Legacy
Part 3 – The Competition Day 2 + New Threats
Details
Competition Day 2
The second day will have 2 less teams competing and Brunin asks any of the competitors to keep an eye out for the missing adventurers (as a courtesy).
Encounter Areas
There are several places where the competitors can search, but eventually they will only find the most valuable items in the final encounter area.
- Upper Village Underground – the old tunnels under the Upper Village are still accessible and interconnect, but the main tunnel leading north has collapsed long ago and is now impassible. A colony of huge spiders has taken up residence on the tunnels.
By midday of the first day, B&B returns to town badly beaten with 2 members sick from poisoning
Although there are signs of the old tunnels leading toward the Citadel hill, they are now collapsed and offer no passage, even with digging.
Start here for 6/18/2024
Probable timeline:
- Party completes spider dens with last spider
- Returns for evening meeting, learns about give-up group and missing group
- Also learns about stairwell discovery with undead from Kneebusters
- Next day they can choose to explore different area (citadel ruins/stairwell) or investigate tunnel area at east side of mountain
- If they do not explore the tunnels, another group will go ‘missing’
- Night Stalkers group will investigate false tunnel from dream planted by hags
2. East Tunnel – the remaining tunnel leading from the old Dead Pens has not been explored in decades and is now the lair of a family of Marsh Giants and something else that crawled out of the lake.
A few years ago, a small group of marsh giants found the newer caves formed from the old tunnels that would have been used to unleash the hordes of undead from their pens. The last exploration done in this area was by a large contingent of dwarves who patiently and painstakingly dug their way through the collapsed tunnels eventually reaching the eastern edge of the Dead Pens. It was there that Brunin and his kinsmen found the mangled bodies of his friends beneath rocks weighing thousands of pounds. The dwarves spent a couple weeks shoring and clearing the rubble to recover the 5 bodies, which they wrapped up and brought back to the construction at Blackcross Keep for interment. When they left, they collapsed the tunnel near the eastern edge of the tunnels.
When the swamp giants arrived, they were elated to find defensible, safe caves with water and enough size for comfort. They soon discovered that the cave was not quite deserted when its current resident, an old Dragon Turtle named Sazhinok returned from his daily foraging through an underwater entrance. The old reptile was not in the mood for a fight, so it struck a deal with the marsh giants to mutually defend and provide sustenance for each other. Neither group has ill intent and only wishes to live in peace.
They are very concerned of late due to the arrival of a pair of evil Naga that have claimed some nearby underwater ruins for their own plans.
If the giants are attacked, the turtle will stay still, acting like a small island in the cave pool until someone gets into range and then attack with breath or frenzy attack.
If the giants are negotiated with, they will need some convincing to assist and just want to be left alone. However, they are more receptive if treated with respect and especially if someone is looking to help with the nasty Naga. The turtle knows about an old passage beyond the westernmost end of the caves, but warns that there is an ancient angry presence in there and it’s best to leave it alone. If the group insists, they will need to dig through 5’ of rubble and dirt. The Turtle is very knowledgeable of the area (he has been here for about 20 years) and if the party gets on his good side (defeating the Naga. e.g.) he will give them some good intel about the hidden underwater ruins.
The giants keep all of their worldly possessions on themselves and the Dragon Turtle has a hidden cache in a hard to find ledge under water near its cave. DC32 to find the hidden cache.
Sazhinok’s Cache – 230gp, 6 gems x 30gp, Limestone Shield (7), Wand of Reaching (6), Lesser Potion of Sonic Resistance (6), Verdant Staff (6)
See the section below for the Underwater Ruins
Start here for 5/21/2024
The redcaps are poised for an imminent attack once the party retreats, so small groups stay hidden near the hole to ambush anyone who returns. The redcaps who captured the familiar thought that it was a real leprechaun and demanded that it created gold for them. The familiar is amused by their request but they have beat him up pretty badly and they will snuff him out within 2 rounds. He disappears to their dismay and Lucky will need to reconstitute him the next morning.
3. Old FeyWay – if someone searches the area between the Lower and Upper villages, they may be able to find a well-hidden cavern opening between some rocks. The opening is only 3’ wide and any creature larger than medium will have to widen the opening (and most likely alert all the inhabitants). DC 30 to find hole and DC 30 to find small tracks leading to and from the hold toward the ruins and Blackcross. The hole has small 1’ wide ledges leading to the floor, but otherwise it is 30’ below the surface.
