# IRON DM 2014 Tournament



## Rune (Jan 8, 2015)

Welcome, one and all, to the IRON DM 2014 Tournament!

This thread will contain the entries, judgements, commentary, and, of course, trash-talk that give context for the event. Scheduling for the matches will take place elsewhere, so as to keep this thread clear of clutter. 

[sblock=The Rules*The Basics:*

The tournament is set up in a single-elimination bracket style, with each match determined based on scheduling availability among the eligible contestants.

Each match will consist of two contestants given a single set of six ingredients with which to construct a brief adventure in any game system or genre.  You should waste neither time, nor words, on overly detailed stats, but you should also not assume familiarity with any given system or genre.  Explain what you need to explain, _and stop there!_

These entries will be evaluated on their own merits and those evaluations will then be compared to determine the winner of a match, who will then proceed to the next round.

All matches will be given a time-frame to submit your entries within.  Entries that are late may still be accepted, but, seriously, _don't do this!_  While each of the judges have their own set of criteria, you can expect that the later the entry, the more severely it will be penalized in the judgement process, _if it is accepted at all_!

Seriously, if you haven't finished with an entry in time, _post what you've got!_  Even if you don't win (and, who knows, you might!), you may at least find the judgement enlightening for future IRON DM tournaments!

All entries are expected to make good use of all of the ingredients submitted--that is, they should be creatively applied, well-integrated, and fundamentally necessary to the adventure that they are used in.  This is the crux of the tournament, so don't think that maybe (for example) doing a good job with three ingredients will be enough, as long as you can craft a better adventure!  I wouldn't count on it, if I were you.

Finally, most of the previous tournaments in the last 12 years have used some optional bonus ingredients in Round 3.  This tournament will not make use of such bonus ingredients.  Each match will have exactly six ingredients.

*Formatting:*

All entries are to be submitted with the list of ingredients at the top and _are not to be edited_, once submitted.  Let me repeat that last part:  DO NOT EDIT YOUR POST, ONCE YOU HAVE SUBMITTED IT!  Check your work before you send it in.  Then check it again.  The judges will likely not look favorably upon any entry that has been edited and may penalize the entry as they see fit, including, possibly, outright disqualification.  

Please do not expect the judges to follow links within your entry. You may include links for others to follow if you choose to do so, but understand that any information that is necessary to the entry must be in the actual entry. Not only will each judge be reading each entry multiple times, but expecting outside sources to carry the load of exposition very much defeats the purpose of the word-limit.

Along those lines--the judges will be reading each entry several times.  Please don't make that difficult for us.  Don't bore us and don't make our eyes bleed.  Please.

*Judgement:*

As I said before, each entry will be judged on its own merits and then the two competing entries' critiques will be compared for the final judgement. Different judges may have different processes to arrive at such outcomes--for instance, some may use a point-based grading chart, while others may prefer a more abstract analysis. 

The judges will endeavor to be _Nemmerelesque_ in our judgements--that is, critical, but also fair and constructive in that criticism.  It's tradition. Even so, please understand that not everybody will agree with every decision we make--that's the nature of the game. Traditionally, second-guessing the judges is all part of the game--and that can lead to some undesired outcomes.  It can sting sometimes (believe me, I know!), but it _is a game_.  Let's have some fun with it!

That said, those wishing to gain a little insight into the judges' thinking will need to do a little research to do so, but the information is out there.  Be warned, though!  We may have changed our thinking on some of these things within the last 12 years!

*Tournament Structure:

Round 1:*

All matches in the first round will have a *24* hour time-limit!  That's right--_we're going old-school!_  These matches *will not* be restricted in length, but, please, don't bore us!  Each match will be judged by a single judge determined randomly behind the scenes before the contestants have been determined. Each judge will determine the outcome of at least one of the first round matches.  Contestants who win their Round 1 matches will proceed to Round 2.

*Round 2:*

All matches in the second round will have a *48* hour time-limit.  These matches will have a *3000* word limit (not including the title and ingredients list--any descriptions or definitions of ingredients will count against the limit!).  A full panel of three judges will compare each match and determine a contestant to advance. The contestants so determined by at least two judges will win their Round 2 matches and will proceed to Round 3.

*Round 3:*

The third round match will also have a *48* hour time-limit.  This match will have a *2000* word limit (not including the title and ingredients list--any descriptions or definitions of ingredients will count against the limit!).  As with Round 2, this match will be judged by a panel of three. Each judge will indicate a preferred winner and the contestant so named by at least two judges wins this match and becomes the *IRON DM 2014*.

*Scheduling, Discussing, and Spectating:*

The tournament thread will be used to list the ingredients and the judgements for each match, as well as the entries, themselves. Commentary will also be welcome in this thread, but, please, if you are commenting on an entry that has not yet been judged, hide that commentary with sblock tags, [sblock]like this, [/sblock]so that the judges can view the entries with fresh eyes!

If spectators would like to play the home game, please do that in another thread.


One final note: 

Once these tournaments have been completed, we try to archive them on these boards for posterity, and so that the adventures can be run or plundered by future Internet generations. We make no claim of ownership over the entries, but we do request that you do not remove your entries once the tournament has concluded. [/sblock]

*Our contestants:* 

*1:  Wicht (IRON DM 2013, IRON DM FALL 2002)

2:  Deuce Traveler (IRON DM 2012)

3:  Iron Sky (IRON DM 2009)

4:  UselessTriviaMan

5:  Imhotepthewise

6:  Waylander the Slayer (IRON DM 2011)

7:  Gradine

8:  MortalPlague*​

*The Matches:
Round 1, Match 2:* Wicht vs. Imhotepthewise. Judgement

*Round 1, Match 2:* Deuce Traveler vs. Waylander the Slayer. Judgement.

*Round 1, Match 3:* Gradine vs. UselessTriviaMan. Judgement.

*Round 1, Match 4:* Iron Sky vs. MortalPlague. Judgement.

[sblock=Round 2]*Round 2, Match 1:* MortalPlague vs. Gradine. phoamslinger's judgement. Radiating Gnome's judgement. Rune's judgement. 

*Round 2, Match 2:* Wicht vs. Waylander the Slayer. Radiating Gnome's Judgement. phoamslinger's Judgement. Rune's Judgement.[/sblock]

[sblock=Round 3]*Championship Round:* Wicht vs. MortalPlague. phoamslinger's Judgement. Radiating Gnome's Judgement. Rune's Judgement.[/sblock]

[sblock=And the IRON DM 2014 is...]MortalPlague!

Congratulations![/sblock]


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## Rune (Jan 9, 2015)

*Round 1, Match 1: Wicht vs. Imhotepthewise*

[MENTION=221]Wicht[/MENTION] and   [MENTION=976]Imhotepthewise[/MENTION], you have *24 hours* to post your entries to this thread.  Please include a list of ingredients at the beginning of the entry and please do not edit your post once it is submitted.  Please refrain from reading your opponent's entry until after you have posted your own.  You are on your honor to do so.

*Your ingredients are:

Dwarven Tragedian

Chicken Dance

Inscrutable Fey

Anarchist's Castle

Devious Machinations

Magic Moth*


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## Wicht (Jan 9, 2015)

*(Iron DM 2015; round 1) The Misadventures of The Blood Soaked Banner*

*The Ingredients*
*Dwarven Tragedian* – Flint Ironedge
*Chicken Dance* – The Dancing Chickens and the key to opening the vault of the mad witch
*Inscrutable Fey* – The mysterious nymph bandit The Red Veil
*Anarchist's Castle* – Home of the mad witch Baba Iszri
*Devious Machinations* – The plans of Baba Iszri, Flint Ironedge and Sadie Silk, all of which are going to crisscross and convolute the evidence of what is going on
*Magic Moth* – Moonshadow: minion of The Red Veil

*The Misadventures of The Blood Soaked Banner: An Adventure in Three Acts*
_A fantasy roleplaying experience, intended to be performed by characters of levels 1-3_

*Introduction:* Over the years, the mad witch of chaos, Baba Iszri, has made a habit of collecting both things and people. She has of late become especially interested in the theater and has hatched an elaborate plan to “collect” the great dwarven actor/playwright Flint Ironedge, a thespian best known for both his emotional death scenes, and his preference for tragedies with high body counts. Meanwhile Ironedge and his business partner, Fiern “Hasty” Thorntongue have concocted a devious plan to drum up publicity for the dwarf's newest play: fake death threats and heightened security. They just need some earnest young sell-swords, or otherwise available adventurers, which to hire for bodyguards. At the same time, Ironedge's girlfriend, Sadie Silk, jealous and rage filled because of an affair Ironedge thinks she doesn't know about, has decided that she is going to murder her man. 

