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LETTER OF CAUTION FROM SHIGMAA URASTA

Arquad—

These most recent requests have proven most challenging, and the resulting creations may prove both delicate and dangerous.

First, the members of the danse macbre are not to be trifled with. The gifts you ask of them have only been achieved by imbuing them with the essence of the Crimson Court. They harness, thus, the endless revelry of that eternal celebration, but also carry in the marrow of their bones the malefic curse of the Court’s taint.

As for the stitched zombies, their endurance and baleful death curse are all that we had hoped, and they require no special caution beyond avoiding any breaking of their skin.

—Shigmaa Urasta

LETTER FROM ALIASTER TO ARQUAD

Master Arquad—

I have need of additional brute labor capable of the utmost discretion. My sister suggested that you might be able to supply me with the perfect candidates.

Please dispatch four of your adamantine skeletons to our apartments on Crossing Street. Select those with slender phalanges, if you would. I may have need to employ them in tasks of a delicate nature.

—Aliaster of the House Vladaam

REQUEST FROM HOUSE SADAR

Arquad—

House Sadar requests one dozen skeletons be prepared to perform the danse macabre and delivered to their manse upon the 30^th in time for their celebrations.

The utmost care must be taken with their construction, for they must be capable of the most intimate interactions with the many and esteemed guests of House Sadar. Each must be capable of performing at least six dances in response to both music and vocal request — the waltz, bachata, tango, paso doble, cotillon, and gavotte. Lord Renn has also requested that they perform, upon command, a coordinated schuchplatter for the entertainment of the guests.

We have the greatest confidence in both your ability to fulfill these needs in the most exemplary of fashions, and also with the most respectful discretion. House Sadar wishes neither any untoward reumours to accrue towards them; nor do they desire that this most splendid display should be anything less than the most exquisite of surprises for the guests of their celebration.

—Majordomo of the Esteemed House of the Merchants Sadar

LETTER FROM GATHAR TO ARQUAD

A.—

Lilith offers to you a pair of great and wondrous gifts. Milady knows the craft of these Tomb Maidens of old, and these have been but recently discovered within a mausoleum in the deep vails of the Quiet. From the vast book of her memory, she speaks of a time when these beautiful maidens of iron were placed as guardians upon the great houses of the dead throughout the southern city-states. Sadly superstition and fear of the necromantic energies which course through their lithe forms led to the practice being outlawed.

Use them for your own protection or dispose of them to whatever profit or advantage you would wish. Lilith cares only that you know the value she places upon you and your work.

Regretfully, this will need to be the last shipment of consequence for at least a fortnight. My brothers among the Deathguild have grown suspicious of my activities. The correct application of additional coin may be required, but I am hopeful that a little time will serve to quiet worried minds. I certainly do not expect any lasting difficulty, but caution is never unwise.

Gathar

BILL FOR THE RATLING ARROWS

Owed: 240gp 5sp

You’re spoiling those ratlings! These arrows are too good for them.

Make sure they keep them in the sheaths we’ve prepared, lest more than your enemies come to regret our work.

The bill has been folded for delivery.
A return address is given on the outer fold:

F. Gld. — Vanguard Street
Guildsman District

Go to Part 18: Vladaam Drug Running

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This shipping facility is used to supply undead to various unsavory interests throughout Ptolus.

MARQUETTE’S TEXTILES: The front of the building masquerades as a high-class clothier. Anyone inquiring about rates, however, is politely informed that they are currently beyond capacity and are not taking on new customers.

BROTHERS ARQUAD: The operation is overseen by a pair of assassin doppelgangers. Both doppelgangers go by the name of Arquad and only Navanna Vladaam knows that there are two of them.

RATLORDS: The Brothers Arquad have hand-picked and groomed the ratlings who work with them in the undead shipping warehouse.

^* Arquad wears a ring which creates a telepathic conection with one of the ratlords in Area 3. (He uses it to summon the ratlord to escort legitimate customers into the back area.)

