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Nov 3rd The Lazy River Wayhouse EL 12

Marsh Troll Parents and the Abandoned Wayhouse – adept (cr 10) & hunter (cr 11) – EL 12

This is the house of the Marsh Troll family. The building was constructed several decades ago as a wayhouse for travelers going between Elsemere and Onuago. After the Lazy River shifted course and the monsters in the swamp became more numerous and aggressive, the inhabitants of the area relocated to the village and the port town. The wayhouse was abandoned, but not for long. The troll family has been living here for several years by the time the party arrives. The parents of the teen troll ranger and the troll children under the bridge are on the second floor of the wayhouse.

The road that connected Elsemere to Onuago is completely submerged by the south fork of the Lazy River here. Fortunately the water is only two feet deep. The party moves at 1/3 speed through this water to get to the mud island.

The Marsh Troll clan is not normally hostile, but they haven’t eaten well in recent months; the ecosystem is still in a period of flux and adjustment. They will do all they can to lure the party ashore for an ambush. They do this by using ghost sound to create shrieking as if a damsel in distress. The adept will create an illusion of a human female trapped behind the bars of one of the top floor windows to prey upon any good tendencies the party may have.

Areas

1) Outside

A two-story building sits atop an island of mud in the middle of the Lazy River. Here the river forks as it continues its course to the east. One fork flows north of the mud island and the other flows south of it. The two forks recombine 300 feet to the east of the island.

2) Inside the Wayhouse

The interior of this building is half covered in pools of murky water where the ground has been washed away. A dark gray stone hearth covered in moss stands cold and damp against the north wall. A sturdy wooden staircase, it’s bottom three steps rotted away, leads up along the west wall.

A DC 5 climb or jump check is required to begin ascent of the stairs.

Giant Constrictor Snake (HP 67): A giant constrictor snake hides in the pools of water in the center of the room. It will not attack unless attacked or if the pool it are in are disturbed (when a player is thrown down the stairs by the trolls above). A DC 25 spot check is required to spot the snake.

3) Upstairs in the Wayhouse

The second floor of this wayhouse was once divided into separate chambers. Portions of the interior walls still stand here and there, but are mostly rotten wooden rubble scattered around the large open room thus created.

A DC 10 search check will reveal a wooden trapdoor giving the access to the attic.

Troll Fighter and Adept: two trolls occupy this building. They will use ghost sound and minor image to create an image of a human female in distress, to lure passerby into the way house, and will hide.

Pappa Troll CR 11
chaotic evil male troll fighter 6
Large Giant
Init: +2
Senses: Darkvision 90 ft., low-light vision, scent
Listen +5 Spot +6
Languages: Giant, Common

AC: 20 (-1 size, +2 dex, +5 natural, +4 armor)
HP: 158 (HD 6d8 + 6d10 + 72)
Fort: +16 Ref: +6 Will: +5

MV: 20 ft Attack: +19 greatclub 2d8 + 11 or +14 greatclub 2d8 + 21 (powerattack for 5)
Full Attack: +17 / +12 / +7 greatclub 2d8 + 11 and +13 bite 1d6 + 3
Attack Options: rend
Space / Reach: 10 ft / 10 ft
Base Attack: +12 Grapple: +18

Abilities: Str: 25 Dex: 14 Con: 23 Int: 6 Wis: 9 Cha: 6
SQ: Darkvision 90 ft., low-light vision, regeneration 5, scent
SA: Rend
Feats: Alertness, Iron Will, Track, Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush, Awesome Blow, Improved Sunder, Weapon Focus (greatclub), Weapon Specilization (greatclub).
Skills: listen +5, spot +6

Posessions: hide armor, large greatclub.

Mamma Troll CR 10
chaotic evil female troll adept 6
Large Giant
Init: +2
Senses: Darkvision 90 ft., low-light vision, scent
Listen +5 Spot +6
Languages: Giant, Common

AC: 20 (-1 size, +2 dex, +5 natural, +4 armor)
HP: 103 (HD 6d8 + 6d6 + 60)
Fort: +13 Ref: +6 Will: +8

MV: 20 ft
Attack: +14 spear 2d6 + 7 or +9 spear 2d6 + 17 (power attack for 5)
Full Attack: +12 / +7 spear 2d6 + 7 and +9 bite 1d6 + 2
Attack Options: rend Space / Reach: 10 ft / 10 ft
Base Attack: +9
Grapple: +14