*Adventure Synopsis*
The PCs are hired to protect the famous actor, Flint Ironedge, whose newest play _“The Blood Soaked Banner,”_ is purportedly so controversial that the dwarf has been receiving numerous death-threats. Ironedge travels with a troupe of performers containing actors, magicians, musicians and even a collection of dancing chickens. The performers, known as The Troupe of Traveling Theatrical Delights, travel from village to village, providing a variety of acts and skits, the culmination of which is normally one of Ironedge's plays. The PCs are expected, as bodyguards, to travel with the troupe, either joining the acts, or acting as obvious muscle. 

As the show hits the road, minor accidents soon become major, and it becomes obvious someone does want to kill the Ironedge (much to his puzzled chagrin). Even as the PCs are still trying to piece together the clues as to who is responsible, they must also work to protect the performers from irate customers and unapproving lawmen.

Things go quickly downhill once the troupe begins a trek across the deep woods of Trehor to reach a village in the middle. The witch Baba Iszri, who has been traveling with the troupe disguised as Mama Roseet: Mistress of the Whirling Fowl (ie. the dancing chickens), sets her own plan in motion. The troupe is waylaid by the minions of the Red Veil, a mysterious nymph bandit, who, in the commotion, kidnaps the dwarf through the use of her magical giant-moth, Moonshadow, a unique being capable of inducing sleep, and of diminishing its victims. Moonshadow flies the comatose dwarf to the lair of The Red Veil. The Red Veil subsequently trades Ironedge to Baba Iszri in exchange for seven casks of exotic wines, and the return of one of her paramours, a handsome man kidnapped some years earlier by the witch. The witch hopes by such an arrangement to never be connected personally with the kidnapping.

Following the attack upon the traveling show, the PCs realize that Ironedge has been kidnapped by the nymph and that Mama Roseet is missing. Meanwhile, Sadie Silk, convinced the dwarf has arranged all this so as to spend time with “another strumpet,” becomes more determined than ever to kill him and forces her companionship upon the PCs. The PCs, either through brawn or guile, must infiltrate the lair of the Red Veil and discover the actual whereabouts of the dwarf. This accomplished, they must then head even deeper into the forest and find the strange castle home of Baba Iszri. 

The castle itself is filled  with nonsensical traps, strange rooms, goblin warriors and general chaos. Braving such obstacles, the PCs discover that the dwarf is hidden in a locked vault in the basement dungeon. The key to opening this vault is is to be found in the movements of the strange dance of Mama Roseet's chickens. If the PCs make it this far, the witch strikes up a deal with the PCs that amuses her: if they can open the vault door by correctly performing the dance, she will allow them to take the dwarf away with them. However, if the PCs have not yet deduced that Sadie Silk is the one who has been trying to kill the dwarf, once he is free, she tries again to murder him at the first possible opportunity. 

*Hook*
The PCs can be brought into this adventure in one of two ways. The easiest is for them simply to see the opportunity for work and decide to take it. Otherwise, the PCs can be encouraged to protect the dwarf by one or more of their teachers, patrons or the like (heads of the church, master wizards, swordmasters) who just happen to be huge fans of Ironedge's plays. 

*The Cast of Characters*
*Baba Iszri:* The mad witch of chaos who, when she is not formenting rebellion and troubling the forces of law and order, makes a hobby of collecting interesting things and people
*Flint Ironedge:* The stage name of Kazakor Dakazaakaram, a dwarf actor and playwright who specializes in writing tragic death scenes and then enacting them
*Fiern “Hasty” Thorntongue:* Manager of the Troupe of Traveling Theatrical Delights, and business partner of Flint Ironedge. Fiern is given to wild business schemes, more than half of which seem to inexplicably pay off.
*Sadie Silk:* Flint's insanely jealous half-elf girlfriend, who hides murderous intent behind a fixed smile. Also an actress and expert knife thrower.
*Mama Roseet:* An eccentric, grandmotherly druid with a magical tiara which allows her to make chickens dance. Actually Baba Iszri in disguise.
*The Red Veil:* A Nymph Bandit who wears a red veil at all times to hide her face. Baba Iszri has one of her favorite men and she's willing to make a trade.
*Moonshadow:* A giant moth able to put its victims to sleep and shrink them down to size. A pet of the Red Veil.
*Plus* an assortment of actors, singers, musicians, sword swallowers, jugglers, acrobats, dancing chickens, rowdy theater goers, town constables, bandits and goblin henchmen... 

*The Adventure In Three Acts...*
*Act 1: The Play's the Thing*  In which the PCs, after being shown fierce and threatening missives promising harm upon the renown Flint Ironedge, are hired to protect the same. They must join the  Troupe of Traveling Theatrical Delights, either as performers, or as obvious muscle. It is at this time they come to know their fellow actors and discover that someone does seem to actually be trying to kill Flint. Poisoned fruits, falling sandbags, and the like plague the company as they travel from town to town. 

*Act II: Into the Woods* In which the Troupe of Traveling Theatrical Delights traverses half the length of the Trehor woods before being attacked by minions of the mysterious Red Veil. In the ensuing fracas, the moth Moonshadow kidnaps Flint Ironedge, flying him to the tree-fort of the scarlet clad nymph. The Adventures, pursuing, must enter the fort and find a way to persuade the Red Veil to tell them where their client is.

*Acts III: In the Vaults of the Mad Witch * In which the PCs, accompanied by murder-minded Sadie Silk, enter into the crazed castle of Baba Iszri. To free the dwarf they must conquer the trap laden, goblin invested, mind warping halls of the witch and, at the end, do a chicken dance. Once freed from the witch, Ironedge must still be saved from the wrath of his scorned lover. Will love win the day, or will it all end in bloody death?


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## Imhotepthewise (Jan 10, 2015)

Iron_DM_2104_First_Round

Imhotepthewise

Ingredients:

Dwarven Tragedian

Chicken Dance

Inscrutable Fey

Anarchist's Castle 

Devious Machinations

Magic Moth

Title: Get Out Of Here And Take Your Village With You.

This is not your Momma’s sword swinging adventure.

This is a medium level adventure, best played with an adventuring group that has more skill characters than combat characters.

The adventure begins in a human/humanoid town near the smaller village of Marois. They are between adventures. They meet another adventuring group who relate their tale of woe, where they failed to enter and loot the Redoubt of Red Rangel near the village of Marois. The defeated party is disheveled and nursing wounds, but surprisingly not big ones.  They seem to be under weaponed for an experienced adventuring group. They claim to have seen the redoubt, but were prevented from entering it by swift attacks by unseen foes in the forest.  They suggest the PC’s party meet them in Marois where they can join together in an assault on the redoubt.  When questioned about the redoubt, these are the pat answers. They learned of the redoubt from an old man from another town down river. The old man said it was abandoned and contained many treasures hidden by him and his fellow adventurers. The old man was dying and unable to go get the treasure. The redoubt is a low structure with an attached tower decorated with gold and silver and gemstones, but that is the least of the treasures, more than that awaits within. The attacks were small projectiles and unseen small stabs and blunt strikes. They initially retreated to the small village of Marois, but found no help there. Hence, they’ve fallen back to here where they’ve been healing up.

