The arena is filled with darkness. An empty canvas for the final match of Iron DM. Eerily familiar for one of the competitors, who found himself here last year. With one exception. Last year, there weren't statues plastered around the battlefield. So many statues. It is only upon closer examination that realization dawns. For this final match, the 'Honorable' Chairman has decorated the void of the arena with the remains of those who have faltered in the previous rounds. A reminder of what has been overcome already to get here. How many didn't make it.
"Are you ready?" The chairman's voice echoes through the arena, seemingly coming from all directions at once, though he is nowhere to be seen. Only the two contestants stand in the arena, and this is about them. Although the crowd is once more shrouded in darkness, once more barely out of view, it seems more restless than it has before. Of course it is. For this is what everyone has been waiting for. The final match of Iron DM. One person will walk away here, head held high with the crown newly placed upon their head. "Then let us meet our contestants!"
A spotlight hits the first contestant where he stands: "Last year, he was just a site veteran, but a newcomer to the competition. This year though, he is the person who lost last year's final match by less than two points, and promptly returned here again. Clocking in at 120.8 points accumulated so far this year, it's..."
Unkoooo Talok!
A spotlight then falls onto the second contestant: "And in the other corner, this year first time contestant, and the one who was only two thirds of a point behind Unko Talok when they faced off in the first round, the person who achieved the single highest mark out of any judge with a 53 point score in round 3, clocking in barely ahead of Unko with a total score of 121.6, it's..."
Draaaaager!
"You have faced once before in this competition, coming in neck in neck. But while both of you advanced back then, only one of you will come out of this match as the winner and claim the crown. It is time for the two of you to face off. To win, you will need to use the ingredients to maximum effect. Only our entire panel of judges are equipped to make such a decision, and so...""
The main judges for this round are:
Everyone!!!
At another gesture from the chairman, two heaping tables appear once more, only for the master of this competition to loudly proclaim the ingredients for this round:
Drager's gaze strays to the remains of previous competitors and he grunts. "Shame to waste what could have made damn fine apprentices as decorations." he mutters to himself. Seeing his opponent appear not far away the Dwarf gives his beard a tug and grins at the skeleton with its reforming flesh. "Thought it'd be you." he nods in acknowledgement "I've not made anything worthy of the craft thus far. This time I better had." Drager turns to the ingredients and smiles widely as a plan immediately starts to come together.
The half-elves of Stemton and Portsmoth have feuded for centuries. Each community believes the other bears a blood curse dating back to their ancient half-elf founders, Prince Ethelred and Princess Matilda. Any romance between the communities brings a monstrosity that dies in the womb. This would have lead to angry genocide long ago were it not for the guardians-- Stemton's animal defenders and Portsmoth's automatons-- which appear to defend their community. But now, Portsmoth marches, and Stemton's guardians are absent!
⠀
Days ago, a decrepit Ethelred reappeared, ushering terror! Claiming Lichdom, he demanded Portsmoth destroy the taint of the Stemton. Those who refused to join him were killed or retreated. Ethelred lead his army of zealots and automatons to Stemton, and now he uses powerful magic to assault the psyche of its residents-- a drum that evokes the worst nightmares of the besieged.
⠀
Stemton's fate lies in your hands!
GM Information
Part 1: Escaping the Siege
Part 2: Still Waters, Great Depths
Part 3: The Rat and the Maze
Part 4: Two Legs Good, Four Legs Bad
Part 5: Battle of Geyser Fields
Aftermath
Ingredient
Usage
Awakened Rat Sorcerer
Cymeik
Geyser Field
Agricultural basis of Stemton and battleground
Nightmare Siege Engine
Drum of Despair
Bad Blood
Incompatibility of Matilda and Ethelred's bloodlines, leading to city vendetta
5E Dungeons and Dragons Adventure for 4 3rd Level Characters
Introduction
Princess Gwenhwyvar has been missing for years, and King Gogyrfan is a broken man who has almost given up hope. Word is received from a mysterious source that the Princess has been found, captured by an evil Lich and held on a haunted isle. Without another thought, Gogyrfan and his daughter Princess Gwyneira call the banners and set out to save her. The PCs are brought along as they are known to the king as the best warriors in his kingdom as well as wise councillors. They sale with an army of one thousand men across the cold sea to the haunted isle, ready to prise Gwenhwyvar from the monster's clutches.
