Adventure: The Dragon of Krom Frykt – The Dragon’s Lair
Here is the third and final part of the Pathfinder-compatible adventure The Dragon of Krom Frykt. See the introduction here and the wilderness encounters here.
The Dragon’s Cave
Once the players reach the entrance read or paraphrase the following:
The rocky hillside, cracked and smoking from various vents, descends to the valley floor here where a wide, low cavern lies. A natural stone awning canopies an open space of small scattered rocks. WIthin, a dark passage emits heat and haze.
One goblin hides among the rocks in at the entrance (DC 20 perception to spot) and watches the approach (perception +0). If he sees the party approaching the cave he will alert the goblins in area 1 (see below).
An alternate entrance can be discovered through investigating the vents on the hillside above and succeeding on a DC 20 nature, survival or dungeoneering skill check. Success means they discover a fissure on the hillside above the cave, which leads to a corridor behind the entrance guards (area 2 on map).
Dragon’s Lair Areas
When the players enter the lair, run the following encounters as the players progress through the areas.
1) Guards and Wards – CR 4 – XP 1300
Within, more goblins with cover and bows and magical traps pass the time by playing at dice inside the entrance.
Trap – At the apex of the entrance, a mark has been made on the stone with grayish paint. Any who cross the threshold or touch the rune trigger this glyph of warding, which summons a poison frog swarm that will attack whoever triggered it.
Creatures – 5 goblins – one on watch among the rocks at the entrance, the rest wary. The goblins will attempt to use cover from the large rock in the center of the chamber and fire their shortbows at attackers.
2) Savage Riders – CR 5 – XP 2000
A natural stone passage splits in an area with several interconnecting chambers. Here, a couple of goblin worg-riders and their mounts stand guard.
Creatures – 2 x Goblin commandos (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/unique-monsters/cr-1/goblin-commando) and 2 worg. They will attack the players with shortbows, charges, and halberds on their mounts. The goblins will try to keep moving and flank single opponents.
3) A Fallen Champion – CR 3 – XP 800
Among the corpses of many goblins, the party finds the temple champion’s corpse, which has been partially eaten, and his ceremonial trappings -a helm, shield, and necklace.
Creatures – 2 zombies and 3 skeletons, animated corpses of the goblins that the champion killed, rise up and attack the party as they prepare to leave the area.
Treasure – The necklace is an amulet of health +2. If returned to the Temple further rewards will be bestowed upon them in the form of honors – they will be named Champions of Krom and a feast will be held.
4) The Chamber of Earthfire – CR 6 – 2400 XP
In the chamber of earthfire, a large cavern with lava pools and a natural stone bridge, the party must rescue the dragon’s eggs from the goblin wizard who ejected her. His intention is to hatch them himself and train them.
Hazard – the chamber is extremely hot and each round inhabitants who are not immune to extremes of heat must make a DC 10 Fortitude check or become Fatigued.
Hazard – the area around the nest is even hotter due to closer proximity to the lava, and creatures take 1d3 points of fire damage while past the stone bridge.
Hazard – anyone falling into the pool of molten rock in this chamber will take 5d6 points of damage per round.
Creatures – Goblin Wizard (see below) and 2 Bugbear Bodyguards, one of whom wields the Beastblade (see below) will confront the party. Both are wearing hide armor and are AC 19 (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/humanoids/bugbear). The goblin’s wizardry protests all three from the sweltering heat hazards of the chamber except the lava, and he will fight the battle flying around the chamber casting spells.
Treasure – The goblin wizard and the bugbears carry 10 platinum and 30 gold coins each. The dragon’s hoard consists of ore and globs of lead, copper, silver, iron, and gold that are melted together into a nest which weighs 500 pounds and is worth 1000 gold.
Within the lumpy metallic nest rest three egg-shaped stones, very hard, scaly, and hot to the touch. A DC 20 Knowledge Arcana skill check will reveal that these are the dragon’s eggs and require a constant temperature in order to hatch. A DC 25 Knowledge Arcana skill check combined with a DC 25 Knowledge Nature skill check will reveal that these three will hatch in 5d12 days if undisturbed. A DC 25 appraise check will reveal they could fetch up to 500 gold apiece.