It is false they learned of the redoubt from an old man. They were led there by Heglat and his nephew. 

It is true they saw the redoubt, decorated as they described.

It is true they were attacked.

It is false they retreated to Marois; they have actually never been there.

Background On Marois:

Just a few years ago, the forest was relatively free of humans and humanoids. The fey and animals lived fairly unmolested around a peaceful hidden hollow with a beautiful spring fed pond, providing a source for a stream that led down to the main river where human and humanoid communities lived.

Human and humanoid travelers through the forest learned of the pond by paddling small boats up the stream to it and used the available water supply to support themselves as they hunted, trapped, and fished in the area.  Their camps were temporary, so the fey took little notice of them unless they felt the transients passed too near their homes.  The transients were pretty much ignorant of the fey except for some unexplained belongings that were found missing or subjected to minor vandalism.

Then came Dunstan the dwarf. He was a hapless fellow who was not looked onto kindly by his kind for his ineptness and lack of talent. He had a long history of failure as a miner, weaponsmith, gemcutter, and soldier. He couldn’t find a dwarven craft or skill he was proficient in. His impatience and predilection for snap decisions usually made him the author of his own failures. He had a long list of mishaps, such as being trapped in a collapsed mineshaft that wasn’t adequately shored up, burns from improperly use of the forge, a missing finger from a gem cutting accident, and so on.

Dunstan had followed the stream to its source with belongings and supplies for a long term stay and a nice shiny wood axe in hand with the intent of trying to become rich logging the beautiful trees that surrounded the pond. Unfortunately for him, one of the first trees he felled fell on a lair of a family of pixies, killing all but two of them. One younger pixie suffered a grievous head wound, and the other older pixie suffered a severe broken heart. 

The older pixie had to go find someone to heal his young nephew, so he had to leave the area and Dunstan remained ignorantly unpunished.  In the ruins of the pixies’ lair, Dunstan found the pixies’ treasure. He did not realize the crushed lair was a recently occupied home, as the bodies were gone and the older pixie was unable to take the bulk of the treasure with him to succor his nephew.

Dunstan went to a nearby town to contract someone to come get his wood. The small fortune he flashed around attracted interest. He did not find anyone to haul his wood back, but he returned to the pond area with a whole bunch of new company who encamped around him and began scouring the area around the pond for more treasure. After a few weeks of coming up with nothing, most returned to town. One family, the Marois, decided to stay and make a permanent home on the edge of the pond with Dunstan as their neighbor.

Marois, named for the first family, grew into a small trading post, supplying hunters and trappers and passing adventurers. Real buildings were built, streets cleared, and trade thrived. They never found the need to build a palisade for defense.

By the time the pixies returned, a small village occupied their corner of the forest.  This angered the older pixie to the point of rage. He vowed revenge on Dunstan and promised to drive the squatters from his forest. His name is Heglat.

His young nephew Hogmin is not stable. His brain is not right after being injured when Dunstan’s tree fell on his lair.  He does not always act as Heglat would want him to.

Dunstan has given up the dream of getting rich on cut wood and bought some chickens, intending to sell the eggs they laid. He has a small house with an attached henhouse.

The pixies have used their powers to convince Dunstan the dwarf that his chickens can speak. The “chickens” ask for random silly things, promising, if fulfilled, they will lay more eggs.

The “chickens” have convinced the dwarf to leave their lost feathers as a carpet covering the floor of the henhouse.

The “chickens” have convinced the dwarf to place a large pot of honey in the henhouse over a small brazier to create a pleasant scent within.

The “chickens” have convinced the dwarf that he must enter the henhouse only in his underdrawers.

What The Villagers Of Marois Don’t Know:

The villagers have no idea Heglat or his nephew are lurking around.

The villagers have no knowledge of the redoubt or Red Rangel.

About The Redoubt Of Red Rangel:

The Redoubt of Red Rangel is an impressive structure. In the effort to be left alone, Red has labored many years to build a walled enclosure of woven plants and branches packed with mud and rock to keep all but the smaller flying and climbing creatures out. Sharpened sticks line the tops of the walls and poke out from the exterior. In one corner of the wall, the plants and branches have been woven into a tall tower where Red can overlook the area for trespassers. Red is a grizzled redcap, complete with the iron shoes and a tunic that has “question authority” embroidered in sylvan on it.

About Hogmin:

Hogmin is a pixie who acts randomly and seemingly recklessly to the point of self-endangerment. He is not stable, and is prone to do unusual things to entertain himself on a whim. He is Heglat’s nephew, and doesn’t always act as Heglat would want him to. He rarely speaks as himself, but is fond of mimicking others’ voices, using animal sounds, and has a talent with ventriloquism. His head is oddly shaped from the wounds he received from the crushed lair. His eyes are not set evenly, anymore.

About The Plan Of Heglat:

Heglat is an older pixie whose quest for revenge has turned him evil. He has the ability to create multiple illusions on top of normal pixie powers.

Heglat knows that if the village is to be abandoned permanently, it must be something more threatening than a pair of pixies and a crazed redcap. He wants to ensure that no one comes back ever. 

Heglat wants personal revenge on the hapless Dunstan for the loss of his family and the damage done to Hogmin.

Heglat has taken great pains to cover his return to the area, and to not appear as his natural pixie self to the squatters and their clientele. He and Hogmin use their invisiblity and polymorph abilities to get around unnoticed.

Heglat and Hogmin used the shape of unusual moths to lead the blackmailed party off the main trail to the vicinity of the redoubt.

Heglat is blackmailing the first adventuring group to recruit more humans/humanoids to come and aid in the abandonment of Marois. He needs a lot of them to ensure as many fights go on and involve the villagers, and to cover any mischief he causes around that fight.

Heglat has “befriended” Red Rangel, the redcap, to aid him. He feeds Red’s paranoia, xenophobia, and distaste of authority to his own benefit.  Heglat’s most inflammatory statement is that the Marois family has “brought law and order” to the forest. Red is so defiant and disregarding of authority, his folk drove him out after he quarreled with the redcap tribe elders. “No one tells ME what to do!”. The last straw was when Red set fire to the elders’ lodge.

Heglat and Red allowed the blackmailed party to see the exterior of the redoubt, but enhanced it with illusion to make it appear decorated with gold and silver wire and twinkling gemstones.

Heglat has imprisoned one of the blackmailed party in the redoubt in a wicker cage and has most their magic items held there as ransom as well. The prisoner is treated with pixie sleeping poison and will be of no help until she is freed and the poison wears off or is neutralized.

Heglat and Hogmin continue to polymorph into moths as they need to so they can infiltrate the village of Marois and spy on others.  They choose commonly encountered moths for their area, to blend into the existing population.

About The Plan Of Hogmin:

Hogmin is building a trap for Dunstan. Heglat has not yet put the pieces together, so he is unaware what can happen. Heglat only wants Hogmin to annoy and distract Dunstan. Hogmin intends to cover Dunstan with hot honey and chicken feathers. His plan has taken several visits to bring to possible fruition.

How the Adventure Will Go Forward, Based On The PC’s Choices:

The PC’s party has a number of directions to go here. They can simply go to Marois ahead of the blackmailed party and wait for them quietly. The village is used to transients, so they will raise little notice.  They can wait out in the forest for the blackmailed party to pass by and follow them to Marois.  The blackmailed party will make their way to Marois, but will seem uncertain about the path to get there. There will be several stops for looking around and discussing the trip. Occasionally, forest creatures will be seen from the trail, such as squirrels, clouds of moths, an occasional bee, and small birds. Heglat and Hogmin will be trailing them as moths. If the blackmailed group appears lost, the moths will fly down the center of the path to point the way.

Heglat intends to use the presence of the combined party in the village to cause unrest that culminates in a big fight that he hopes will kill most of the squatters.  He will cause unrest between everyone using Red and Hogmin.