^** These ratlords each carry longbows and four dreadwood arrows in special sheaths. The ratlords have conditioned themselves to the dreadwood. (DC 12 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened for as long as they are near dreadwood and 1d6 rounds thereafter.)

Arquad – Doppelganger Assassin: Use stat block for assassin (MM 2024, p. 22), with the following doppelganger traits:

• Cha 14
• Immunities Charmed
• Senses darkvision 60 ft.
• Read Thoughts. Arquad casts detect thoughts, requiring no spell components and using Charisma as the spellcasting ability (spell save DC 12).
• Unsettling Visage (Recharge 6). Wisdom Saving Throw: DC 12, each creature in a 15-foot emanation originating from Arquad that see Arquad. Failure: The target has the Frightened condition and repeats the save at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. After 1 minute, it succeeds automatically.
• Shape-Shift. As a bonus action, Arquad shape-shifts into a Medium or Small Humanoid, or he returns to his true form. Arquad’s game statistics, other than size, are the same in each form. Any equipment Arquad is wearing or carrying isn’t transformed.

Ratlord Fighters: Use stat block for guard captain (MM 2024, p. 162), with the following ratlord traits (Ptolus, p. 592):

• Disease Carrier. Their bites transmit cackle fever.
• Fear of Light. If within 10 feet of a light at least as bright as a torch or lantern, they must succeed on a DC 10 Wisdom saving throw or flee for 1d3 rounds. (These ratlords have already succeeded on this saving throw for the ambient light in the Undead Warehouse.)
• Sneak Attack. Once per turn, the ratlord deals an extra 7 (2d6) damage when it hits its target with a weapon attack and has advantage on the attack roll, or when the target is within 5 feet of an ally of the ratlord.
• Bite. Melee Attack Roll: +6, reach 5 ft. Hit: 9 (1d10+4) piercing damage + disease. (Can be used with Multiattack.)
• Dragon Pistol. Ranged Attack Roll: +4. Hit: 6 (1d10+1) piercing damage. (Can be used with Multiattack.)
• Equipment: potion of haste (x2), Vladaam deot ring

Guildsman District
Pitch Street – D8

AREA 1 – MARQUETTE’S TEXTILES

This area appears to be a normal textile shop.

DOOR TO AREA 2 (Steel-Cored): AC 19, 40 hp, DC 18 Dexterity (Thieves’ Tools)

IRON COFFER: 10% chance of being present.

• 500 gp
• 40,000 sp
• 50,000 cp
• Instructions to have the Ithildin Couriers ship it to the Red Company of Goldsmiths on Gold Street (see Part 12).

AREA 2 – TRAPPED HALLWAY

Old coats hang from wooden pegs on the wall near the door to Area 1.

There are two traps hidden along this back hallway.

SPIKED PIT: Pulling one of the wooden pegs disables the pit trap for 30 seconds.

• DC 14 Wisdom (Perception), DC 14 Dexterity saving throw, 20 ft. deep (2d6 bludgeoning), pit spikes (2d10 piercing), blue whinnis poison (DC 13 Constitution saving throw or 4d10 poison damage).

WAIL OF THE BANSHEE TRAP: Triggered by anyone not wearing (or accompanied by someone wearing) a Vladaam deot ring. The trap emits a terrible scream that alerts everyone in the building and can also kill the unwary.

• DC 24 Wisdom (Perception), DC 20 Dexterity (Thieves’ Tools) or dispel magic (DC 14) to disable, DC 18 Constitution saving throw (7d8+30 psychic damage, half damage on successful save).

AREA 3 – UNDEAD HOLDING PENS

This large warehouse has a thirty-foot-high ceiling. It’s filled with numerous holding cells (A-J). Along the back wall two wooden towers have been constructed (Area 5 and 6), with doors leading into the towers and ladders on their sides. A catwalk extends between the tops of the two towers (Area 7).

HOLDING CELLS: The cells are stone cubes with a portcullis of iron bars on one side. The portcullises have no visible mechanism for opening them and are instead operated from levers on the catwalk above (Area 7), which cause them to magically levitate into the air.