A Meeting with Royalty
The king calls his war council, including his daughter and general Princess Gwyneira, several noble Lords and the PCs to discuss the strategy of attacking the Lich's fortress. The fortress is near impregnable, with no weakness and any plan other than a frontal assault seems doomed to fail. One of the nobles, Lord Coed, is very insistent on attempting a siege. This idea will be considered by the nobles, then shot down since the enemy is undead so can't be starved out. If the PCs realise this and point it out, then any future checks required in Encounter with Artie have their DCs reduced by 2.
⠀
If the PCs are particularly perceptive (Perception DC18) they will notice a crab that appears to be listening to the war council. Should they choose to follow the crab, they will need a DC15 Survival Check to successfully track it. When they do, it will have hidden in the bottom of a rock pool on the beach to avoid detection. It is simple to prise the crab from the bottom of the pool at which point it will be clear it is crafted from metal.
⠀
After a moment or two of being held a small voice will sound from inside the crab "OK, OK. I'm coming out, don't hurt me." A hatch will open in the back of the shell and Artie will climb out. See Encounter with Artie. Regardless of whether the PCs encounter Artie or whether they return to the war conference after they do the decision will be made by King Gogyrfan to charge at the main gate of the fortress as dawn breaks the next day, that encounter continues in The Forlorn Hope.
Encounter with Artie
Whatever point in the adventure the PCs meet Artie he will be willing to talk with them, but cagey about what information he reveals. The PCs can talk to Artie about whatever they want, and he will happily chat about life as a rat and even tell them about inventing the Crabmercible so that he could get to this island. If the PCs want information on the topic of why he is here, then that requires a series of skill checks. As soon as the PCs fail any checks or attempt to intimidate Artie, he will end the conversation as politely as he can and then leave, claiming there is something he has to deal with. Should the PCs try to talk to him again after this, he will simply reply "Busy, busy friends! Lot's to do." and scamper away. If the PCs meet Artie later in the story, they may continue to make these checks until failing again on each successive meeting.
⠀
Each pass with an appropriate skill check (Insight, Persuasion or if the PCs get creative) unlocks a new piece of information. They must each be unlocked in order. Artie should never lie, its against his personal code. He should simply be shifty when skirting the truth, with the DC increases representing him getting more confident in keeping the next secret from the PCs.
DC15: Artie tells the party why he is here, to guide the king to the princess so there might be a reunion. He explains that he talks to the king when Gogyrfan is sleeping because he wouldn't listen to a rat when awake.
⠀
DC18: Artie reveals that he used to Princess Gwenhwyfar's palace pet. He also tells the PCs that he has been to the Lich's castle before to look for her, and he knows she is inside.
⠀
DC20: Artie tells you that last time he was here, Princess Gwenhwyfar seemed free to leave and was living here of her own will.
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DC23: Artie reluctantly admits it was his fault the princess ran away from home in the first place. He tells the PCs that she was never kidnapped and that the reason he needed the king to come here was that she won't talk to him because she is still angry.
⠀
DC25: Artie sheepishly tells the party that he cursed the princess by selling her an enchanted hat. The hat caused the wearer to turn into an animal, in the case of Gwenhwyfar, a cat. He explains he is truly sorry for what he did and just wants to make it right.
If the PCs decide to attack Artie, he will defend himself. Where possible he will avoid damaging anything except the party and will try to use single target spells as much as possible, but he will put his own life above protecting property, although not above protecting the lives of others (he would never cast a spell that could hit a bystander, if there are any, for example).
The Forlorn Hope
As dawn approaches the army gathers just outside arrow shot of the walls. If the PCs have met Artie and unlocked the DC20 secret or higher, he will approach them and tell them he thinks this plan is a very bad idea. He will encourage them to persuade the king to call off the assault and think of another plan. If they have not met him, they may notice small holes in the battlefield (Perception DC15). If they know enough about nature (Survival or Nature DC18) and have seen the holes, they will realise that the entire area is covered in an unstable field of dormant geysers. They can either try to persuade King Gogyrfan to call off the assault or continue on with it.
