Go to Part 1

SPOILER WARNING!

The following thoughts contain minor spoilers for Keep on the Shadowfell. If you don’t want to be spoiled, don’t read it. And if you’re in my gaming group then you definitely shouldn’t be reading it.

A4. THE DRAGON BURIAL SITE

This encounter will largely play out in the same way, but we’re going to change the nature of the artifact (to have it tie directly into Kalarel’s ritual) and expand the information Douven Stahl has to impart.

THE ARTIFACT: The artifact they’ve dug up is a small stone idol of Orcus. It can recognized on a successful Religion check (DC 15).

DOUVEN STAHL: Douven Stahl can tell them everything on pg. 210 of the Monster Manual regarding the cults of Orcus. Then he will continue with a description of local cult activity:

“Two hundred years ago, this entire region south of the Cairngorms was a stronghold of the cult. The cult deliberately created a gap between this world and another realm – the Shadowfell. Although not inherently evil, the Shadowfell is fraught with dangers, and through the gap between worlds the cult brought forth skeletons, zombies, and even fouler creatures.

In those days, fortunately, the Empire of Nerath was still strong. A legion was dispatched to quell the threat. They destroyed the undead, sealed the rift, and built a keep to keep watch over the location and contain the threat. Today, however, that keep lies in ruins.

I came here merely to study history. But now I fear that the cult has returned, and seeks to open that gap between worlds once again. If that were to happen… without the Empire to respond…” He shudders.

If asked, Stahl can also tell them about the ritual:

“The worship or Orcus revolves around the practice of human sacrifice. But these sacrifices are not merely about death, they about the collection and distribution of a victim’s blood. Cult rituals often revolve around filling a skull with blood, drinking it, and then filling it again for Orcus and pouring it over his idol.

If these cultists are trying to reopen a portal to the Shadowfell, then they must be attempting to tap into the ancient magic that first created the gap between worlds. There will be a sacrifice of blood and an idol of Orcus.”

If Stahl is shown the Orcus idol:

“This is an ancient idol, but you can see by the markings along its base that it is merely part of a larger set. When brought together, these multiple idols intensify each other’s power. By capturing this idol, you will have delayed whatever ritual they’re preparing for… but not prevented it.”

FOLLOW-UP: Douven Stahl will return to Winterhaven and lodge up with Valthrun. He can be found in Valthrun’s tower if the PCs need to ask him further questions.

THE KEEP – AREA 18

CRUCIFIED ANGEL: Hanging above the altar in this area is an angel of protection (Monster Manual, pg. 14). It has been pinioned to the wall with multiple adamantine spears. A wall of arcane magic surrounds the angel and can only be penetrated if the ritual in Area 19 is disrupted.

ANGEL’S BLOOD: Blood flows from the angel’s wounds, over the Orcus-pledged altar, through the wall of arcane magic, and down into the pit below. Corrupted by the mystic energies of the altar, it is serving as a crucial material component for Kalarel’s Ritual.

THE KEEP – AREA 19

THE FANE OF ORCUS: The pit in the center of this room is, in fact, 60 feet deep. Standing in this pit is a 60′ tall statue of Orcus the Demon Prince. This is the Fane of Orcus. Through the fane, Orcus is able to manifest some portion of his will upon this world. It is an important part of Kalarel’s Ritual.

THE IDOLS OF ORCUS: The four grates depicted on the map are, instead, sunken depressions in the floor. In two of them, the Idols of Orcus have been placed. (If the PCs failed to disrupt the activities at the Dragon Burial Site, three of them will be occupied.) Blood flows up out of the pit and towards these depressions. (See Kalarel’s Ritual.)

KALAREL’S RITUAL

Level: 25
Category: Travel
Time: 120 days
Duration: Permanent
Component Cost: Special
Market Price: n/a
Key Skill: Religion

Kalarel’s ritual will open a permanent connection between this world and the Shadowfell. Once the ritual is one-quarter completed, the Thing in the Portal manifests (see module).

Special: Kalarel is able to perform a ritual so far above his normal level because this specific ritual is bound to the Fane of Orcus.