CELL A: 12 Skeletons (MM 2024, pg. 282)

CELL B: 12 Zombies (MM 2024, pg. 346)

CELL C:

• 2 Tomb Maidens
• Ogre Zombie (MM 2024, p. 346)
• Deathlock (in an antimagic field cell) (Monsters of the Multiverse, pg. 86)

CELL D: The bars and walls of this cell block are made from ethereal metal in order to hold incorporeal undead. DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) recognizes the nature of the metal, in which case you can use the Ethereal Metals handout, below.

• 2 Shadows (MM 2024, pg.272)
• 2 Wraiths (MM 2024, p. 336)

CELL E: Beholder Zombie (in an antimagic field cell) (MM 2024, pg. 347)

CELL F: 2 Minotaur Skeletons (MM 2024, pg. 283)

CELL G: 12 Stitched Zombies

CELL H: 12 Ghouls (MM 2024, pg. 132)

CELL I: 12 Adamantine Skeletons

CELL J: 12 Skeletons (MM 2024, p. 282).

• These skeletons are dressed in formal wear of crushed, purple-black velvets. If released from the cell, they will begin to danace. (They have been specially crafted for a party to be held at House Sadar.)

Stitched Zombies: Use stat block for zombies (MM 2024, p. 346), except that their eyes, ears, and mouths have been stitched shut. They’ve been filled with spiders and when they die, a swarm of insects (MM 2024, pg. 370) emerges.

Adamantine Skeletons: Use stat block for skeletons (MM 2024, pg. 282). Adamantine skeletons have had adamantine metal plates fastened to their bones, greatly fortifying them.

• Armor Class 16
• Damage Vulnerabilities none
• Damage Immunities: Slashing damage from non-magical attacks that aren’t adamantine

ETHEREAL METALS

Ethereal metals are naturally co-existent upon both the Ethereal and Material Planes. As a result, incorporeal creatures can both use and be affected by items crafted from an ethereal metal. Ethereal metals, although expensive, are often used to construct safes and sheathe walls in order to provide a certain degree of security against incorporeal incursions.

Armor built from ethereal metal is effective against incorporeal creatures. It can also be picked up, moved, and worn by incorporeal creatures, although this prevents the incorporeal creature from passing through solid objects. Similarly, weapons crafted from ethereal metal deals damage normally against incorporeal creatures. Such weapons can also be picked up and used by incorporeal creatures at any time. (This effect is similar, but not identical, to the ghost-touch special ability. For example, ghosts can use weapons forged from ethereal metal without manifesting upon the Material Plane.)

To normal sight and an untrained eye an ethereal metal is indistinguishable from its normal equivalent, but it can be detected trivially with true seeing and similar effects.

AREA 4 – SECRET WAREHOUSE DOOR

This door is located in the back wall of the building and leads to the alley. DC 22 Wisdom (Perception) to locate it.

AREA 5 – SEWER ACCESS TOWER

This wooden tower has a lower and upper floor.

LOWER FLOOR: A trap door in the floor leads to the sewers. A ladder leads to the upper floor. A heavy, wooden trestle table with an acid-scarred surface has been shoved up against one wall and there’s a rack of shelving  nailed to the opposite wall.

• Table: On the table is a brass box and a Letter of Caution from Shigmaa Urasta (see handouts). (For more information on Shigmaa Urasta and the Crimson Court, see Ptolus, p. 113 and 110, respectively.)
• Brass Box: This small box contains 12 lesser rings of undead binding, 6 rings of undead binding, and 2 black pearls of undead control.
• Oil Racks: Racks on the wall holds zombie oil (24 vials + 4 vials of control concoction) and necromancer’s oil (10 vials). (See Addendum: Alchemical Lorebooks.)

UPPER FLOOR: The upper floor of the tower is crisscrossed with hammocks, serving as a barracks for the ratlords (who sleep in shifts).