⠀
If the PCs try to persuade Gogyrfan they need to perform a skill challenge, with 3 successes before 1 failure. They can use History (to talk of past battle tactics), Perception (to find a hole to point out to the king), Nature (if they know about the geysers), Survival (to explain how this area seems like a trap), Deception, Persuasion or Insight. Attempting to use Intimidation automatically fails. The DC for all checks is 18. King Gogyrfan respects the PCs and will entertain their council, but is clear that this is his decision to make.
⠀
If the PCs succeed in persuading the king the attack is halted, and he returns to planning. Additionally, success means that any future checks required in Encounter with Artie have their DCs reduced by 2. The day passes calmly and the night begins, the next encounter is entitled Strangers in the Night.
⠀⠀
If the PCs fail in persuading the king, don't know anything is wrong or choose not to try the assault will begin. King Gogyrfan offers the PCs the honour of leading the vanguard, as they are his strongest warriors. They can accept this honour, or refuse and either join the general push or sit out the battle, in either case, the next encounter is entitled Geyser Rush.
⠀⠀
Geyser Rush
If the PCs are participating Read:
Light peeks over the horizon, and a rousing battle cry lets rip from the men of the Gwyenedd Guard. Feet pound and dust is kicked into the air as strong arms carry battering rams towards the fortress gate. The Guard have made their way across only half of the open ground when the first screams ring out. No arrows are flying from the battlements. The cries of pain are coming from the centre of the battle line. Before you have time to turn and look a blast of steam and rock explodes in front of the party stopping you in your tracks. The whole field in front of the fortress is rocked with explosions as geysers release fonts of steam, blowing men off their feet and boiling them in their armour. Within seconds the charge has turned into a rout, and your only choice is to flee to safety.
If the PCs are not participating, the army takes the highest possible casualties (100 soldiers), and the scene should be described to the PCs, leaving out reference to themselves. If they are leading the Vanguard, then only 20 soldiers are lost as the PCs react to the danger and lead the retreat. If they are in the centre 50 are lost as the PCs are slower to react. This encounter is a skill challenge with a deadly twist. The PCs must succeed at 4 checks to escape the geyser field, but instead of losing the challenge after a certain number of failures, they take damage from the hot blasts of steam.
⠀
The PCs may use Athletics, Acrobatics, Perception, Nature or Survival to avoid the Geyser blasts as they escape the fields. The DCs for the checks are, in order DC 20, 18, 15 and thereafter 10. Each failure deals XdX damage from the scalding steam. Clever use of skills such as teleportation should be rewarded with a success or escape, but flight should be punished (+5 DC) as the geysers act like flak cannons filling the air with debris. In the boiling fog cloud created by the steam, the PCs can only see 20 feet.
Strangers in the Night
The camp is woken in the night by the blaring of the sentry horns. Out of the darkness come shapes, twisted by death. The lumbering zombies that emerge from the darkness are led by Wight commanders armed with sharp swords and deadly bows. A group of undead move to attack the party, a small section of the mass of foul undead descending on them.
⠀
This is a straightforward combat encounter. The PCs are attacked by a Wight, a Greater Zombie and 11 Zombies. Once then encounter is complete the casualties on the side of the living are staggering, with nearly half the army dead or unable to fight. General Gwyneira orders all the bodies to be burned immediately. Despite the damage the King and Princess are alive, and the army has repelled the undead threat for now.
⠀
With sunrise comes the realisation that too many men and too much materiel has been lost to continue the assault. The atmosphere reeks of despondence, commanders sit and stare or bark harshly at their troops who move sluggishly and glare with anger at the towering, impregnable stronghold of the lich. At midmorning, King Gogyrfan appears from his tent and makes an impassioned speech. He commands that the tents be struck and the boats loaded but calls the carpenters to his side. His plan is outrageous. They will build a giant statue of a Nightmare to placate the Lich, and the King's greatest warriors (The PCs) will hide inside. Once the statue is taken into the fortress, the party will wait for daybreak, when the undead are weakest. Then they will emerge to strike for the heart of the enemy and save the princess.
What a Nightmare
The Nightmare is constructed on a wheeled platform and pulled to the edge of the geyser field. Secreted inside is the party and, unbeknownst to anyone, Artie. The army boards its boats and sets sail, leaving the party alone on the haunted isle. Inside the Nightmare, time seems to drag on forever until suddenly there is a jolt and they are in motion. The party can see through tiny cracks in the wooden frame that the statue is being rolled into the keep by twice the number of zombies they fought last night. Once through the main door, it's positioned in the centre of a courtyard. Throughout the night, various groups of undead shuffle through, but by morning all is quiet.