The smaller Idols of Orcus are also being used to help focus the ritual, reducing the amount of time necessary. Each idol added to the ritual reduces the remaining time of the ritual by half.

TIMELINE

When the PCs first arrive in the valley, 30 days have passed since Kalarel started his ritual. Kalarel had also already recovered two of the Idols of Orcus, reducing the remaining time for the ritual to be completed to 45 days.

If the PCs don’t interfere with Kalarel retrieving the Idol of Orcus from the Dragon Burial Site, it will be installed and whatever time remains will be further reduced by half.

REVERSING THE RITUAL

Kalarel is working from a reconstructed and partially translated text known as the Scrolls of Hamasatra. This text is located atop the altar in Area 19 of the keep. The skill challenge for reversing the ritual is based, in part, on an article available at WotC’s website.

Level: 6^th
Complexity: 3 (8 successes before 4 failures)
Primary Skills:

Arcana (DC 22): As a standard action, you can call upon your knowledge of magical effects and rituals to study the ritual book and determine the next step in unbinding the ritual. The first successful Arcana check also allows the character to figure out how a Heal check can contribute to undoing the ritual. A failed check indicates that the energy of the ritual attacks you: +10 vs. Will; 1d6 + 4 necrotic damage.

Endurance (DC 18): As an opportunity action, triggered when an adjacent ally has just failed an Arcana or Religion check to reverse the ritual, you can allow the necrotic energy flowing through the ritual to damage you instead of your ally. Success at this skill use aids the party, but does not count as a success toward completion of the challenge.

Heal (DC 18): As a standard action, you can make a Heal check and spend a healing surge to send positive life energy into the necrotic ritual in order to help disrupt it. In doing so, you automatically expose yourself to the energy of the ritual, which attacks you: +10 vs. Will; 1d6 + 4 necrotic damage. This approach to undoing the ritual can be determined on any successful Arcana, Religion, or Insight check.

Insight (DC 18): A character succeeding at an Insight check as a free action, triggered by observing the ritual, can figure out how a Heal check can contribute to undoing the ritual. Success at this skill use aids the party, but does not count as a success toward completion of the challenge.

Religion (DC 22): As per the Arcana check.

Success: The ritual is undone. The angel in area 18 is freed, but collapses into unconsciousness. (However, nothing stops Kalarel from starting the ritual afresh. If the Scrolls of Hamasatra are destroyed or the angel escapes or Kalarel is killed, however, the threat has passed. In that case, reward the adventurers a major quest reward of 750 XP.)

Failure: If the skill challenge is failed, the magical energy of the Shadow Rift stabilizes. Necrotic energy surges through the ritual book and the altar, striking all of the characters attempting this skill challenge. Each of these characters loses a healing surge and is attacked by the necrotic energy: +10 vs. Will; 1d6 + 4 necrotic energy.

The ritual isn’t complete, but the partially opened rift remains as such until either Kalarel is killed or the ritual is completed.

Continued…

Go to Part 1

SPOILER WARNING!

The following thoughts contain minor spoilers for Keep on the Shadowfell. If you don’t want to be spoiled, don’t read it. And if you’re in my gaming group then you definitely shouldn’t be reading it.

THE RUINED KEEP

FEATURES OF THE AREA:

Rubble: With the exception of the cleared path leading to the trapdoor, the ruins are filled with rubble. These squares are difficult terrain.

Rubble Piles: Where indicated there are larger piles of rubble. These require Athletics checks (DC 15) to climb at one-half speed.

AMBUSH: This ambush is set 1d2 days after the PCs wipe one (but not both) of the kobold barricades. (If they wipe out both barricades, there are no kobolds to perform the ambush with.) The kobolds here are drawn from encounter A1 in Keep on the Shadowfell.

• 1 kobold skirmisher (K)
• 3 kobold dragonshields (D)
• 1 kobold wyrmpriest (W)

TACTICS: The kobolds wait until the PCs reach a point even with the southernmost dragonshields and then attack as described below.

Dragonshields: The dragonshields simply move out from their hiding places, converging on the PCs.