• DC 18 Intelligence (Investigation): There are several caches hidden behind false stones in the walls.
• Caches: potion of remove paralysis, silvered longword, potion of fox’s cunning, potion of goodberry, potion of bear’s endurance, warding bond tokens (matched pair), gems (110 gp red-brown spinel, 11 gp azurite, 30 gp onyx, 40 gp peridot), 100 gp, 6,000 sp, and 23,000 cp.

AREA 6 – ARQUAD’S TOWER

This wooden tower has a lower and upper floor.

LOWER FLOOR: A work area with a desk, chair, and fireplace. A ladder leads to the upper floor.

• Desk: Among other papers, the PCs can find Letter from Aliaster to Arquad, Request from House Sadar, Letter from Gathar to Arquad, and Bill for the Ratling Arrows.

UPPER FLOOR: A simple cot used by Arquad in otherwise empty room with bare walls.

• DC 20 Intelligence (Investigation): There are two iron coffers cunningly built into the frame of the cot. (Each one is used by one of the Arquads.)
• Iron Coffer 1: 821 gp, 1 sp, 9 cp, sard gem (30 gp), rose quartz (40 gp), violet garnet (400 gp)
• Iron Coffer 2: 500 gp

AREA 7 – CATWALK

Ladders ascend the sides of Area 5 and Area 6 to a catwalk which crosses the room. The gates for the undead holding cells are operated from this area. (Twisting control dials cause the magical portcullises to levitate into the air.)

VATS OF HOLY WATER: Two large vats of holy water are positioned at either end of the catwalk. The sides of the vats have silhouette of a tree inlaid in bronze.

• DC 10 Intelligence (Religion): The symbology of the tree identifies it as Aredhel, the sacred ur-tree.
• DC 15 Intelligence (Religion): This specific depiction of Aredhel is associated with the Temple of the Great Mother, a minor cult that used to be active in Ptolus a half decade or so ago.
• GM Background: These vats were placed here to be used in case undead escape from their cells. They were taken from Part 6: The Abandoned Temple of the Great Mother.

Go to Part 17B: Undead Warehouse Handouts

DISCUSSING
In the Shadow of the Spire – Session 48D: Alchestrin’s Mural

Through the last arch leading out of the hall they headed down a narrowed hallway. At its end – perhaps a hundred feet or so further on – they could see a huge bas relief depicting a wolf’s skull that took up the entire wall. But before they reached the bas relief, they came to a pair of facing doorways.

Passing through one of these they found themselves in a semi-circular chamber. The far, curved wall of the place was covered in an immense, detailed mural. Although the paint was faded and chipped here and there, it was still impressive in its scope and artisanship. Ranthir, in particular, was fascinated by it. And while the others kept a nervous guard in the hall, he studied it in detail.

The full perusal of its contents made them suspicious of Lord Zavere again. If the man depicted in the mural had fought against Ghul the Skull-King, why had the crystal of Castle Shard attacked him?

I’m not a visual artist.

My sketches are crude and even my mini-painting is rudimentary at best.

But the world, of course, is filled with art. I want that reflected in my campaign worlds. Art is a tangible expression of both culture and individual personality. It’s a powerful tool for setting the scene and creating a palpable sense of place. You can use it to reinforce themes. The cracked cup with the finger-painting of a swan can tell the story of a character and a tapestry can capture the tale of an entire nation.

Nor is it limited to the halls of the rich. I’m reminded of the painting from the dilapidated Spouter-Inn in Moby-Dick:

On one side hung a very large oil painting so thoroughly besmoked, and every way defaced, that in the unequal crosslights by which you viewed it, it was only by diligent study and a series of systematic visits to it, and careful inquiry of the neighbors, that you could any way arrive at an understanding of its purpose. Such unaccountable masses of shades and shadows, that at first you almost thought some ambitious young artist, in the time of the New England hags, had endeavored to delineate chaos bewitched. But by dint of much and earnest contemplation, and oft repeated ponderings, and especially by throwing open the little window towards the back of the entry, you at last come to the conclusion that such an idea, however wild, might not be altogether unwarranted.