⠀
The PCs have had enough time for a long rest in the Nightmare. During this time, Artie will make himself known, creeping out of the leg of the monstrosity and quietly introducing himself to the PCs if they haven't met him before. His appearance allows further work on the Meeting with Artie secrets. If the PCs speak positively of the Nightmare, this pleases the rat: the DCs are reduced by a further 2 in addition to any bonuses already accumulated. Once the conversation with Artie is over, he will slip out of the Nightmare and indicate that its a good time to leave.
⠀
If the PCs have unlocked the DC20 secret or higher (before reductions) Artie will offer to guide them through the fortress; otherwise he will set off alone and require a DC15 Survival check to follow. Artie will lead the party confidently through the keep, past faded portraiture of long-dead lords and rusted suits of armour. The rat will lead them through narrow passages and down twisting stairs and, eventually, to the entrance to a grand hall.
⠀
If the PCs fail to follow Artie or choose not to they make their way through the castle. They must make a series of Survival checks to avoid getting lost. After six successful checks (DC15), they will find themselves at the entrance to the same grand hall as if they had followed Artie, but without the benefit of the rat's presence. For each check that scores less than 12 the party will stumble upon a group of monsters, either 3d8 Zombies, 3 Greater Zombies or 1 Wight and 2d6 Zombies. If the party try to rest in the fortress, they will be attacked within twenty minutes. It is important not to let them rest here, both to keep the pressure on and build up the tension approaching the finale. Each check, successful or failed will lead them through more rooms in the fortress. It is full of stately grandeur that speaks to a past quite different from its current use. There are ballrooms and dining rooms for grand parties as well as suites of rooms containing more opulent living spaces than many a minor lords house. All are covered in dust and rot, the gold is tarnished, and the brass has turned to verdigris. Perhaps the saddest sight is an old kitchen, set up and ready to cook a feast that has long rotted away with a lone zombie stirring a pot over a cold fire.
⠀
When the party reach the entrance to the grand hall they see the throne room guards that they must overcome to reach the lich. A Sword Wraith commander and two Sword Wraith warriors stand ready to prevent them from crossing the hall and gaining access to the doors. There is no way on but past these guardians.
Reconcilliation?
After the PCs defeat the throne room guards, they enter the Lich's chamber. Inside the monster sits on a throne with a cat curled on its lap. It immediately begins monologuing about their inevitable demise (DC20 perception to notice the cat's lips moving). If they attack the Lich, Artie will jump out of concealment and call for everyone to wait. If instead, they talk to it then the instant they mention any information gained from Artie the cat will leap down from its lap and stop pretending, snapping "Alright, where is he?"
⠀
The PCs will then engage in a skill challenge to reconcile the two and discover the truth. If the party succeeds on four checks before three failures the pair will reconcile, otherwise, they will fight, and the PCs will be forced to pick a side. The challenge uses History, Arcana, Insight, Perception or any other skill you find appropriate at DC20, with a +2 bonus to checks for each of Artie's secrets revealed.
⠀
History Success: The party reminds the princess of her duty to the kingdom and urges her to come home. Both she and Artie look uncomfortable at the mention of her duty, and she snaps something about not needing suitors.
⠀
Arcana Success: The party notices that the lich is just a normal skeleton. Princess Gwenhwyvar states the disguise was necessary to keep overcurious rodents away. Artie apologises for hurting her.
⠀
Perception Success: The party notice the way the two are looking at each other. The pair become very shy, and Gwenhwyvar mutters something about him not being human.
⠀
Insight Success: The party realise that Artie really loves Gwenhwyvar. He admits it and says he is sorry again, that what he did was because of her spending so much time with suitors at her father's court.
If the PCs succeed Artie removes the curse from Gwenhwyvar, and she casts True Polymorph on him to turn him into a man. The undead all fall silent, and the group can leave, together with a new romance blossoming.
NPCs
Name
Description
Artie
Artie speaks in short, clipped sentences. He is madly in love with Gwenhwyvar.
King Gogyrfan
Bellicose and determined, he will retireve his daughter at any cost.