With both parties in the village, and no one else the wiser, the parties will agree to meet at dawn to head towards the redoubt. The night before, Heglat, Hogmin, and Red will cause mayhem in the village painting comments uncomplimentary to the neighbors on the buildings, releasing horses from their hobbles, livestock from their pens, imitating crying babies and barking dogs (along with this happening naturally, anyway). The idea is to make everyone tired and crabby and irritable to one another.

In the morning, Hogmin will be hidden invisibly on the blackmailed party’s leader’s back as the two parties meet. Using ventriloquism, he will say something like, ‘now we have you where we want you, prepared to die!’, which the leader partially expects, anyway. The blackmailed party knows they are screwed anyway, and will defend themselves as best they can. Red will move around the village lighting fires and rereleasing stock to gum up the fighting areas. Heglat will use illusions to best effect to cause general mayhem. Invisible, Heglat will also call out, drawing attention to the graffiti and inciting others to fight.  “The newcomers are burning the village!” “kill them all!”. 

Hogmin will use this opportunity to touch off his plan for Dunstan, zipping off invisibly to raise hell in the henhouse, which will cause Dunstan to run in and trip Hogmin’s trapped honey pot, covering him with hot honey, rolling on the feather covered floor. The pain should cause Dunstan to run out of the henhouse and jump and dance about, unrecognizable to anyone under the feathers. Hogmin with shout, “don’t be fooled by the disguise!”. Hogmin will then shadow fights, calling out uncomplimentary statements to spur the fights on.

The whirling and rolling figure of Dunstan will cause another moving obstacle on the battlefield, He runs the risk of running into someone’s weapon strike, accidently or on purpose. Heglat will not do anything to him until the battle is over, hoping someone else takes him out.

If the PC party gets wind of the plot, convices the blackmailed party to tell all, or figures it out any other way, they can either go home, set up an ambush for Heglat, or assault the redoubt with the blackmailed party and any of the villagers they can convince to come along.

If they approach the redoubt, it will be much plainer than the blackmailed party saw it last. There will be no gold, silver, and gemstones. There will be a spar on the top of the tower with an occupied wicker cage hanging from it.

Heglat will call out and say that the prisoner will die unless the mob returns to the village, destroy the buildings, and leave with every living soul, man and beast.

Heglat will whip up Red by shouting “Here comes law and order to your doorstep!” “You’ll have to start bending your knee to these folks, Red!”

If the players attack anyway, they will have a bonny fight on their hands with two pixies and an enraged redcap.  The fey will be on their home ground, with magical powers to be used at best effect. They may be able to call up some additional allies from the forest. If faced with death, the fey will escape or surrender, for now.

The redoubt will have the magical items of the blackmailed group, the prisoner, and Red Rangel’s personal treasure. The redoubt is well made and reasonably clean. There is protection from the weather within and it would be fairly easy to modify it for larger creatures to occupy.

If you’re truly a RBDM, you could also make the prisoner in the cage a permanent image. The real prisoner could be stashed somewhere else for the escaping pixies and redcap to use as a bargaining chip.

Thus Endeth The Adventure.

Ingredients Used:

Dwarven Tragedian – Dunstan, the dwarven chicken farmer of Marois, who has a long list of bad decisions that has lead him to his current state of unhappiness.

Chicken Dance – The dwarven chicken farmer is covered in chicken feathers and hot honey by the pixie Hogmin. This causes him to jump around and shake as he tries to get the hot honey off of himself. 

Inscrutable Fey – Hogmin, a pixie who acts randomly and seemingly recklessly to the point of self-endangerment.

Anarchist's Castle – Red Rangel’s compound in the forest. Heglat’s illusion powers made it appear grand and treasure filled from the outside. 

Devious Machinations – Major, the plan of Heglat to cause the abandonment of Marois. Minor, the plan of Hogmin to “tar” and feather Dunstan.

Magic Moth – Heglat and Hogmin – The pixies polymorph into moths so they can infiltrate the village of Marois and spy on others.  

The End.


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## Rune (Jan 10, 2015)

*Round 1, Match 2 Judgement: Wicht vs. Imhotepthewise*

Okay. Let's start the tournament off with a couple of tough ingredients and see what happens. 

One of these entries was a whole lot more polished than the other, but was it a better adventure? And which made better use of those aforementioned ingredients?

We'll start there. First, the *Dwarven Tragedian*. Wicht's character in _The Misadventures of the Blood Soaked Banner_ is certainly interesting, a foolish actor of tragedies setting himself up to play one out in real life. The premise this presents is central to the adventure and quite intriguing. We will revisit it later. 

Imhotepthewise stretches the definition a little further in _Get Out Of Here And Take Your Village With You_. Therein, the dwarf, Dunstan, is someone who continually plays out his own tragic outcomes, again, because of foolishness. This is not a bad interpretation. What is bad is that most of that stuff happens within a wall of backstory. The one that matters, though, really matters; it creates the movement of the adventure _and_ the antagonists that move it. It's just too bad that there isn't really any way for the players to find that out (short of Heglat monologuing). 

How about the *Chicken Dance*? _Get Out_ stretches the ingredient a little thin, but the role it plays in the adventure is both entertaining and potentially pivotal--a wild card in an already chaotic situation. Not only that, it represents an interesting decision-point for the players. Just how are they going to react to this new development? How will they even interpret it?

_Misadventures_ went for the _Baba Yaga_ connection, going all out to let the allusion fill in details of his witch for us, even going so far as to name her Baba Iszri. This is cleverly efficient. The actual chicken dance fits the character, fits the ingredient, and is quite flavorful. It's use in the adventure has some problems, however. It is presented as the sole means of moving the adventure to its final conflict. But what group of players is going to think to memorize the moves of some dancing chickens? And if they don't, does it get resolved with a die roll? If so, what's the point of including it?

Since one of the definitions of "fey" is "fated to die," I was somewhat surprised not to see that tied in with the strong themes of tragedy in either entry. Oh well. 

Instead, _Misadventures_' use of *Inscrutable Fey* is inscrutable to me. The nymph has a motive and it isn't hard to figure out what it is. Clearly, Baba Iszri understands it, since she uses it to make a deal. Now, if Baba had been presented as a hag, she actually _would_ fit pretty well. Opportunity missed. 

_Get Out_ presents a character that manages to have pathos, while completely neglecting to explore his motivations. And, somehow, that works. 

Neither entry used the *Anarchist's Castle* particularly well. In _Get Out_, it fits in well enough, but Red really didn't need to be an anarchist for the adventure to play out exactly the same way. He could have had any number of other motivations and still acted the same way. 

In _Misadventures_, the castle seemed like it could have been interesting, but there wasn't anything _close_ to enough information to run it! Add to that the problem that Baba may as well not been an anarchist for all it mattered to the adventure (and, indeed, could have better served as the inscrutable fey, if only she wasn't). 

But, *Magic Moth* was also used poorly in both entries. Both entries make me wonder, "Why moths?" The only answer I can come up with is, "Why not?" Ugh. 

And then there were *Devious Machinations*. I'm discussing this ingredient last because of how central it is for each entry. First, though, I want to define "devious." It has come to have connotations of wickedness and, perhaps, devilry. What it actually means, however, is a circuitous or indirect course (of, for example, actions). 

_Get Out_ presents a supremely convoluted scheme from the primary antagonist, Heglat, which is further complicated by Hogmin's also fairly devious scheme. These lead to the village conflict, a scenario that just looks like it would be an insanely chaotic and incredibly fun mess to play. 

_Misadventures_ runs on the only slightly less devious machinations of Baba Iszri. Further, I can't help but but see some devious machinations in the overall design of the adventure; it _seems_ fairly linear, but there are _so many_ moving parts (the dwarf, the partner, the girlfriend, the witch) that it's really hard to see it all playing out the same way every time. 