Developments – If the eggs are harmed or removed the dragon will wreak her wrath upon the valley. The eggs will only hatch if their temperature is properly maintained.
Concluding the Adventure
Return to the temple and complete a skill challenge where the PCs must give an accounting of their deeds before the dragon is convinced that her treasure is safe and will leave. As she does she will sniff all of the PCs to check if they smell like her eggs, or, more direly, dragon blood. If she notices the Beastblade which the bugbear took from her hoard she will mention that a fool carried it last and that they may keep it as “the memory is sour”. If flattered she will tell the story of a group of thieves who came into her lair. She killed two and two more escaped, but the one carrying the Beastblade fought to the death with the smell of fear strong upon him.
Any harm to the eggs leads to dire repercussions the next day after the dragon finds out. She will hunt the players down if possible, likely destroying the village Sera and the temple regardless.
When the players rid the Temple of Krom Frykt of the dragon they are offered 100 gold coins each as a gesture of gratitude. Additionally, as the temple’s kennels have just had a litter, and they are offered up to two mountain hound pups.
Faoer Dornoe, The temple elder, expresses concern at the machinations of the goblin waste wizard, as the goblins have not troubled the valley since he was a boy. Their wolf and goat borne raiders had earned them a reprisal from the warriors of the temple and the men of the village. He mentions that a scouting expedition may need to be mounted and asks the players if they would consider undertaking such a task, which could lead to further adventures in the wastes to the north. Perhaps the players will meet the wizard’s two brothers.
Creatures
Deom-Adr, earth dragon, CR 10
Neutral large dragon (earth, fire)
Draconic, Common
Senses: darkvision, tremorsense
12 HD, 131 hp
AC 22, touch 10, flat-footed 21 (+1 Dex, +12 natural, –1 size)
F +12 R +10 W +9
Move: 40 feet
Bite +19, 2d6+10 +1d6 fire damage, 2 x claws +17, 1d8+7 damage
Breath Weapon – 60 foot line of fire – 6d8 fire damage, DC 20 reflex save for 1/2 damage
Choking Smoke – at will the dragon can exhale a cloud of choking poisonous gas and smoke. Each round of exhalation grows the cloud by 10′ diameter. The cloud gives concealment for all within it, which the dragon ignores due to tremorsense. Living creatures in the cloud must make a DC 20 Fortitude saving throw each round or begin to suffocate and take 1d6 points of subdual damage per round in the smoke.
Stats – S 24 D 14 C 18 I 12 W 13 Ch 12
Canny and suspicious, Deom-Adr seethes with anger at the goblins who are holding her eggs hostage. She has had dealings with the men of Sera in the past and is reluctant to inform them of the true nature of her treasures and will resort to threats if the players ply her for details. She will instead insist that the players secure all of her treasure and kill or drive off the goblins.
Ixame, Wizard of the Wastes – XP 1200
NE small humanoid (goblin) Witch 5
hp 20 AC 11 F +1 R +2 W +4
Spear +2, 1d6 damage
Spells – lightning bolt, hold person, summon swarm, sleep, ray of enfeeblement, cause fear
Hexes – Evil Eye, Flight, Healing
Gear – spear, scroll of cure light wounds, resist elements, ray of enfeeblement
Stats – S 10 D 12 C 10 I 16 W 14 Ch 10
Posted in 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons / d20 fantasy / Pathfinder, Creature, Encounter and tagged creature type: dragon, dragon by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Recapping SpaceCityCon 2013
I took a Saturday to make a trip out to SSC 2013 to run a session of The Tomb of Athganazar.