Gwyneirra
Beautiful, strong and kind, but very very sad.
Gwenhwyvar
Mercurial and overconfident, but with an undertone of deep loss.
Monster
Statistics
Tactics
Alterations
Artie
Left Hand of Manshoon (CR 12, Waterdeep: DotMM)
See Text.
Artie is a rat, not an undead and can speak and hear.
Gwenhwyvar
Traxigor (CR 12, Descent into Avernus)
Gwenhwyvar will attempt to end a fight as quickly as possible.
I would just like to say, since Inem is not participating this year, it has been an absolute pleasure grading the two of you and you are both fine folk. You're no Inems, of course, but I can't fault you for that. Well, I can. I did. I do. But.
What's important is that you did amazing work, and it's an inspiration to us all, especially to PIG. Now, let's get on with it.
Technical
Running-An absolute wonder to run, I would think. Lots of intrigue, lots of mystery that rolls out over time. Good stuff. 5/5
Presentation-Wonderful, as always. 5/5
Writing-Writing was not as crisp as it usually is, unfortunately. My eyes glazed over a few times, especially towards the end, but was still good overall. 3/5
Total: 13/15
Player
Play-Wowzers. This would be super fun. 5/5
Read-Less fun to read but still great, lots of intrigue and lore for this one. 4/5
Creative-Very creative use of a lot of this stuff, ingredients especially. 4/5
Total: 14/15
Audience
An Awakened Rat Sorcerer--Cymeik was a blessing to read. 4/5
A Geyser Field-Very neat idea, both mechanically and lore-wise. 5/5
A Nightmare Siege Engine-It worked. 3/5
Bad Blood-The fact they couldn't interbreed is... intriguing. I have thoughts not meant for here. 4/5
A Fake Lich-A neat twist. 3/5
Marching to a Different Drum-A little weird but it was cool enough. 3/5
A Princess That Meows-Tigers don't meow
A Cursed Hat-It was ok, but didn't fit with what I was hoping for Matilda.
Buyer's Remorse-This was kind of cool. +1
A Metallic Crustacean-lol wut
Total: 23 Grand Total: 50 points
Technical
Running-This would be super fun; I love Arthurian and Welsh mythology and this reeks of it. Great job. 5/5
Presentation-Doesn't look bad and has a lot of good here. 4/5
Writing-I have... problems. You have typos (sale vs. sail), which are almost forgivable, but then... xdx damage on the Geyser portion? That's not a good look on this. You needed to polish this a lot more and make sure all the elements were there. 2/5
Total: 11/15
Player
Play-This would be great to play, lots of fun Skill Challenges and intriguing roleplay for characters of an Arthurian slant. 5/5
Read-A good read with fun implications, with some neat NPC interactions. 5/5
Creative-Drawing on tropes, I found it appropriately creative all things considered. 4/5
Total: 14/15
Audience
An Awakened Rat Sorcerer--Heh, Artie. 4/5
A Geyser Field-This was a neat encounter marred by a missing mechanic. 3/5
A Nightmare Siege Engine-Cool enough. 4/5
Bad Blood-This is understated and requires interpretation. I'm not sure I'm even reading it right. 1/5
A Fake Lich-Not as interesting as it could've been. 2/5
Marching to a Different Drum-Where is this? 0/5
A Cursed Hat-Neat enough. +1
Buyer's Remorse-Didn't see it.
A Metallic Crustacean-This was cool as Hell. +1
Total: 15 Grand Total: 40 points
__________________
he/him\his
In Repose
Last edited by Inem; Dec 16th, 2019 at 10:44 AM.
Reason: Revealing Judgment!
I can’t give my usual detailed breakdown of my judgements this round, which takes hours to make and I don’t want to hold up the game any longer, so I will just choose the one I think deserves my nomination:
The Old Feud by Unko Talok
I favor the story for the Lover’s Quarrel a whole lot more but the use of the ingredients and game balance of The Old Feud makes me favor it over all as a game if I were to run them as DM. I actually think both of you were much stronger in Round 3 but I know it gets tough when you to this level of complexity.
Thank you for playing guys. I know it wasn’t easy but you both really made it entertaining for me over the weeks.
Last edited by Inem; Dec 16th, 2019 at 10:44 AM.