So, we're pretty close on ingredients.  Now, let's get to the adventures, themselves. One huge problem with _Get Out_ was the vast amount of background information, very little of it information that the PCs will find out. This is, frankly (and, perhaps, appropriately), tragic, because there's a pretty good adventure (and a great scenario) buried in there. Added to that is the looseness of the rules (whichever rules they may be). Normally this wouldn't be too much of an issue, but one is left wondering just how to play these creatures with unspecified extra abilities, especially in the final expected encounter, as the PCs assault the redoubt. 

I'm also a little disappointed that the piece goes to great lengths to set up a truly tragic situation, only to lead to a situation that probably seems not at all tragic to the PCs, _because they probably won't find out what makes it so_! That, to me, is a tragedy. 

[sblock]In contrast, _Misadventures_ does a far better job of incorporating the PCs into the tragedy as it unfolds and even presents a reasonable chance for it to all end in tears. And, while that's thematically satisfying, it also represents the starkest difference between the two entries: Wicht's incorporates the PCs right from the start, while Imhotepthewise presents an adventure that is half over before the PCs get involved. 

Imhotep, you've got good ideas and a clear vision of story. But "Show, don't tell" applies just as much to adventure-writing as it does to other mediums. If you don't front-load the story, you can give the PCs a chance to discover it on their own. Even better, you give them the opportunity to write their own story around it. 

I expect to see you compete again, and do well. You're just too creative to do poorly, once you've honed your style. Until then, though...

*Wicht* advances to Round 2. [/sblock]


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## Rune (Jan 10, 2015)

So, [MENTION=221]Wicht[/MENTION] and [MENTION=976]Imhotepthewise[/MENTION], it would be enlightening to know how you both developed your entries out of a fairly quirky set of ingredients. Care to elaborate?


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## Wicht (Jan 10, 2015)

Reading through the ingredients, it was Chicken Dance which first jumped out at me I think. It obviously implied a more light-hearted sort of adventure. So I asked myself, what would Willie Walsh do... Dwarven Tragedian was the next ingredient my brain latched onto... Shakespeare came to mind, as well as Pratchet's Weird Sisters, with its fantasy take on a Shakespeare play... Perhaps a troupe of performers doing plays and vaudeville acts. Maybe one of the acts should be a group of dancing chickens. Perhaps controlled by magical headgear.  

Sleeping on it, my mind wrapped itself around the idea of a Dwarf actor who needed protection from fake death threats. Of course, for it to be an adventure, the Dwarf would have to actually be in some sort of trouble. Devious Machinations implied a convoluted series of events which hid the actual danger. A kidnapping, maybe some sort of person in the troupe who wants the dwarf dead and sees the fake death threats as a way to hide their own plan.

When I sat down to write it, I started with characters and shaped the events around the characters.  Reading the rules I opted to not flesh it out as much as I might have (the rules do say that brief is better than long), so I did not detail every actual murder attempt nor the actual contents of the room.  I knew from the outset that Anarchist was going to be the weak link because I did not create the character from there, but instead worked it in. 

The Inscrutable Fey could have been more stressed by stressing that she never, ever shows her face, but always, always wears the veil in every situation, thus making her face literally inscrutable. The Magic Moth suggested to me the moths of Desna in Golarion, but I did not do as much with it as I might have. I thought having a moth that shrunk people and put them to sleep might be funny though (for the DM).  

The whole adventure is meant to be slightly lighthearted, with comedy coming from the situations and the characters but with very real consequences possible. 

The Chicken Dance and the vault came from the Vin Diesel "The Pacifier" movie, where the secret vault needed a kids dance to understand how to bypass the traps. If I was going to actually write up the adventure, I would make the moves of the chickens one of those things that gets stressed in repeated but simple song at each performance. Also maybe get events to talk one of the characters into performing with the chickens. 

When I was done with the simple writeup, I thought I had the makings of an actual fun sort of adventure with lots of possibilities for further development and much actual roleplaying. The mystery in Act 1 would get written up in a lot more details, with various events and mishaps. I had this image of one scene where poisoned fruits left for the dwarf got eaten... by one of the chickens a'la Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark's "bad dates" scene with the monkey.


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## Rune (Jan 10, 2015)

Wicht said:


> When I sat down to write it, I started with characters and shaped the events around the characters.  Reading the rules I opted to not flesh it out as much as I might have (the rules do say that brief is better than long), so I did not detail every actual murder attempt nor the actual contents of the room.




Of course, there is a difference between glossing over the details of minor events during the build-up of an adventure and saying "make sure to put some mind-bending encounters in that otherwise empty dungeon the characters will definitely go into." The latter is simply not that helpful if you actually intend for someone to run it. As for brevity, you included a synopsis and then, essentially, repeated it at the end. Granted, it read well, but if space was a concern, that strikes me as an odd decision. 



> The whole adventure is meant to be slightly lighthearted, with comedy coming from the situations and the characters but with very real consequences possible.




I think that came through pretty well.


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## Wicht (Jan 10, 2015)

Rune said:


> Of course, there is a difference between glossing over the details of minor events during the build-up of an adventure and saying "make sure to put some mind-bending encounters in that otherwise empty dungeon the characters will definitely go into." The latter is simply not that helpful if you actually intend for someone to run it. As for brevity, you included a synopsis and then, essentially, repeated it at the end. Granted, it read well, but if space was a concern, that strikes me as an odd decision.




Yeah, I'm not quibbling with the assessment. I was just trying to showcase the thinking that kept me from fleshing out more. To be honest, because of my tendency to write things as I intend to have them finished, I wasn't quite sure how to summarize potential events without producing a fully fledged 15k module. I think, after 24 hours or so of more thought, that I could have probably bulleted individual events in the second half of the manuscript with just enough detail to give a flow of ideas. 

So that Act 1 would read something like

*Act 1: The Play's the Thing* _ In which the PCs, after being shown fierce and threatening missives promising harm upon the renown Flint Ironedge, are hired to protect the same. _

The PCs join the Troupe of Traveling Theatrical Delights, either as performers, or as obvious muscle.
Introductions are made all around and PCs are given many invites to join particular acts.
At the first performance, a falling sandbag narrowly misses Ironedge as he performs a death scene. The pathos is ruined. The rope appears to have been cut by a sharp blade.
A wagon wheel comes off of Flint's private wagon. Sadie Silk was, thankfully, travelling in a different wagon at the time. The dwarf is banged up. There are signs of sabotage
Poisoned fruits left for Ironedge results in a dead chicken. Madam insists that one of the PCs fill in for her missing star until a replacement is purchased.
etc.

Also, right after posting, it struck me that it should have been the Troupe of a Thousand Traveling Theatrical Delights.


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## Wicht (Jan 10, 2015)

Rune said:


> One of these entries was a whole lot more polished than the other




I thought I might also add a word or two about polishing, or the appearance thereof... (take it for what it is worth oh fellow contestants...) 

I mentioned already that I tend to write things as I intend to have them finished and part of this is paying attention to formatting. Whether I am writing for my own pleasure*, for publication, or for a competition like this, I always format as professionally as I can as I go along, bolding, italicizing, making sure to break up paragraphs. And when I edit, one of the things I mainly look for, besides obvious grammar mistakes and how well does it read, is whether or not the format is pleasing to the eye...

I suspect that as far as time spent polishing, Imhotepthewise may have spent more time than I did. Though I brainstormed throughout a night and half a day, when I actually started typing it was 4 pm EST, and I sent it in a little less than two hours later. My actual time spent polishing was about 20 minutes in length, but easily half of that was going through and making sure to double check presentation and appearance. I don't know how others judge manuscripts or entries, but I know that for myself, a manuscript formatted out neatly so that it is easy to read makes a much better favorable first impression. This is not to downplay the importance of content, but in a tight decision, that little extra bit of good will might tip the scales, you never know...