The adventure went well — even had a few folks playing who expressed interest in seeing our other adventures, so I’ve pointed them to this site. If you, dear reader, are one of them, thanks for the kindly-worded validation. The adventuring party found a very creative solution to the wizard’s challenge, different than those at the last con, but just as off-the-wall and fun for all. This seems to be the norm for games I run at cons, which is very encouraging, both in the flexibility of the adventure as well as the creativity of the players at Texas gaming cons. Excessive hack-n-slash isn’t as fun for me as a storyteller, as it too often turns adventures into glorified calculators. The question for me has always been whether players enjoy this outside-the-lines style of session, and it seems they do. Again, thank you all players who roll with these adventures. I am grateful for your participation and positivity.
On the floor, I met a visual artist, Joey Blackard, with an intriguing, yet simple style, and picked up one of his framed originals. I’d love to use more of his work in our adventures; more on that in time. Then, after running the session, happened upon Diesel on the vendor’s floor, and though I usually don’t approach such luminaries in the history of role playing, he seemed very approachable, so I decided I’d say hi. Thirty minutes into our discussion of role playing, scoping projects, the experience of working at TSR, then WoTC, and finally life in Austin, I realized that we had a lot of common ground. He was so down to earth and genuinely interested that I had to cut myself short or I would have kept talking with him all evening. I’ll definitely look him up at other Texas cons; he tends to make the rounds each year. One of my favorite con experiences ever.
As usual, the Houston hospitality was second to none, the organizers, gamers, and other locals taking care of me as they always do. Special shout out to Leo and Phil for the discussions and good times on Saturday night after we’d packed out of the con. Always great to hear about your campaigns and story ideas and to meet more of your friends and colleagues in adventurecraft.
More to come as we are already hard at work on an adventure to run atOwlCon in early 2014. This one will showcase the Dungeonstone Caves and Caverns Set that recently closed on Kickstarter. Odds are they’ll have some sets available for purchase at the con. So in six months, come check out the booth; the adventure will be run in multiple sessions at the neighboring table.
Posted in convention by Stephen Hilderbrand with no comments yet.
Wooly Manticore
Wooly Manticore CR 3
DEFENSE
OFFENSE
STATISTICS
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Posted in 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons / d20 fantasy / Pathfinder, Creature and tagged magical beast by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Tomb of Athganazar at SpaceCityCon 2013
We will be reprising our running of Tomb of Athganazar atSpaceCityCon 2013 on the west side of Houston. The con runs from Aug 2-4 and our games start at 1pm on Aug 3rd in the Rose Garden Room of the Marriott. Come find us there or at the Dungeonstone booth on the vendor’s floor, which I believe will be in the same hotel.
Anyone entering the Tomb of Athganazar will receive $20 coupons that can be redeemed at the Dungeonstone booth for incredible 3D terrain. The two sessions will feature pregen Pathfinder 10th level characters and run 4 hours.
And check back here for links to the adventure when it is published in August.
Posted in announcement, convention and tagged The Tomb of Athganazar by Stephen Hilderbrand with no comments yet.
The Birth of the Nightmare
The sound of rapping at the door barely interrupted the thunderous downpour. After the proprietor peered through the iron peephole and made out the huddled form, he let the stranger in. A drenched Glenillyn from the Northlands passed the threshold, introduced himself, and asked for shelter at the house of Traer in the Southlands. He was carrying a bridle round his neck and spurs dangled from his belt.
After a frugal supper filled with rich conversation, Glenillyn inquired as to what service he could render to repay Traer’s hospitality. The dark host sat silent for some time, then he said to his guest, “I ask nothing of you save you bring me the prized mare held by my neighbor to the west. He guards her with such precision that for months all my attempted ambushes have been in vain.”
Glenillyn said, “You in the South are certainly slow and cowardly by our standards. We would have made an attempt to get her and even have died rather than hang about for moons. Tell me where she is and wait here over the next night and see how I do.”