But what most puzzled and confounded you was a long, limber, portentous, black mass of something hovering in the centre of the picture over three blue, dim, perpendicular lines floating in a nameless yeast. A boggy, soggy, squitchy picture truly, enough to drive a nervous man distracted. Yet was there a sort of indefinite, half-attained, unimaginable sublimity about it that fairly froze you to it, till you involuntarily took an oath with yourself to find out what that marvellous painting meant. Ever and anon a bright, but, alas, deceptive idea would dart you through.—It’s the Black Sea in a midnight gale.—It’s the unnatural combat of the four primal elements.—It’s a blasted heath.—It’s a Hyperborean winter scene.—It’s the breaking-up of the icebound stream of Time. But at last all these fancies yielded to that one portentous something in the picture’s midst. That once found out, and all the rest were plain. But stop; does it not bear a faint resemblance to a gigantic fish? even the great leviathan himself?

In fact, the artist’s design seemed this: a final theory of my own, partly based upon the aggregated opinions of many aged persons with whom I conversed upon the subject. The picture represents a Cape-Horner in a great hurricane; the half-foundered ship weltering there with its three dismantled masts alone visible; and an exasperated whale, purposing to spring clean over the craft, is in the enormous act of impaling himself upon the three mast-heads.

That’s more florid than a description I would attempt at the gaming table. Yet the intention and effect is the same.

But art is more than just set dressing. It encodes exposition into the environment, rewarding exploration, study, and attention to detail. It can peel back the layers of history in a moldering ruin. (Sometimes literally as ancient murals peek through cracking plaster.) And it can also conceal DaVinci Code-style secret lore.

Again, though, I’m not an artist. So how can I incorporate this kind of stuff into my campaign?

One option is to coopt existing graphical resources: RPG sourcebooks, stock art, and online image searches can all give you stuff to work from.

(If you’ve created a fictional piece of art, of course, it can be difficult to find an existing piece that matches it. But if you reverse the creative process — look for cool art and use it to inspire the other aspects of the adventure — it can be a lot easier.)

As you can see in the current session, however, I’ll also evoke art through text by preparing art handouts. In practice, these are very similar to lore books.

Obviously this is not appropriate for every piece of art, but I find them particularly effective for murals, tapestries, triptychs and the like. If you’re embedding clues in the art, the handout gives the players a physical reminder and reference. You can reward skill checks by giving the player the handout to share with the group, empowering them to roleplay the voice of expertise discussing the artwork.

Another tip is to include evocative visual snippets in the handout. This is great when you find an image that feels right, but can’t encompass the whole. I often do this with collections, for example: I have one image of a statue in the right style and with the appropriate subject, but there are twenty statues in the collection. I can include the image to evoke the look of the statues, while describing the full collection in the handout.

Campaign Journal: Session 49A – Running the Campaign: TBD
In the Shadow of the Spire: Index

SESSION 48D: ALCHESTRIN’S MURAL

January 9th, 2010
The 26th Day of Kadal in the 790th Year of the Seyrunian Dynasty

Through the last arch leading out of the hall they headed down a narrowed hallway. At its end – perhaps a hundred feet or so further on – they could see a huge bas relief depicting a wolf’s skull that took up the entire wall. But before they reached the bas relief, they came to a pair of facing doorways.

Passing through one of these they found themselves in a semi-circular chamber. The far, curved wall of the place was covered in an immense, detailed mural. Although the paint was faded and chipped here and there, it was still impressive in its scope and artisanship. Ranthir, in particular, was fascinated by it. And while the others kept a nervous guard in the hall, he spent the next twenty minutes studying it in detail.

ALCHESTRIN’S MURAL

This mural appears to depict – in juxtaposition – a series of events of either historical or mythological character.

FIRST SEQUENCE: Two magi are shown casting a powerful ritual creating a vortex of energy.

SECOND SEQUENCE: The magi are shown bowing down before a huge, purple crystal that juts up out of the ground.

THIRD SEQUENCE: A great castle has been built around the crystal and a great city has risen up around the castle.