*Even when running my own stuff, I like to have it laid out as neatly as possible for ease of use and maybe because I'm just a little bit obsessively compulsed that way, though I wouldn't term it a disorder.


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## Rune (Jan 11, 2015)

I picked up the same habit in college, when I never wrote a second draft of any paper.


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## Deuce Traveler (Jan 11, 2015)

[MENTION=976]Imhotepthewise[/MENTION] said in the scheduling thread:



> Quote:
> So, @Wicht and [MENTION=976]Imhotepthewise[/MENTION], it would be enlightening to know how you both developed your entries out of a fairly quirky set of ingredients. Care to elaborate?
> 
> From Imhotepthewise:
> ...




I just wanted to say that I thought Wicht's story was better written and seemed a bit tighter than [MENTION=976]Imhotepthewise[/MENTION] 's story.  Hotep will do much better next time if he tries to tighten up some of the quest plot threads.  Wicht also had some elements that seemed shoehorned in, but I really like his use of Devious Machinations when it comes to the fake death threats giving way to serious death threats and the confusion the parallel plot lines brought.  Also his use of Dwarven Tragedian was entertaining and better implemented.  Hotep did use the Chicken Dance better than Wicht, but for both that ingredient seemed tossed in for flavor and not integral.  Inscrutable Fey was a tie for me.  The Anarchist's Castle leans more toward hotep, though that also seemed shoehorned.  Magic moth was also a tie, but not in a good way, as both seemed not to use the ingredient in a way that was integral.  So all in all, I agree with Wicht taking this due to his two winning ingredients being so well used and the tighter way he had written his adventure.  But Hotep could have one by just improving on one of those ingredients he had tied Wicht on, or by tightening up the writing a bit.


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## Radiating Gnome (Jan 11, 2015)

*Round 1 Match 2: Deuce Traveler vs. Waylander the Slayer*

[MENTION=34958]Deuce Traveler[/MENTION] and  [MENTION=1830]Waylander the Slayer[/MENTION], you have you have *24 hours** to post your entries to this thread. Please include a list of ingredients at the beginning of the entry and please do not edit your post once it is submitted. Please refrain from reading your opponent's entry until after you have posted your own. You are on your honor to do so.

_
Your ingredients are:_
*
Endless Quest
Dicey Situation
Obsessive-compulsive Otyugh
Void
Suspiciously Nice Village
Wolf in sheep's clothing
*

_*I'm posting this a bit early because RL will have me away from my computer at 6 EST when this should start.  You will have until 6 EST tomorrow to complete this round. _


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## Deuce Traveler (Jan 11, 2015)

Oooh... I really like these.


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## Wicht (Jan 12, 2015)

Imhotepthewise said:


> I suspect Wicht and others have a couple of templates handy to paste into to make their entries pop.




You would in this case be mostly wrong...

While I do have some templates for creatures and magic items and such and they are very helpful, for adventures themselves, there is no pre-saved plug and play template I use. What I do, however is arrange my writing in the format used by Paizo and others with an introduction, adventure summary, hook, etc.  The introduction is used for background. The adventure summary provides a rough outline of the expected chain of events in the adventure.  The hook, of course, is to detail why the PCs should be involved. While alterations to the presentation can be made, these three parts should be more or less standard. Remembering to break it up this way also provides a visual reminder of just how much back-story to adventure you actually are providing in your entry. 



> It turned out to an adventure I’d really like to run.



  In the end, I think that is a good thing to have done with any entry.


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## Imhotepthewise (Jan 12, 2015)

Hopefully, this is in a better spot. I will delete it from the scheduling thread.

Quote:
 So, [MENTION=221]Wicht[/MENTION] and [MENTION=976]Imhotepthewise[/MENTION], it would be enlightening to know how you both developed your entries out of a fairly quirky set of ingredients. Care to elaborate? 

 From Imhotepthewise:

 Sorry it’s taken me some time to respond. I went with my son to see The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies and then home to watch the nailbiter between the Ravens and the Patriots.

 Last time I entered, I started with an adventure in mind based on one of the ingredients and then muscled in the rest of them as best as they would fit. Needless to say, I did not win.

 This time, I wrote each ingredient on an index card, put its Merriam Webster definition on it, and then cogitated on them.

 Dwarven Tragedian. Since I consciously shied away from any theatrical tack, I developed the woeful path of Dunstan. He would have been a greater part of the scheme if I could have made him so, but it just didn’t come to me. He gave me a great vehicle to show Hogmin’s erratic nature, and to resolve the use of Chicken Dance without plugging in “Dancing Chickens”, which I mistakenly thought would tank me as too obvious. It also made someone the point of blame for Heglat’s wrath.

 Chicken Dance. As I said, I thought it was Kryptonite to use the literal dancing chickens. And I couldn’t make a humaniod imitation of that work. It fell together to make Dunstan’s sorry life even more sorry by being Hogmin’s victim and a potential hazard on the battlefield. 

 Inscrutable Fey. I almost bit on the Fated to Die definition, but just couldn’t work it to my satisfaction. 

 Anarchist’s Castle. I wanted to have something other than a stone castle, and that drove me to look through the list of Fey to find one disagreable enough to make an anarchist of. The redcap is one I have never used in a game, but have wanted to for some time. 

 Devious Machinations. Not so much as what, but how. I needed to put enough manipulations of the unwilling and the unknowing to make it convincing as devious mechinations would have to be to be convincing.

 Magic Moth. Kind of fell apart when I was reminded that pixies have improved invisibility, however, part of Heglat’s plans depended on being seen but being seen as something other than a pixie. It did not come off as strong as I would have liked.

 Polishing. It was difficult to make it real purty in 24 hours minus so many hours of Real Lifetm in there. I suspect Wicht and others have a couple of templates handy to paste into to make their entries pop. I will have to review his and others entries to get a better handle on this. I also have to get better at posting to the forum, format wise.

 So, the adventure kind of formed around the ingredients and the NPCs that evolved from them. It turned out to an adventure I’d really like to run. I love battles with plenty of chaos and unwilling participants.

 See you all next time.


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## Wicht (Jan 12, 2015)

I now appear prophetic, quoting a post which follows the post in which I am quoting.


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## Rune (Jan 12, 2015)

From the scheduling thread:


Imhotepthewise said:


> Sorry it’s taken me some time to respond. I went with my son to see The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies and then home to watch the nailbiter between the Ravens and the Patriots.




Go Pats!



> Dwarven Tragedian. Since I consciously shied away from any theatrical tack, I developed the woeful path of Dunstan. He would have been a greater part of the scheme if I could have made him so, but it just didn’t come to me.




The tragedy you built around him was superb and had the potential to carry the the whole adventure, if only you had followed through with making the character central. And if you hadn't had so much of the action occur before the adventure started. 



> He gave me a great vehicle to show Hogmin’s erratic nature, and to resolve the use of Chicken Dance without plugging in “Dancing Chickens”, which I mistakenly thought would tank me as too obvious. It also made someone the point of blame for Heglat’s wrath.
> Chicken Dance. As I said, I thought it was Kryptonite to use the literal dancing chickens. And I couldn’t make a humaniod imitation of that work. It fell together to make Dunstan’s sorry life even more sorry by being Hogmin’s victim and a potential hazard on the battlefield.




Your usage of the *Chicken Dance* ingredient was far superior to Wicht's, but not because he took a more literal definition. His _interpretation_ was really good--flavorful and evocative. 

Your actual _implementation_ of it beat the pants off of his, however. You made it a game-changer and something the PCs would have to both deal with and first figure out how. In contrast, Wicht's was either a roadblock standing in the way of the adventure, or meant to be glossed over with a die roll or handwaved away. Which, of course, means the _best_ purpose it could serve would be not bringing the adventure to a dead stop. 



> Inscrutable Fey. I almost bit on the Fated to Die definition, but just couldn’t work it to my satisfaction.




