the switches inside and decided to turn both of them at the same time. So, two secret doors are revealed!
The party followed the door to the east. They opened the door and they saw two magic users talk to each other. However they were surprised and their enemies asked them who they were and what they wanted. They claimed to be followers of the vampire and the magic user used his wand of illusions to make the vampire appear to test them! Realising that there was no way to avoid fighting, Isaacios hit the magic user with his bow to prevent him from casting and before the two homonculus managed to attack the party and Romanos fireballed everything in the room. The two monsters and the magic users were burnt to a crisp and of course the illusionary vampire was gone. Unfortunately most of the items that the bad guys had were destroyed! The potions of evil dragon control and storm giant strength endured and were consumed by Isaacios and kallistratos respectively.
They searched the room to the north and they carefully opened both of the chests and looted them. They were afraid that they might be trapped so they opened them from a safe distance. This is were things started to get complicated however! While they were sure that the casters were dead and they were able to figure out that they were making a golem for the vampire, the undead lord was nowhere to be found. They started making scenarios thinking that he either survived the fireball and disappeared with his gaseous form or that he died and his ashes returned to his tomb. Someone I think mentioned that he could be an illusion but they couldn't be sure. This is were the first session ended!
SESSION 2 RECAP:
Unfortunately, Kallistratos' player couldn't make it in that session so the rest of the party used him as an NPC. They decided to try the southern secret door and they soon met the two vampiric assasins. Once again, while all the evidence pointed towards them being illusions (for example when they searched for the darts I told that there were no darts around) paranoia took over and were starting to prepare for a second attack.
First however, they wanted to go back and check the door in the hall of goats so that they won't have to face opponents on two fronts. The thief realised it was trapped so they opened the door from a safe distance and avoided the fire trap. They went back to the room where the assassins attacked but nothing happened. They broke both windows. In the eastern one, the sphere of annihilation absorbed the rock they threw at it. They weren't sure what this black hole was and decided not to play with it.
They also broke the second one but since the corridor was silenced and darkened, they couldn't see or hear anything. They started experimenting throwing arrows that were tied on a rope to see if they can pull it back and check how far it went, threw a stone tied on a rope to see if it will fall to the ground, used the 10 foot pole to check if there are walls and many other things like that. In the end they decided to tie up some rations and leave in the room, to see if anything will eat them. Nothing happened.
Eventually the ranger decided to bravely cross the corridor. He tied himself to have the party pull him back in case something attacks in the dark. Walking blindly he reached the door and opened it. When he entered he saw the abyssal fresco and its curse confused him, making him ready to attack anyone on sight. When its effect ended, he retreated back to the rest of the group. He explained to them how the spirals on the walls drove him mad and when they entered they decided not to gaze upon them and cover them. They also avoided the pentagram, realising something particularly evil lies inside.
They managed to find the treasure room in the east and stashed everything to take on their way out. They continued to the south where they reached the stone sarcophagus and the goat statues. They became immidiately afraid of them and were confused that the paladin's detect evil didn't sense anything. They had Romanos cast detect magic and scan everything, the sarcophagus, the statues, the pentagram room and the treasure that they have found. Soon enough they knew the bowl was enchanted but were confused to learn that in the tomb room there was no magic with the exception of the stone that covered the tomb. They took the sarcophagus out of the room with the help of the two super powered PCs and opened it carefully, being ready to hit with the stake the vampire.
When it opened they heard hishing sounds and had the magic user put everything to sleep. Then they hit the vampire with the stake and started celebrating their victory! However, when they cut his head off and split it open, they realised it was made of wax! They went then back to the tomb room and started searching around. They found the vent and realised that they had to open a hole in the walls.
After many hours of tearing down the wall to open a small passage through which they could crawl, they reached the real vampire tomb! Isaacios would open his cask and Kallistratos would be ready to hit him with the stake, while the thief would be ready to throw holy water on him and Romanos would be ready to cast. So they opened it up and the final battle began!
He was ready since he heard them entering but still, Isaacios managed to pin him down. Unfortunately, Kallistratos failed to stab him but the thief managed to hit him with holy water. He quickly turned to thin air and reappeared next to the thief, biting him and killing him instantly! Then he turned his attention to Kallistratos and his stake. Before however he could bite him, Isaacios grabbed him and the brave paladin managed to drive the stake in his heart, ending his life!!!
The party celebrated its (real this time) victory, cut of the head of the vampire and after dousing it with holy water, burned it alongside its body! They gathered all the loot and they made their triumphant return!! Sigebert kept his word and gave them the reward! The realm celebrated the new victory of its renowned heroes!!!
KILLS AND LOOT:
Kills:
20 coffer corpses
2 homonculus
1 magic user level 7
1 alchemist level 1
1 vampire
Loot:
8000 pp
alchemy books worth 5000 gp
lounge worth 2000 gp
lute worth 1000 gp
bowl commanding water elementals
white bat talisman worth 10000 gp
THOUGHTS AFTER THE SESSION:
I consider the playtest successful, since the players had a lot of fun playing this module! After talking with them, I consider most of the traps nothing special for level 8 characters. Even if they fall in the slide trap, a level 8 fighter will survive and with a cleric on the team the damage could be reduced to zero. The barbarian was a strange challenge but still, any level 8 martial PC can take two hits and let the rest of the group run through the room, as the party did. The coffer corpses could be a challenge since they are invisible but my players utilised cleverly the portcullis and tore them to pieces. If they had a cleric they could also turn most of them.
After this, it's where the fun part begins. While most probably any level 7-8 party would overpower the magic user and his lackeys, the use of the wand of illusions will create paranoia to most groups! The appearance of the vampire and then his sudden disappearance caused many conspiracy theories, that got even wilder when the vampiric ninjas appeared!
I also liked the fact that the party didn't dare to walk into the pentagram, I would like to see the reactions of other parties in that room!
I loved many nice coincidences that happened, for example the players took the stone tomb outside because they were afraid that some curse could be activated if they opened it in its room. That allowed them to quickly discover the vent! I also liked the duel with the vampire!!! I believe if they failed the attack roll to hit him with the stake, he could drain their levels one by one (or maybe two by two) and force them to retreat! One lucky roll however and they became the heroes of the realm!
I made some mistakes while running it, with the most important one being the fact that I forgot the two poisonous snakes that the vampire had and also I didn't roll as many encounter checks as I should! The snakes would play a big role because, as the players noticed, while the hissing sounds of the magic mouth in the stone tomb looks lame, it caused them to use sleep on nothing. So when the real snakes would appear, they wouldn't have such a spell to counter them!
Anyway, it was a great module and I loved its style and the fact that you could feel a vampire trying to protect himself as best as he could while he created a clever way to get in and out of the babrican in no time! I recommend it to everyone! Have fun and fight on!
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