Said Traer, “We know all about the boasting of your people. Cadwallon, the son of Uther, has the mare at Gelligaer. She feeds by day in the midst of soldiers. At night she slumbers on a fine brachan[1] in the far corner of his house, with the whole household between her and the only door and four of his best men between her and the fireplace. In addition to repaying my hospitality, you shall get ten cows for the mare and five for the brachan.” Traer strolled up unconcernedly to the face of Glenillyn, as no thief in the Southlands is arrested but is instead killed on the spot, so if the traveler were seen again it would mean success and he would have his prize. Glenillyn nodded, took his rest, and in the morning set forth to retrieve the mare.
The night was dark and starless as Glenillyn approached Gelligaer. With his knife he made a hole beside the door and let himself in. He stole up to the mare and loosed her. Then, with the lashing skills of the seamen of the north, he tied the fringes of the carpet to her tail. The four men were sleeping on the carpet and following Glenillyn’s lead, the mare dragged the guards bodily through the fire, which consumed them immediately and with nary a shriek, their ashen corpses covered the rug as it was dragged outside the door. Cadwallon’s remaining band set out after him, guided by the sparks. These Glenillyn quenched, and mount and robber rode off into a nearby field. Just before dawn, he returned to Traer safely, handed over the mare, received the cows and gained for himself great renown for daring as against the men of the Southlands.
Unfortunately for both men, the story doesn’t end there. The mare herself sustained burns passing through the fire that night. The ashes of the corrupt guards wore into the sores opened by the flesh wounds, infecting the mare with the evil intent that an unjust death does. The next night, she broke free of the stables of Traer, breathing fire as bright as ever from the hearth of Cadwallon at her captors, her flesh still rotting yet clinging to her animated frame. She galloped off across the land, set free by her power. From the prints where her hooves stepped that night, no plant has since grown.
It is said she has bred many more mares in her corrupted image. On starless nights, beware the whinnies that wind through the dells of the Southlands and the haunted dreams of men.
Inspired by the Welsh legend of Genillyn, the Thief of Glamorgan.
Posted in Fiction and tagged fiction, hook seed or legend by Stephen Hilderbrand with no comments yet.
Adventure: The Dragon of Krom Frykt – Wilderness Encounters
Welcome to the second in Claw Claw Bite’s series of weekly adventure posts! Today we present the overland travel portion of our serial adventure. Having taken up the quest to rescue the dragon’s treasure from the goblins who hold it hostage, the players must now travel north to the dragon’s lair in the Smoking Valley. For the adventure’s introduction, click here.
Encounters
Over Hill and Dale – The players will face minor hardships while traveling to the dragon’s lair.
Hazard – CR 1/2 – 50 XP per player – First they must make three DC 7 acrobatics checks as they traverse the rocky mountain slopes on their way to the dragon’s valley – failing a check results in a fall for 1d6 points of damage.
Creatures – CR 4 – 1200 XP – During the journey a pair of lynxes will stalk the party. If they can they will sneak up (Stealth +10) and attack stragglers or pounce during a moment of confusion such as after a party member falls.
Hazard – CR 1 – 100 XP per player – Two different geothermal vents present a hazard as the party approaches the lair’s entrance, and unless players make a successful DC 17 Dungeoneering or Survival skill check they will have to make DC 13 Reflex saves to avoid blasts of hot poison gasses that deal 1d8 points of damage.
The Dragon’s Cave – Once the players reach the entrance read or paraphrase the following:
The rocky hillside, cracked and smoking from various vents, descends to the valley floor here where a wide, low cavern lies. A natural stone awning canopies an open space of small scattered rocks. Within, a dark passage emits heat and haze.
One goblin hides among the rocks in at the entrance (DC 20 perception to spot) and watches the approach (perception +0). If he sees the party approaching the cave he will alert the goblins in area 1 (see below).
An alternate entrance can be discovered through investigating the vents on the hillside above and succeeding on a DC 20 nature, survival or dungeoneering skill check. Success means they discover a fissure on the hillside above the cave, which leads to a corridor behind the entrance guards (area 2 on map).
To continue into the dragon’s lair, go here.