Skirmisher: The skirmisher is hiding just behind the peak of a pile of rubble. He has taken the time to soak the pile with oil, making it slippery and more difficult to climb (Athletics, DC 20). When the ambush is launched, he will stand up and begin making his ranged attacks.

Wyrmpriest: The wyrmpriest is actually perched on the thick wall behind the central tower. He can move along the top of the wall to the wall of the tower itself. While perched up there he grants combat advantage. The walls is 20 feet high at that point.

Continued…

As part of my prep work in designing the manor house in Winterhaven, I needed to stock the store room. So I cracked open my 4th Edition Player’s Handbook…

… and discovered that all the non-adventuring equipment has gone M.I.A. Even stuff that has obvious utility for adventurers is gone.

Ink and parchment? Gone. Chalk dust gone? Gone. Caltrops? Gone.

The 10-foot pole? Gone.

Was the 10-foot pole really one of the sacred cows that needed to be slaughtered on the altar of 4th Edition?

Another fun one: On the first page of the Equipment chapter, they tell you to look in the “Adventuring Gear” section for flasks of oil. Guess what isn’t in the Adventuring Gear section? Guess what isn’t in the book anywhere at all?

So I did the only thing I could do. I went back to the 3rd Edition Player’s Handbook and found what I needed. This is something I’ve been doing with rather ridiculous frequency as I repeatedly encounter areas where the 4th Edition core rulebooks aren’t delivering the same basic functionality as the 3rd Edition core rulebooks.

Go to Part 1

SPOILER WARNING!

The following thoughts contain minor spoilers for Keep on the Shadowfell. If you don’t want to be spoiled, don’t read it. And if you’re in my gaming group then you definitely shouldn’t be reading it.

INTERLUDE: THE DEAD WALK

This is Interlude Three from Keep on the Shadowfell (pgs. 60-61). However, in order to extend the cult’s activities in Winterhaven, we’re going to change it slightly: Ninaran invokes the ritual, but doesn’t stick around. After performing the ritual, she simply crumples up the note from Kalarel and tosses it into one of the crypts. (The note does not name Ninaran, although it is signed by Kalarel.)

THE LESSER LICH: In order to rebalance the encounter, add a human mage (Monster Manual, pg. 163) and describe it as undead. (Experienced players should experience a nice frisson of terror when they see an undead in tattered robes throwing spells around.)

INTERLUDE: CULTISTS IN OUR MIDST

There are, in fact, more than a dozen cultists active in Winterhaven. At some point after “The Dead Walk”, Ninaran gathers these cultists together and leads an assault on Lord Padraig’s manor house.

If the PCs discover that Ninaran is a cultist before this encounter happens, they may be able to confront her before this encounter happens. If they kill her, she isn’t present but the remaining cultists will organize and attack the manor house in any case. (This will make the encounter easier for the PCs, and that’s just fine.) If they capture her and turn her over to Lord Padraig, he’ll lock her up in the Winterhaven Barracks. In that case, the cultists will first free Ninaran from the barracks and then attack the manor house.

THE MANOR HOUSE – ENTRANCES

DOORS: The outer doors are barred from the inside (Break DC 20). The interior doors are not initially locked, although they can be if the cultists decide they need to barricade themselves (Break DC 16, Thievery DC 20).

ARROW SLITS: The arrow slits on the south wall of area 1 are not large enough to serve as entrances. However, they do allow anyone inside to shoot through without impediment.

WINDOWS – FIRST FLOOR: The windows on the first floor are, in fact, 20 feet above the ground. They are not designed to be opened and are lined with lead, but are easily broken (Break DC 5).

WINDOWS – UPPER FLOORS: The windows on the upper floors are locked. ( Break DC 5, Thievery DC 15).

CHIMNEYS: There are three chimneys.

• EAST CHIMNEY (KITCHEN): This chimney is too small to climb down.
• WEST CHIMNEY (BEDROOM): This chimney is cramped and difficult to climb down (Athletics DC 20). Stealth checks suffer a -2 circumstance penalty while climbing in this chimney.
• NORTH CHIMNEY (RECEPTION HALL): This is a very large chimney and relatively easy to climb down. (Athletics DC 15).