THE GREAT SPIRE OF PTOLUS

FOURTH SEQUENCE: Divided from the third sequence by a depiction of the Spire. The crystal, castle, and city remain – but now the tableau is littered with corpses. A single figure is shown with her hand raised to the crystal, a lance of purple energy connecting the two.

FIFTH SEQUENCE: The castle and crystal have disappeared. The city is in ruins and fallen into darkness.

THE CRYSTAL AMONG STARS

SIXTH SEQUENCE: Divided from the fifth sequence by a depiction of the purple crystal set against a backdrop of faded stars. A skull-faced figure is shown standing before the Spire, leading a great army of malformity.

SEVENTH SEQUENCE: A smaller number of malformities, led by a black serpent which walks like a man, stands upon the plain before the Spire. They surround a huge machine of twisted metal.

EIGHTH SEQUENCE: The castle seen before, enshrouded by coruscating beams of black energy emanating from the machinery, is seen before the Spire.

THE CRYSTAL AMONG ENEMIES

NINTH SEQUENCE: Separated from the eighth sequence by another depiction of the crystal, this one sending out lancing beams of energy which strike the malformities from the seventh sequence. The ninth sequence shows a young boy laying his hand upon the side of the quiescent crystal.

TENTH SEQUENCE: The boy, bathed in the soothing light of the crystal, is shown coming of age in a series of sequential images arrayed around the crystal. This culminates, at the top of the sequence, with a figure of the boy-turned-man – his arms outstretched to the heavens – above the crystal itself.

ELEVENTH SEQUENCE: The man is shown locked in arcane battle with the skull-faced figure.

THE MAN AND THE SPIRE

TWELFTH SEQUENCE: Separated from the eleventh sequence by a depiction of the Spire with the man – seemingly grown to the same gargantuan proportions as the Spire – laying his hands upon it as if he would rip it from the earth. The man is shown still locked in arcane battle with the skull-faced figure, but now the crystal has appeared behind him and sends a beam of energy lancing into his back – the man writhes in pain.

THIRTEENTH SEQUENCE: The man, shown bleeding and clutching at his side, is shown retreating into a great hole in the earth at the foot of the Spire.

The final image of the mural is a depiction of Alchestrin’s seal, as shown on the iron plug above, along with the same inscription.

ALCHESTRIN’S SEAL

The full perusal of its contents made them suspicious of Lord Zavere again. If the man depicted in the mural had fought against Ghul the Skull-King, why had the crystal of Castle Shard attacked him?

“I’m going to be pissed if it turns out we’ve been feeding information to Ghul’s heir or the Banelord reincarnate for the past month.”

But Ranthir pointed out that, if Castle Shard were villainous, then Lord Zavere wasn’t likely to send them to the place where they would discover his villainy. “Didn’t he say something about Alchestrin leaving Castle Shard under a cloud of suspicion?”

“That’s true,” Tee said. “It’s not like the mural in the evil tomb isn’t going to be biased.”

“Then why would he send us here?” Elestra asked.

Tee shrugged. If Zavere was 900 years old, trying to sense his motives was a waste of time.

But something else about the mural had captured Tor’s attention. “Has anyone gone to the top of the Spire? What’s up there?”

“Jevicca told us that Jabel Shammar – the citadel of the Banelord – remains intact up there,” Tee said. “That’s more than I had ever heard before. But everyone who grows up in Ptolus knows the stories of the people who have tried to fly up there.”

“What happened to them?” Tor asked.

“They don’t come back,” Elestra said.

THE GOLEM DOOR

The mural had proven informative, so they decided to check out the bas relief. But as they drew near, they were somewhat terrified to see the entire sculpture come suddenly to life.

“WHAT BUSINESS WOULD YOU HAVE HERE?”

Ranthir was fascinated. “You speak modern Arathian. That’s fascinating…”

Tee, who also spoke Arathian, addressed the wolf-skull directly. “We come for the knowledge of Alchestrin.”

“THEN YOU MAY PASS.”

And the mouth of the golem door gaped wide, revealing a broad stone stairway on the other side. After a moment of hesitation, Tee nervously agreed to go through. And, after some confused deliberation, Tor and Nasira went with her. (A meat-shield and a healer. Everything was fine.)