Too bad (as it could have strengthened your theme). Still, your version of the ingredient _was_ better than Wicht's, anyway. 



> Polishing. It was difficult to make it real purty in 24 hours minus so many hours of Real Lifetm in there. I suspect Wicht and others have a couple of templates handy to paste into to make their entries pop. I will have to review his and others entries to get a better handle on this. I also have to get better at posting to the forum, format wise.




While I can't speak for Wicht, I can say that I also always edited as I wrote (and still do), but I don't think having a set template would have been very helpful. Keeping things well-organized and well-formatted is crucial for clarity and brevity, but it really is as simple as reading it to yourself to make sure it flows and no important information is lost. 

But that's me. I'm what (if memory serves) Kurt Vonnegut called a "plodder." If you are a "swooper," I imagine you should probably alot a specific amount of time for revision at the outset. 



> So, the adventure kind of formed around the ingredients and the NPCs that evolved from them. It turned out to an adventure I’d really like to run. I love battles with plenty of chaos and unwilling participants.




That's a great place to start! If you tighten up your premise a little more and move more of the action from the background into the adventure, you'll make a formidable opponent in future tournaments. 



> See you all next time.




Hope so!


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## phoamslinger (Jan 12, 2015)

greetings DMs.  I've posted in several tourneys, what MY judging criteria are, but they mostly come down to three things.

1 if an ingredient is an ignorant ogre, and I could swap out a ignorant lizardman or a scholarly ogre, and have no change to your story, that's not a good thing.  if the ingredient is ignorant ogre, it HAS TO BE an ogre, and he HAS TO BE ignorant.  I'll be looking for that on all six ingredients.

2 each ingredient needs to tie in to the other 5.  without linking them together, they are not a good thing.

3. tell me a good story.  formatting is always nice, but a good story goes a long way.


btw, ingredients for round 1, match 3 are waiting in the wings to delight and amaze you (or is that dismay and confound?  so confusing sometimes...)


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## Rune (Jan 12, 2015)

phoamslinger said:


> btw, ingredients for round 1, match 3 are waiting in the wings to delight and amaze you (or is that dismay and confound?  so confusing sometimes...)




For what it's worth, _I_ will be delighted and amazed when you dismay and confound your victims with them. 

_Oh, what could they be? What could they be?_


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## Waylander the Slayer (Jan 12, 2015)

*Iron DM Round 1, Match 2- Waylander vs Deuce*

*The Ingredients *
*Endless Quest *- The Otyugh Murthag’s Journey. The PC’s quest for the cure.
*Dicey Situation *- What to do with Alloric/Friends/ those infested. What to do with PCs infested
*Obsessive-compulsive Otyugh* Murtag, who continues his sojourn through the warrens infecting people
*Void* Adventure location; both within and without
*Suspiciously Nice Village* Those Villages cured of the Void Plague
*Wolf in sheep's clothing* Alloric; a sweet six year old

*The Void Plague *
_ A mid to high level fantasy adventure _


_ Not by my own will but the shepherd's folly.
The beast reared by me will make me his prey,
For gratitude cannot change nature. _

Father Phineas, Priest of St. Cuthbert, was appalled at what he was witnessing- So called adventurers about to slaughter a small babe- ravening about prophecy and the child being touched by the Old Ones themselves. *“Stop,”* he commanded, his cudgel stopping the descending blade. *”No one will harm the babe. I will raise him myself to be a good man, prophecy or no.”*

*Introduction*
The void plague ravages village after village on the Old Coast; the onset of the disease identifiable by nausea, diarrhea and high fevers. Thankfully, a savior has been found; a young child of six, Alloric, who appears to be able to cure the disease but with a touch. Those healed also seem to go through a wondrous transformation where they are peaceful, calm and positively nice at all times! What could be wrong? 

*Adventure Background*
Six years ago Alloric , as he was subsequently named, was saved from being killed by Father Phineas.  The boy’s now dead parents were cultists to Tharizdun, and had already completed the ritual through an artificial known as the Void Stone dedicating the child, as prophesied as the avatar of the Old One himself, to the Father of Elder Evils, the Author of Wickedness, the Eater of Worlds, the Despised. 

The boy is an exemplar of goodness to all outward appearances, and with great magical powers manifesting quickly. But unbeknownst to all; great evil blossoms in his heart, along with a devious plan to subjugate all that is being put into motion.

Vast swaths of the Old Coast sits on the remnants of the wicked city of Phadera; destroyed long ago in a cataclysm. Now, the ruins create a warren of catacombs and passages that interconnect the entire area, though few if any are brave to venture into this maze, including underneath the church of St. Cuthbert. Alloric met his first servant, perhaps sent to him by the Despised himself here; the revered Otyugh Murthag the Plaguebearer. A touch from the blessed child manifested the Void Plague in Murthag- an infestation of undetectable void worm eggs.  The beast’s nature was the perfect incubator and carrier- now compelled to travel through the warrens, infesting village after village.

The plague spread from village to village, with priests and healers befuddled by the disease. Thankfully, the touch of Alloric appears to heal the sick, even removing other “taint” from their nature. However, what is truly happening is that Alloric’s touch is hatching the void worms by creating a “void” inside each person’s brain, and thus hatched the worms embed themselves within each person’s brain, controlling them, as well as being psychically commanded by Alloric as needed.

*Hooks*
- The PCs are approached by a relative of those “cured” claiming odd and very unnatural/nice behavior
-One of the PCs themselves are infested, and have to travel to Alloric to be “healed.”
-The PCs home village/base was infested and cured, during the PCs absence (the rest of the scenario assumes this hook). 

*Event 1- A Surprisingly Pleasant Homecoming*
Clean streets, everyone going about with a smile, the suspected brigands/robbers/cultists/angry bakers all being rather pleasant, formal, helpful and nice! 
_Encounters_
GMs are encouraged to play it up. Potential encounters include:
-	Jilted lovers being sweet and loving.
-	Nasty family members now being very nice and pleasant
-	Store owners not bargaining
-	Everyone working together!
PCs, as paranoid as they are, will naturally think that it is a set up! Enquiry will easily reveal recent facts, including the sudden onset of the Plague and the magical cure by the blessed child Alloric of St. Cutbert. 

If the PCs investigate further, they can follow the following suggested clues (DCs etc. as appropriate):
-	The more powerful members of the town seem missing. If asked, others will say that they have left to help with the plague (pretty true- see below)
-	Examining Poop/Vomit remnants indicate signs of parasitic infestation and also a strange substance; related knowledge checks reveal that the substance is really a “mini-void” and absence of matter. 
-	Cutting someone open/killing them and opening up the brain cavity reveals a mini void in the brain with strange floating worms. Such exposed worms will lunge for the nearest PC and try to burrow into their brain.
-	Following the Spore Trail lead to the warrens under the village. 
-	General information gathering about the plague can reveal a pattern of infestation from village to village, that can be backtracked to the Village with the temple of St. Cuthbert.

*Event 2- The Endless Quest of Murthag the Blessed*
Murthag’s compulsion makes him continue on without recourse, following the warrens from village to village (and town or city if so evilly predisposed). Murthag also attracts other Otyugs who see the beast as being blessed and chosen, and follow/protect guard him.

 Additional “followers,” especially those of adventuring ilk previously infested also now guard the Otyugh to ensure his safety. This include friends/lovers/former associates of the PCs who are now controlled by the “curing” of the void plague. Also, the longer the PCs delay confronting Murthag the greater his retinue will be.

_Encounters_
- With a clutch of Otyughs now guarding Murthag’s vanguard
- Other former PCs and NPCs who defend Murthag to the death. The PCs can chose to not kill them, making the combat that much more difficult.
- Battle with Murthag itself poses a high risk of the PCs being infested with the void plague.

*Event 3- The Chosen of St. Cuthbert*
Following the trail of Alloric is easy and the PCs can find the child in an infected village healing the sick, along with the proud Father Phineas. If confronted, the poor child will cower in fear, and not take any direct assertive action.