Posted in 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons / d20 fantasy / Pathfinder, Adventure, Encounter and tagged Dragon of Krom Frykt by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Adventure – The Dragon of Krom Frykt – Introduction
This begins the first in a new weekly series of Pathfinder & 3rd Edition D&D adventures. Over the next four weeks, we will be posting this adventure one section at a time. So enjoy and look for the complete adventure in the next issue of Claw Claw Bite magazine!
The Dragon of Krom Frykt
An adventure for 2nd – 4th level characters, for use with Pathfinder or 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons rules
Introduction
The heroes, while returning from their latest adventure, get lost in the hilly wilderness during a long spring rainstorm. When the players find their way to the town of Seraford, they hear of a reward being offered to assist the valley’s temple to Krom.
This temple was dedicated to Krom long ago, at a time when he was known as Krom Frykt. In ancient times he came here, killed a bloody-handed monster known as Tyran, and claimed the land as his, saying he would kill any who did evil or who did not pay due respects at his temple, before moving on to further adventures as Krom is said to have done. Now, those who tend the temple uphold this promise in his fearsome name – every spring a feast is held where whoever wins in games of wrestling and feats of strength earns the title of Dread Champion, and who must uphold Krom’s promise when called upon, in exchange for the earthly privileges of the temple.
When the Player Characters arrive at the temple, they hear that it is occupied by a threatening cinder-mawed dragon. The terrified priests bring the heroes before the dragon who declares, “I am a drake of the earth. My most precious treasure is stolen by cowardly thieves and sneaks. I come to demand justice of Krom Frykt.” The dragon refuses to leave until its treasure is once again safe, explaining that a goblin sneaked in and snatched it, and threatened to destroy it unless the dragon left and stayed away. She demands assistance in the name of the god of the temple, and if rebuffed threatens to “turn this vale and all the lands I can see from this peak into scorched and barren dust, where I shall gnash the bones of the dead.” The dragon tells the Player Characters that “the temple champion has not returned,” and asks the players to sneak into its lair “in the valley that smokes” and secure what is in “the chamber of earthfire” from the goblins who tricked their way into her lair.
The priests confirm that the creature claims it has been wronged and has come to the temple to demand justice from their fearsome god, and the temple Champion, a warrior ordained to hand out justice in Krom’s name, went to the lair a week ago with some of the former champions and has not yet returned. The priests will offer the adventurers the eternal gratitude of the temple and 100 gold each if they help. The priests will ask, then beg for assistance, eventually offering up to 500 gold to each Player Character if they will undertake the task.
For the wilderness portion of the adventure, journey here.
Posted in 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons / d20 fantasy / Pathfinder, Adventure, rules agnostic and tagged Dragon of Krom Frykt by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
The Lich – a Hip-Hopera of Extraordinary Magnitude
The Lich is an epic tale of one wizard’s shot at immortality. Mayhem ensues. Give it a listen and get your copy over at Damp Heat’s bandcamp site:
http://dampheat.bandcamp.com/album/lich
Credits
released 30 March 2013
Story, Lyrics, Beats, Art, Engineering, and Mixing (what’s mastering?) by Daniel P. Smith
Lyrical tweaks and fixes by W. Ryan Willingham and Christopher Terry Leone
Clarinet on Forest by Adam A. Thompson
Guitars on Copy of a Map by Dan Lavoie
Guitars on Guild by Joe Madden
Dot Smith – Narrator
Emily Summerfield – Narrator, Farm Girl
Cee Monstah – Immir, a Wizard; Positive Energy Elemental; and the Butler
Dirty Dub – Corsair, a Warrior; and Dock Worker
Damp Heat – Paul, a Woodsman; Mage Guildsman; Tavern patron
Bad Barry – a Manticore
Stormshadow – another Manticore
Emcee Eats – Vampire Lord
Jomo – Master of the Mage’s GuildChorus (Tavern patrons, Vampire Spawn, Corpse Golem, Other Dock Workers, Guild Members):
Adam A. Thompson
Frank J. Kim
Cindie Jones
John Wayne Akin
Ethan Schrupp
Ryan Gardner
Posted in announcement by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Sea Currents of Findor
At the farthest north-eastern reaches of Soralia, this region is marked on old maps as Findor. The land is more popularly known among the travelers of the day as The Pirate Kingdoms – named after the area’s sea-raiders, a plague of the Soral Sea. Strongholds, towns and villages dot the landscape alongside temples and ruins, marks of lineages and creeds both extant and extinct.