The stairs twisted down fifty feet or so before bottoming out before another door of iron. Unlocking this door and swinging it wide, they looked down a long, wide hall of finely-fitted stone – the work of meticulous craftsmen, although the age of the work was clearly immense. There were scorch marks, broken sword blades, and the like littering the length of the hall, which disappeared into a deep gloom beyond the reach of their lights. But at the very edge of their sight, they could see a pair of facing doors.

Tor shook his head. “This place is huge.”

Running the Campaign: Art Handouts – Campaign Journal: Session 49A
In the Shadow of the Spire: Index

DISCUSSING
In the Shadow of the Spire – Session 48C: Entering the Tomb

Passing down a short flight of open stairs and through an antechamber of sorts, they entered another large chamber, this one with a wide pit in the center of it.

Carefully approaching the edge of the pit, Tee looked down to find it tightly packed with two dozen or more ancient zombies – their grey and desiccated flesh stretched cross across browned bones. When they became aware of their presence, the undead things began to claw wildly at the walls, although they found no purchase and there seemed little risk of their escape.

“Desiccated?” Agnarr said. “That sounds flammable.”

As the PCs reach what we now think of as Tier 2, you have the opportunity to start using certain monsters for effect rather than threat.

When they were 1^st level, the PCs nervously peered in every direction, ready to leap into action at even the slightest hint of movement. They really had no choice: Even a rabid house cat might prematurely end their adventuring careers with a couple of unlucky dice rolls.

As you drift into higher levels, however, some of those early foes become so trivial that they no longer pose any meaningful threat, even in great numbers. Take, for example, the pit of zombies in this session. Even if one of the PCs had been thrown headlong into this shambling horde, they’d almost certainly have been okay: If they hadn’t torched them, Nasira could’ve turned them en masse. And if she hadn’t, then Agnarr could have easily cleaved his way through them.

As a GM, it’s easy to respond to this trivialization of challenge by simply eliminating such encounters. And, of course, to some extent, that exactly what you should do.

But what this ignores is that encounters can be – and should be! – about more than just combat challenges. If you’ve been conditioned to think of D&D as simply a string of combat encounters connected with a thin patina of exposition, this may seem strange. But encounters should also be serving the needs of mood, theme, logic, and world-building.

This particular pit is helping to set tone and show the history of the Tomb (the upper levels have been abandoned for a long, long time). It also reinforces theme and just generally creeps the players out. (It could have also been significant as a bargaining chip when the PCs went down to the second level of the dungeon, but (a) as we can see here, that never happened and (b) I no longer recall if that was intentional on my part when designing the dungeon or if it was just one of those happy accidents.)

Facing encounters that would have once been daunting but have instead become trivial also communicates something about the PCs’ changing place in the world. It’s also important to remember that, even though such encounters might pose little or no risk to the PCs, they can still be deadly dangers to their PCs’ allies and other NPCs in the dungeon (and showing that to the players can also be a great way of reinforcing everything they’ve gained through their hard work).

For example, maybe the PCs can cut a swath through the goblins on the top level of the dungeon with ease, but the presence of those goblins may nevertheless explain why the lizardfolk have been trapped down on the second level of the dungeon.

Undead, in particular, can have a lot of this worldbuilding potential. They can last a long time and continue communicating a lot about a dungeon’s original purpose and its history, either through their presence, their actions, or even just their clothing. And, in terms of challenge, there’s something deeply satisfying about watching foes that once intimidated you go scurrying away in terror after the cleric turns them.

You can take a lesson from that when running non-undead foes, too: You don’t need a divine gift for a mob of goblins to go scurrying for their hidey-holes after seeing the barbarian slice-and-dice their comrades by the dozen.

It feels great for the players, but can also present a fun twist where the trivial mooks raise the alarm and bring much dangerous foes into the fray.

Campaign Journal: Session 48D – Running the Campaign: Art Handouts
In the Shadow of the Spire: Index