THE MANOR HOUSE – FIRST FLOOR

1. RECEPTION HALL: This is the hall in which Lord Padraig greets petitioners and sits in judgment.

The walls of this formal reception hall are paneled with dark mahogany polished to a gleaming shine. A high-backed wooden chair, its arms carved to look like bear claws and its back in sprigs of mistletoe, sits in a place of honor before a massive fire place.

The statues are of Lord Padraig’s father and grandfather.

2. KITCHEN:

An massive iron stove – an unmistakable remnant of the old Empire – fills the eastern wall of the kitchen. A spiral staircase of wrought iron stands in the corner, leading up to the second floor.

3. STAIRS:

Broad stairs of worn stone curve up to a landing on the second floor.

THE MANOR HOUSE – SECOND FLOOR

4. LANDING: There is a railing along the edge of this landing. It’s a 20 foot drop to the stone floor below.

5. GUEST BEDROOM: Lord Padraig offers this bedroom to visiting dignitaries. It is currently unoccupied. The bed is large and comfortable. There is an empty chest under the bed (where long-term guests can store their clothes and personal items).

6. SERVANT QUARTERS: Lord Padraig’s five servants sleep here.

Five narrow beds fill almost the entirety of this room. Although cramped, everything here appears to be kept in very neat order. There are footlockers beneath each of the beds.

The footlockers contain the possessions of the servants – mostly clothing and a few keepsake items. The footlockers are secured with very simple locks (Thievery DC 10). If the PCs choose to ransack them, there are a few items of value – a ring worth 15 gp; a golden lock with a portrait of a young woman worth 10 gp; a silver necklace worth 5 gp.

7. STAIRS: There is a portrait of Lord Padraig’s father hanging on the wall here.

THE MANOR HOUSE – THIRD FLOOR

8. STORAGE CLOSET: This closet contains a variety of common household goods – linens, lamp oil, mothballed clothing, a ladder, blank paper and ink, lanterns and lamps, and the like.

Tall shelves are crammed together in this narrow space, packed full with a wide effluvium of common household goods. There is a trapdoor in the ceiling, although it is partially blocked by one of the shelves.

The trapdoor leads up to the unused attic.

9. HALL: This grand hall leads to the library and lord’s bedchamber.

A thick, luxurious carpet runs the length of this hall. A chandelier of silver and glass hangs from the ceiling. Heavy doors of oak, carved with an Imperial signet of the old Empire, stand to one side with a smaller door to the other.

10. LIBRARY: This modest library offers a +2 bonus to History and Nature checks. Characters searching on particular topics of interest for the adventure may discover:

The True Historie of the Empire’s Keep, which describes the Keep on the Shadowfell (it gives the same information as a DC 25 Streetwise check and the first two paragraphs of Valthrun’s Follow-Up on the same topic).

Observations of Botany, a journal written by Lord Silvius (Lord Padraig’s great-grandfather). Silvius’ name is signed “Lord Silvius, Vassal of the Verdant Lord” and the text makes it clear that Silvius was a member of that druidic order. Near the end of the journal, Silvius mentions finding a cave which “led into what appear to be the ruins of the ancient keep”. He appeared to be fascinated by the unique cave ecology emerging there, but does not precisely give the location of the cave.

Four bookcases of blackoak stand along the walls of this library, their shelves covered in a wide variety of tomes and parchments.

11. LORD’S BEDCHAMBER: This is Lord Padraig’s bedchamber.

Upon the polished stone floor of this bedchamber sits an enormous bearskin rug at least twenty feet in length. A four-poster bed piled high with mattresses stands along one wall, an elegant fireplace is nestled along another. On one of the tables next to the bed there is a silver bust of a maiden’s head. A large chest of oak banded with steel sits in one corner.

CHEST: The chest is locked (Thievery DC 20). It mostly contains Lord Padraig’s clothing, but there is also a leather purse containing 100 gp in a random assortment of coin.

BEARSKIN RUG: Lord Padraig could tell the story of how his grandfather, Lord Patronus, led a hunting party to slay a dire bear that had been plaguing Winterhaven’s farms. The rug is worth 100 gp (although probably not in Winterhaven, where almost everyone would recognize it as belonging to Lord Padraig).