Reason: Revealing Judgment!
a. How easy would it be to run this scenario/adventure?*(5 points)
5
4
b. How well is the scenario/adventure presented?*(5 points)
4
5
c. How well is the scenario/adventure written?*(5 points)
4
3
Player Perspective / The Story*(15 points)
15
12
a. What would this scenario/adventure be like to play?*(5 points)
5
5
b. Is the story interesting to read?*(5 points)
5
3
c. How creative is the scenario/adventure?*(5 points)
5
4
Audience Perspective / The Ingredients*(15+ points)
34
27
a. How well was the ingredient used?*(5 points each)
30
25
Bonus Ingredients
4
2
Total Points
62
51
Unko Talok
At this point in the competition, we expect entries to be really good, and the kinks in formatting and throwing things together to be worked out. So, will address the whole entry at a high level. I think the background story here was the most captivating part of the entry. It set up the use of the ingredients in such a way that they were easy to spot and pull out, yet they still felt organic to the story of what was going on. The rest of the adventure was laid out in an easy to follow format that made it clear what the DM needs to do to keep things running. There are enough shenanigans to keep the PCs busy as well, and get them involved in the action as well, without suspecting that the whole story was put together by a hairy mess of seemingly unrelated ingredients for a contest. Excellent job Unko Talok!
Drager
Again, at this point in the competition, we expect entries to be really good, and the kinks in formatting and throwing things together to be worked out. So, will address the whole entry at a high level. We start off with kind of a generic scenario, save the princess. We then start getting bogged down in mechanics, and side-encounters that it actually makes the story of what is happening hard to follow. Having said that, there are quite a lot of fun things for PCs to do. I did notice that this would need an errata after release to correct your PC level. Otherwise, PCs were going to need a lot of help with guidance, enhance ability, and so forth to make some of those skill checks. Overall, this was a pretty good entry. It just didn’t quite have the wow factor that it needed to push it over the top in the final.
Though neither competitor had seen the 'Honorable' Chairman leave the arena at the start of the match, he hadn't been present throughout the battle. They hadn't seen him reenter, either, and yet there he was standing, as if he hadn't moved the entire time. Looking around, the chairman examines the aftermath of the competition.
"This is it then, the final battle this year has been concluded and judged. You have both fought valiantly to even get here, but in the end, only one person is worthy to wear the crown of Iron DM for the next year." With a flash, a red scroll appears in the hands of the master of this entire event. "Now, obviously I'm the chairman, so I already know what this says. But it is just more official when I read it off of something in writing. So, without further ado, our winner is..."
"...Inem!"
"Huh, well this is unexpected. Probably even more so for the two of you. Sorry about that, maybe it's just hard-coded into this competition and these scrolls at this point. Nothing I can do about that unfortunately. This scroll dictates the winner, and it says Inem, so looks like Inem wins. That's the way it is. I mean really, does it come as a surprise to anyone at this point, because it really shouldn't. What's that? Something something about Inem not even competing, and just being in control of this whole thing, and you having put in all this effort? Well, seems like if the easiest way to get this title is to run the competition and crown yourself the champion, it was very foolish of both of you to pick the route that involved actually entering, was it not?"
And with that, just as suddenly as he had appeared, the 'Honorable' Chairman - honestly everyone, it was there in the quotes around the name all along, how could you not suspect it - disappears, having not passed his crown on to either competitor.
A minute passes in silence. Then another. Everyone is still standing there, stunned by what just happened. Then, at the edge of the competitors vision, in that crowd in the stand that they can never quite make out, people seem to shrug and begin leaving their seats. It isn't until that happens that the chairman suddenly reappears.
"Wait, wait. I have reconsidered. I have come to the conclusion that if I don't crown either of you champions, no one will willingly enter into this competition next year. And it's so much nicer to have willing souls to torture than to have to go out and trick or coerce people to come here for me to drain them. And it would be even more work to find judges to do all the heavy lifting for me if I ignored their verdict. So..." The 'Honorable' Chairman raises the red scroll carrying the name "Inem" in front of him, where it goes up in flames and burns down to ash in an instant. Then, like a phoenix from the ashes, a new scroll floats upwards into the chairman's hands. "Taking that into consideration, the actual winner, our new champion, your Iron DM 2019 is..."
Dec 2nd, 2019, 12:50 AM
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