Abilities: Str: 20 Dex: 14 Con: 21 Int: 6 Wis: 14 Cha: 6
SQ: Darkvision 90 ft., low-light vision, regeneration 5, scent
SA: Rend
Feats: Alertness, Iron Will, Track, Lightning Reflexes, Power Attack
Skills: listen +5, spot +6, concentration +11

Adept Spells Prepared:
0th (3): ghost sound x2, touch of fatigue x2
1st (2): bless, minor image
2nd (1): resist energy

Possessions: hide armor, large spear, holy symbol of Vaparack.
Familiar: medium viper snake

Rend (Ex): If a troll hits with both claw attacks, it latches onto the opponent’s body and tears the flesh. This attack automatically deals an additional 2d6+9 points of damage.

Regeneration (Ex): Fire and acid deal normal damage to a troll. If a troll loses a limb or body part, the lost portion regrows in 3d6 minutes. The creature can reattach the severed member instantly by holding it to the stump.

Tactics: This pair of marsh trolls is very experienced working together and are quite cunning. Their preferred tactic is to begin with a preyer to Vaparack (bless) and then lure prey to them using ghost sound and minor image and then attack from hiding. When facing magic or fire-using opponents, the female will ward the male with resist energy (fire) before attacking.

In the way house they will hide and wait for someone to come upstairs to investigate the cries of distress. The female will stay behind the male and attack with her spear. The male will stand at the top of the stairs and use his greatclub with Awesome Blow and bull rush to knock attackers down the stairs where they will be attacked by the snake.

The trolls will fight to the death.

Treasure: 210 platinum, 3500 gold, 9000 silver and 15 gems can be found in purses and bags scattered amongst bones from humanoids and animals in the attic. In addition there are potions of aid, spider climb, and remove paralysis.

Ad Hoc XP Adjustment: +10%.

Oct 8th Location: Castle Stieglitz – 2nd and 3rd floors and Cellar

2nd floor:

1 Hallway
The light makes a shifting patchwork on the floor as the party passes through the broad halls.

2-7 Quarters
The quarters are full of eight slashed beds. It appears that anything of value has already been removed from these walls.

8 Petry’s Room
A single small window looks out to the grounds at the back of the Steiglitz property. Like all the other areas inside this castle, the room has been completely looted. The mattress of the bed has been slashed open and its innards lie strewn across the floor. A chair lies on its side and the desk has several deep gashes as if struck by a handaxe or other small chopping tool.

9 Yevgeny’s Room
This room contains a large bed which has been turned on its side. Dusty hay and down litter the corners of the room, which without exterior windows is cast in a deep earthen shadow.

10 Karl’s Room
This room contains a thrashed bed and some broken furniture. The small window has been smashed. A breeze blows into the room, bringing with it the smell of grass and cedar.

11 Anna’s Room
This windowless room has a single bed that has been gutted like the rest. A vanity and wardrobe shows signs of vandalism. Their contents have long since been looted. Someone with the initials “K.U.” has carved crude remarks about a woman named Anna and her questionable heritage into the wood grain of the furniture.

12 Baron’s Suite
The room has a distinctly foul odor to it. In the shadowy light that streams through the windows, a humanoid form with withered and whitened hair slithers from a throne, shakes his fists defiantly and charges up the iron spiral staircase at the far end of the room. A sitting table flanked by two chairs fills the north end of the room under the window, atop it an unlit candelabra. Three chests line the south wall, upon the center one rests a notebook and a silver pitcher.

When the party enters the baron’s suite, he will flee up the spiral staircase.

3rd floor:

1 Baron von Stieglitz’ Bedchambers
In this round chamber high above the valley, bright spotlights from the five circular windows illuminate silver cobwebs draped like tule about the five-poster bed in the center of the chamber. A small table leans against the west curved wall, and a dresser against the east curve. A spiral staicase at the south end of the room leads down into the darkness.

Beneath the cobwebs in the bed is a long-dead servant girl, the object of desire that drove the Baron into madness. (more description here, probably a read-aloud, something to the effect of)

Sinewy strands of flesh bind the woman’s mouth, and a festered and rotten slit is visible under her chin.

The windows offer views of the surrounding valley, making the tower a perfect lookout spot and the castle well-defended.

Creatures: Baron von Stieglitz, wight (CR12) who has likely fled to this location from the room below. In addition, many bats (20-40) live in the rafters beneath the tall ceilings of this tower. They will fight on the baron’s side.