SILVER BUST: This bust is in the image of Padraig’s mother when she was a young woman. It is solid silver and would fetch a price of 225 gp (although probably not in Winterhaven, where almost everyone would recognize it as belonging to Lord Padraig).

THE MANOR HOUSE – ATTIC

A trap door in area 8 leads up to the fourth floor. The fourth floor was gutted decades ago by a fire and was later changed into an attic, which is now empty. There are, however, two windows in the south side.

ENCOUNTER: THE MANOR SIEGE

CULTISTS:
Ninaran (KOTS pg. 61) (N)
Human Rabble (x12) (KOTS pg. 30) (R)
Human Berserker (x2) (MM pg. 163) (B)

HOSTAGES
Padraig (P)
Servants (x5) (S)

SITUATION: Ninaran and the cultists break into Padraig’s manor house and take him hostage. In the process, they kill four of the Winterhaven Regulars. Ninaran’s primary goal is to prevent the village from organizing any kind of resistance to Kalarel’s plans.

Padraig and his servants are kept securely bound with rope at the locations indicated on the encounter map.

ESCALATION: Ninaran starts by making an outrageous demand for ransom (25,000 gp). Then she’ll kill one of the servants and throw the body out the window. Next she’ll demand that 10 ritual sacrifices are performed in the courtyard before the manor house.

Ninaran doesn’t actually expect any of these demands to be met.

APPROACHING THE MANOR HOUSE: The only cultists actively keeping a lookout are the human rabble at the arrow slits on the first floor and at the northern window on the second floor. Approaching the manor house without being spotted requires a Stealth check (DC 10).

However, there are blind spots to the east and west. If PCs climb over the outer wall of Winterhaven and approach the manor house from due west or east, there is no chance they will be spotted.

TACTICS: The cultists on the upper levels are specifically there as lookouts. If they detect the presence of PCs, they will run downstairs and alert Ninaran. At that point, the cultists will take all the hostages down to area 1 and fortify themselves there.

Continued…

As some of you may already know, Wizards of the Coast has decided to stop supporting the Open Gaming License (OGL) with the release of 4th Edition. Instead, for many months now, they have been promising to unveil the Game System License (GSL). They were originally planning to roll the GSL out early this year and charge early adopters who wanted to release products in time for GenCon $5,000.

This was a marked contrast to WotC’s approach in 2000, when they eagerly sought out companies like Atlas Game and Green Ronin to have products available at GenCon when the 3rd Edition Player’s Handbook was first released. Those products — Three Days to Kill and Death in Freeport — created huge amounts of buzz for the new edition.

Ultimately, the $5,000 money grab proved irrelevant because WotC couldn’t get their ducks in a row. As a result, when the GSL was finally released to the public this week, everyone was given the same starting date: October 1st, 2008.

We have known for a long time now that the GSL was going to be deliberately more restrictive than the OGL. WotC considers the OGL to be a failure. With 4th Edition, the only material they want produced is supplemental material which feeds directly back into the sales of their core rulebooks.

The announcement of 4th Edition put a freeze on the development of my own personal company, Dream Machine Productions. Until it became clearer what 4th Edition was going to be, it was difficult to make any meaningful decisions. And, since my company was young, I had the luxury of simply waiting until I could make an informed decision.

My trepidation over the 4th Edition rules have grown over the past several months, but — in the end — I had come to the decision that I would playtest Keep on the Shadowfell and make a final decision pending that experience. Honestly, I thought it quite likely that — if nothing else — I would be publishing The Slave Lords as a 4th Edition adventure path.