The ocean currents rule this land and shape its people’s ways. A general counter-clockwise current brings cold air southwest from the arctic above the pirate kingdoms down south within fifty miles of Setheria Isle, home of the archmages, which tower provides the marker for the shift in course from southwest to southeast. Continuing southward, the current skirts the Princedoms of Ogham, providing the first opportunities for those who rise this circuit for trade and plunder. From there it meets warm southern winds from the plains and deserts that form the southern bound of the eastern Soral Sea. The winds cool the southerly plains as raiders from the north trade and plunder as they will. The current then proceeds along with the prevailing wind and carries warm air west and then north across the Great Gulf, as the captains of the Pirate Kingdoms call it, seeing as there are no lands east of there. Careful, always keeping the shadows of their masts at their shortest on the left shoulder of the steersman as a guide for their return to Grimsport and the lands of their birth, lest they be carried into the northeastern sea and the isles of ice there. They return along with the warm spring rains from the south, which temper the chill pouring south over the peaks of the Barrier Mountains and water the springs, rivers, plains, woods, hills and valleys of this rough northern land.
Posted in Uncategorized and tagged Findor, Location, Soralia by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
Claw Claw Bite Paints – Happy Little Figures
We here at Claw Claw Bite love using visual aids in our games. Whether it’s handouts, maps, illustrations, models, tiles, intricate model terrain, lego creations, or dungeon-building blocks, for some of us gamers lots of fun and enjoyment comes from the props we use in our games. In that spirit, here’s a little painting guide I put together for big, textured figures such as elementals. Personally, I have always wanted good figures for all of the classic elementals, but have never found a collection of them that I really liked until a fairly recent set of sculpts from Reaper Miniatures. I got the large water and earth elementals first, and then, several years later, got the large air and fire elementals. And now that I have them, I want them to look good, so I put some paint on them. Here’s what I did.
The figures used here are from Reaper’s line, but the guidelines explained here could be used for any similar miniature, or could be used for painting stone terrain. It’s an easy, fun project for beginning painters or veterans alike.
Both the fire elemental and the air elemental started with a base coat of spray model primer. In the past I would prime by hand but eventually found that a careful spray of primer gives a thinner coat and therefore diminishes the details of the figure less. I always use a respirator (gas mask) because those VOCs will give you the cancer, so whatever you do, don’t inhale those fumes. Stand upwind or whatever.
For both of these figures I planned a paint scheme of simple gradients through the appropriate colors. For the fire elemental I wanted a base of red in the crevasses, then a big slow dry coat of orange, then a highlight of yellow. The air elemental will go from base purple, through a progression of lighter blues and a top coat of white. Well, turns out that with figures this big and a paint scheme like this you can do very well by turning your usual dry-brushing into slightly-wet-brushing. The paint gets on the big figure faster and the scale of the details doesn’t suffer from a broad stroke. Feel it out as you usually would – try a small amount of paint on an inconspicuous spot and see what you think of the results.
These figures turn out to be very fun to paint because of their large size and the nature of the figures. There are no careful touch-ups to do because you accidentally got a drop of green on the figure’s white scroll. You just go from the valleys to the peaks of the sculpture with a darker to lighter gradient of colors and get a very dynamic figure (with all due credit to the talented sculptors over at Reaper).
So, here are the step-by-step pictures from this painting exercise. Get the dark color in the depressions, then wet-brush the highlights with the middle color, then dry-brush the highlights on the top ridges.
The models used here were from the Reaper Miniatures line here:
http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/elemental/latest/02251
http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/elemental/latest/02252
http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/elemental/latest/02780
http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/elemental/latest/02777
Happy painting,
Adam A. Thompson
Posted in Miniatures by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.