If the party survives the fight, the Baron’s parting words:

I have failed you Katherine! I have failed you father, grandfather, uncle Jakob! I now know in death what you thought of me in life.

Soon after, the Stieglitz ghosts arrive and carry his body down to the mausoleum for burial. Then they sink back into their sarcophagi and disappear from sight.

An alternate ending is that the party parlays with the Baron and works with him to restore his name and honor.

Cellar:

Development: If the party heads down into the trapdoor, and they haven’t met the servants, the servants close the trapdoor and drag the table back atop it, trapping the party in the cellar. Cries for help will eventually bring the remaining servants to investigate. They will not open the trapdoor until they verify the party means them no harm, which may require the party disposing of the undead.

The party must succeed at a DC 25 strength check to lift the trap door open (5 round action) if the servants do not help. They can also cajole the servants to open the trap door. This requires a DC 25 Diplomacy check (10 round action) to change their initial attitude from Unfriendly to Friendly.

1 Food Storage
This 5’ x 10’ room is musty and ridden with cobwebs. Shelves that look as if they once held dry goods now only display rat droppings.

2 Equipment Storage
This is another 5’ x 10’ room that contains mops, brooms, balls of rags, buckets, feather dusters, and other custodial equipment. They have not seen use in quite some time.

A DC 5 Search check will allow to party to find 5 large bars of soap.

3 Wine Cellar (EL 8)
This unlit earthen room is filled with narrow rows of shelves, stocked with bottles of wine. Several dead men in mail lie on the ground amongst broken bottles of wine in the tight spaces between the shelves, weapons still in their rotting hands.

The spaces marked on the map as having broken glass should be treated as being laced with caltrops. Characters moving into or fighting in such areas receive and “attack” from the broken glass. This attack is at +0 attack bonus and is against the character’s touch AC (+2 if the character is wearing boots of other footwear). A successful attack deals 1 point of damage and reduces the character’s movement by half.

Most of the areas in this cellar are 2 1/2 feet wide, which means that medium sized creatures will have to squeeze to move through these areas. Squeezing characters move at half speed and receive -4 to their attack rolls and AC.

Violent activity while squeezing adjacent to the wine racks has a 50% chance of sending wine bottles crashing to the ground. This fills the space the character is in with glass-caltrops as above.

Creatures: Mohrg, HP: 85 and Zombies (3) HP: 15, 18, 15 AC: 16

Several months ago the kennel master, a cruel and coarse man, was caught by a servant girl getting drunk on the Baron’s wine here. Enraged, he slit her throat and drunkenly violated her. Shortly afterwards the Baron leapt upon him and slew him. The taint of his evil has lingered and now his body stalks the cellar as a Mohrg.

Afterwards, during the looting of the castle by the Baron’s factious underlings, several men-at-arms came to the basement to steal the wine. The mohrg slew them and they now serve him as zombies. The zombies will lie still on the ground until the mohrg begins it’s attack, at which point they will rise up and join the fray.

All of the undead, being dead and suffering no pain, are unaffected by the wine-caltrop effect.

Tactics: The Mohrg will attempt to hide until it can attack one of the party from such a position that they must face it one-on-one. The zombies will rise up to sew confusion once the attack has begun, grappling and slamming. The mohrg will tenaciously attack one foe until it is dead or paralyzed, then move on to the next, until it is slain or has slain everyone. If defeated it expels vile curses with it’s grotesque tongue as it falls, calling it’s defeaters mongrels and dogs in Wyndm.

Treasure: The three zombies are wearing serviceable suits of chain mail and their heavy maces lie on the ground. In addition, there is a large sack of loot they had taken before meeting their fate here. It contains 500 gold worth of accouterments including a candelabrum worth 100 gp, most of a 8 seating set of silverware worth 80gp and various other valuables. Finally, the wine on the racks amounts to 80 bottles of various quality and vintage. Their values range from 2 sp to 10 gp each, and average at 4 gp each. A DC 20 search check along with a DC 15 appraise check will allow characters to discover a 50 year old bottle of fine brandy worth 100 gold.

Development: If anyone moves the obstacles and enters the cellars without speaking with the remaining servants first, they will come and replace the obstacles at the first sound of battle, or before if they happen upon the open hatch. As noted above, opening the hatch with the table and rubble piled on it requires a DC 25 strength check, or convincing of the former servants that the trapped people mean them no harm via diplomacy or bluff.

Ad Hoc XP Adjustment: +10% XP for difficult terrain and zombies.