However, the GSL has now been released and those plans are shifting once again. This license is, frankly, completely unacceptable. The most problematic sections are these:

6.1 OGL Product Conversion. If Licensee has entered into the “Open Gaming License version 1.0” with Wizards (“OGL”), and Licensee has previously published a product under the OGL (each an “OGL Product”), Licensee may publish a Licensed Product subject to this License that features the same or similar title, product line trademark, or contents as such OGL Product (each such OGL Product, a “Converted OGL Product”, and each such Licensed Product, a “Conversion”). Upon the first publication date of a Conversion, Licensee will cease all manufacturing and publication of the corresponding Converted OGL Product and all other OGL Products which are part of the same product line as the Converted OGL Product, as reasonably determined by Wizards (“Converted OGL Product Line”). Licensee explicitly agrees that it will not thereafter manufacture or publish any portion of the Converted OGL Product Line, or any products that would be considered part of a Converted OGL Product Line (as reasonably determined by Wizards) pursuant to the OGL. Licensee may continue to distribute and sell-off all remaining physical inventory of a Converted OGL Product Line after the corresponding Conversion is published, but will, as of such date, cease all publication, distribution and sale (and ensure that third party affiliates of Licensee cease their publication, distribution and sale) of any element of a Converted OGL Product Line in any electronic downloadable format. For the avoidance of doubt, (a) any OGL Product that is not part of a Converted OGL Product Line may continue to be manufactured, published, sold and distributed pursuant to the OGL; and (b) this Section 6.1 will survive termination of this Agreement.

That’s a thick bundle of legalese, but what it boils down to is that, if you publish a product under the GSL, you cannot publish (or continue to publish) the same product under the OGL. Nor can any other product in the same product line be published (or continue to be published) under the OGL.

This, in itself, would be okay. The problem is that WotC sets itself up as the sole arbitrator of what constitutes a “similar title” or “similar product line”. This means, ultimately, that once you publish anything under the GSL, you have explicitly given WotC the legal authority to prevent you from publishing any OGL product.

11.1 Termination. This License and the rights granted hereunder will terminate automatically upon written notice to Licensee or upon posting on its website of a termination of the GSL as applied to all licensees.

[…]

11.3 Effect of Termination. Upon termination, Licensee will immediately cease all use of the Licensed Materials and will destroy all inventory and marketing materials in Licensee’s possession bearing the Compatibility Logo. Licensee will remove the Compatibility Logo from all advertising, web sites, and other materials. Licensee will solely bear all costs related to carrying out this provision (in addition to any other provision) of the License. Wizards may, in its sole discretion and upon written agreement between Wizards and Licensee, extend this License for those Licensed Products that otherwise comply with the terms of this License.

And then there are these clauses, which are fairly straight-forward: WotC can terminate the GSL at their whim. And, when they do so, you are legally required to immediately destroy all of your GSL products.

However, and this is important, section 6.1 survives the termination of the license.

This means that, once you accept the GSL, you have given WotC the ability to immediately shut down your OGL and GSL product lines in their entirety. The entire license is a giant poison pill — just as many people (including myself) were predicting months ago.

The counter-argument can be made — and will be made — that WotC are all a bunch of really swell guys and they would never use their powers for evil. In fact, this counter-argument has already been made many times over in many different places across the internet.

But it doesn’t really matter whether they’re currently planning to use their “if you accept this license we can immediately order you stop publishing all OGL and GSL products at our whim” powers in a malicious fashion. The point is that, by accepting the license, you’re giving them those powers. And if you’re actually in this business — i.e., you’ve got money on the line — then you can’t afford to just ignore that. You have to take it into meaningful consideration and make an informed choice.

And if you’re making that decision based on your belief that the guys down at WotC are a swell bunch of guys who would never screw you over… Well, frankly, you’re a fool. Because even if those guys are all swell, they could all be fired tomorrow.

If you’re making this decision, then there’s really only one question you need to ask: If WotC decided, at any time, to terminate my ability to publish all OGL and GSL products, would I be OK with that?

If you’re OK with that, then you’re golden. If you’re not, then you shouldn’t be using the GSL.

Personally, there’s no way that I could ever do business in that environment. I will not be developing under the GSL. I will not swallow the poison pill.

So what lies ahead for Dream Machine Productions? A good question.

For right now, I can tell you that the City Supplements will be continuing, although I will probably be moving them in a more systems-neutral direction. (They were not particularly stat-heavy to begin with, and I don’t see any reason not to make them as appealing as possible for fans of both editions.)

I am also currently waiting for an artist to return a signed contract. As soon as I’ve got that in hand, I’ll be making a major announcement. All I can say of that for right now is:

3RD EDITION LIVES!^TM