The old Brownie tunnels are long gone and eroded. In its place is a nasty den of vicious Redcaps. They particularly enjoy waylaying helpless, unwary strangers and dragging them to their warren where they can torture and eventually eat the victims. If anyone enters the complex, they will attack en masse from hidden openings behind spider webbing. The redcaps keep giant spiders as pets and guards.
At certain areas, anyone searching with a DC26 Per check will find a cache of a victim’s goods. None are from the age of destruction.
- +2 Studded Leather
- Leather pouch with 20x100gp rubies
- Backpack with 3 torches, 2 flasks oil, 2 bound strips of leather (Bracers of Missile Deflection 3)
- Glue Bomb (Moderate)
- Smoking Sword 3
There is no exit from this cave complex, so this is essentially a dead end.
4. Upper Dungeon Ruins – with a thorough search of the hillside, a party will find access to a stairwell leading to the old upper dungeons which are now full of angry former prisoners who are undead.
To clear an area, 1 person can excavate a 3’x3’x5’ hole in 8 hours with a shovel (1/2 that speed w/o a tool). Max number of people that can dig an area is 4 so if all chip in to help, they can clear one 5’ section in 1 hour, etc. For each 5’ dug however, there is a 25% chance of a cave-in if it is not shored up first and they lose ½ of their progress. A medium sized person can Crawl on hands and knees through a 3×3’ hole but is Prone and can only go 5’ per action as normal.
- The dungeon entrance is for the most part still intact. Parts of an holding cage and stone bench are still in the room as well as the remains of three undead that the previous adventuring group barely dispatched. There is a corridor opening on the north side of the room with a cave-in beyond it. Using the rules above, a party could clear the 10’ section to reveal more of the ruined dungeons.
- Digging in the southern section does not disturb the inhabitants, but once they open up a section to this room, the undead here will slowly begin to amble forward to angrily greet their guests.
- In the caved in area at the end of the dungeon cells, the ghost of one of the guards sits on an old crate staring at the remains of a broken table and some pitted stone dice on the floor. Unable to utilize them, he is melancholy and welcomes any company.
The party did not explore this part of the adventure, so I have included this just for completeness.
If the party does not immediately attack, they may be able to get some information from him. He does not know anything about the layout of the place other than this level (he never went to the lower level or anywhere else) but he does know that there is a stairwell down to the south of him. To get this info, however, the party will need to make 3 DC18 Diplomacy rolls.
D. If the party clears the 10’ of rubble from the corridor, they will find an isolated guard room containing the remains of the furniture and three zombies that have been tainted by some of the necromancer’s chemicals long ago.
5. Lower Dungeon Ruins – The stairwell is mostly intact but unstable. Each person who descends has a chance of causing a 15’ cave-in of debris that would need to be removed to continue. The chance is 25% and if triggered, the person must make a DC20 basic Ref save or get caught in the stone fall which does 8d6 damage.
The diverted underground river caused a lot of erosion damage to this level and only the southeast section is partially intact. In its place, a small underground lake is formed by the seeping water.
- Remains of beds and a broken table and chairs are all that can be found in this old guard post. Some of the walls are still standing but a search will not reveal anything of value.
- The broken stone flooring here is all that remains of the corridor. A pile of gnawed bones at the very end hints of the danger that lives in this area.
- The small underground lake is cold and about 10’ deep. However, if the party searches, they may be able to find some old stoppered bottles (5 Lesser Oil of Unlife (3) and 3 Moderate Necrotic Bombs (3)). These count as Minor Magic from the time of the Necromancer and will bring in 500gp for each set at the Gathering. At the far eastern end an empty submerged cage lays in rust and dirt.
D. A pathetic creature has been scouring the remaining lower dungeon levels, collecting the remains of the dead prisoners and guards and neatly placing them in piles. Unfortunately, in an attempt to dig through the walls, it caused a massive cave-in and trapped himself in an area that he cannot escape. If the party frees him, he will be happy to invite them to join him in death. He has collected a couple of odd magic items that he found in his scavenging. All of these items count as Minor Magic and will fetch 500gp each in addition to their intrinsic value).
The collapses here are only 5’ deep and can be cleared in 15 mins by 4 people working together.
This is another section that the party never had the chance to explore, so this is presented for completeness.