_Encounters_
- An irate Father Phineas and his retinue of Cuthbertites who are appalled at the PCs behavior
- The villagers who will aggressively defend the poor little child
- The “cured” villagers who as compelled by Alloric will aggressively defend the poor little child

*Event 4- Possible Cure- Into the Void*(One suggested ending only- see event 5 for others) The cure to eliminate the void worms can be found in their natural habitat- an asteroid in the great void, accessible either through a spell jamming ship or gate found deep in the ruins of Phadera (either a substance or plant found in void space). 

_Encounters_
- Gith and others; including social encounters and research on the nature of the creature
- Followers of Tharizdun who actively attempt to thwart the PCs
-Other Cultists/creatures/void tainted found in the remenants of Phadera

*Event 5- Conclusions*
A lot depend on how the PCs handle themselves in these very tricky situations. A real cure for the Plague is left open ended. Perhaps it is as easy as a higher level healing spell; but even here, it will be a difficult decision in who gets healed. The same goes with how to handle Alloric, as the boy does not detect as evil and will not physically engage the PCs at any time, and will plead for his life and for their kindness. How to “kill” a six year old boy is also left to the GM.

*Potential templates to build on for Alloric & Murthag*

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/aberrations/veiled-master
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/aberrations/otyugh/otyugh-plaguebearer


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## Deuce Traveler (Jan 12, 2015)

*Iron DM Round 1, Match 2- Deuce vs Waylander*

*Ingredients:*

_Endless Quest_=> The endless quest of the villagers, always having to offer sacrifices to an elder god in order to maintain their survival.

_Dicey Situation_=> The infernal machine used to experiment upon the body parts of new victims, and choice parts separated from food and trash.

_Obsessive-compulsive Otyugh_=> Scavenger that the aberrations use as a method of clean-up underneath the settlement.  Has several personal habits that alert others to its activities before feeding.

_Void_=> The realm of the elder god that the village is cursed to travel into at night and can be stumbled into if the characters travel far enough through the wood.  

_Suspiciously Nice Village_=> The setting, a planes-travelling village that hops into different realms looking for victims.  Filled with guilt-ridden, immoral villagers intent on entertaining and providing pleasures to visitors.

_Wolf in sheep's clothing_=> The mayor (and elder god priest) presiding over the village.  He is a small, bookish man with a pleasant demeanor and squeaky voice.  Actually an intellect devourer and worshipper of the elder god.

*The Happy, Hapless Honoraries’ Horrific Happenstance*

An interlude adventure for mid-level characters.  It can be used for any fantasy campaign setting that uses Dungeons and Dragons type rules, such as Castles and Crusades, Pathfinder, OSRIC, etc.  With some tinkering, it could also be adapted to a more modern setting such as Call of Cthulhu.

*Hook:* 

After a long journey, the village of Hapville is a welcome and idyllic settlement nestled in enticing woods with small dirt paths leading in and out of it.  The people are jovial and are celebrating a long-running festival.  However, no one familiar with the local area can ever recall where the forest or the village had come from.  Characters who are new to the area might not think the village’s location to be strange, but they may notice that the trees surrounding it are a bit out of place from those outside a two-mile ring around the village center.  It’s the little details like this that adds to the weirdness.  The people are overly friendly and inviting, the food wonderful, and the town perfectly kept and clean, but small details like the trees, the festival’s hedonistic abandon, Mayor Slump Beedlebottom’s insistence on making visitors the ceremonial guests of honor, and the excessive and nearly frantic generosity are suspicious.  Still, the player character’s might take the villager’s up on their invitation and stay awhile for an inexpensive place to rest and feast.  It is hours after night falls that they rudely find the horrible secret of Hapville.

*Background: *

The people of Hapville are cursed and they live on a plane-shifting, semi-sentient piece of the Void.  The original crimes of Hapville’s ancestors are unknown, but among them once lived several mad cultists of the Void god Rotund’jere; an elder evil of undead and corruption that had long ago been imprisoned.  But this elder evil influences reality in subtler ways, such as through his ever travelling village of Hapville.  Each day, Hapville slips onto another world at a location far enough from civilization to escape large scale interest, but close enough to attract small bands of travelers.  At midnight, Hapville shifts back into the Void and the villagers hurriedly turn in for the night for soon after the denizens of the Void enter into Hapville in order to conduct their experiments, create their aberrations, and feast.  If the villagers are able to lure and keep over 750 pounds of human material (about 4-6 people), they find themselves safe.  But if they go too long without satisfying the Void’s denizens, they themselves are apt to become victims.

Generations of villagers have lived this way, and the Void provides food, medicine, and raw materials enough for them to live an easy life.  But with horrible and tortuous death a constant reality unless the villagers trap visitors, every night of their existence takes on an endless carnival atmosphere.  Visitors are plied with physical contests, alcohol, sex and food in order to put them at ease and encourage them to exhaust themselves onto rest.  At midnight everyone hurries to turn in as a cloud quickly blots out the sky, causing the temperature to drop (due to the Void’s influence) and giving a reason to quit until the next day.  In truth, several destrachans (large aberrations) lumber into the village and approach the village inn, where visitors are usually put up to stay.  The destrachans will overpower the guests and drag them to the caverns below the village (accessed by the mayor’s home or a nearby cave).  Guests will be strapped to a conveyor with an infernal machine at the end wielding blood encrusted blades.  The machine slices up the victims into smaller pieces of organs and limbs, keeping the victim in intense pain, but alive and fully conscious through necromantic magic.  From there the destrachans conduct their experiments on the body parts, mostly in scientific observation, but sometimes in sadistic, chuckling enjoyment of watching limbs kick and organs twitch.  The body pieces are then tossed as trash to a nearby otyugh for clean-up, ghoulishly eaten at random by a suddenly hungry destrachan, or thrown into a nearby pool where they later will emerge as a gibbering mouther to be released upon the next visited plane the following morning.  The reasons that Rotund’jere finds these activities so important are inscrutable to the villagers.  They are just happy to live another day.

*Involving the characters:  *

The characters may discover that something is wrong through a number of ways.

First, they may be alarmed by Mayor Beedlebottom’s odd behavior.  The slight, bookish man with a pleasant smile and squeaky voice is actually an intellect devourer and worshipper of Rotund’jere.  Although he claims to speak for the village, only the most decadent of the other inhabitants seem to be at ease when they approach him.  Like most intellect devourers, Beedlebottom is a hedonist and overly enjoys food, wine, pleasure and pain.  He gravitates towards any newcomers he feels can most provide for his appetites.  Also, he is always on the lookout for a new body, and interested in any newcomer that shows squeamishness and sensitivity to pain.  He prefers smaller human bodies to inhabit, as strangers are less prone to see him a threat when he appears diminutive.  He has on very rare occasions ensured a visitor survived when he (her) found them entertaining and immoral enough to keep around.  Because of this, his small entourage of handlers is quite varied in physical appearance as they come from different birth worlds, unlike the rest of the villagers who have lighter skin and hair.  Beedlebottom becomes a little more aggressive and touchy as he drinks through the evening and night.  He is also distracted often, as part of his mind transmits information about the current world he is in to his masters in the Void.

Second, the villager behavior towards visitors might alert the characters that something is amiss.  The villagers are completely in the dark to the goings-on of the campaign world and nearby towns and cities, and will try to play off their lack of knowledge while prodding the characters for news.  Also, they act oddly towards even non-charismatic visitors.  There are three other visitors in the village besides the characters: a fat, pedantic merchant, his spoiled daughter, and their bloody-handed bodyguard.  Despite the rude behavior of the three, the merchant has a buxom lass on his lap, his haughty daughter is distracted by the villagers plying her with wine and pearls (jewelry uneaten from the oytugh’s past victims), while the bodyguard is drunk and fondling his second or third lass of the day.  The three are crude and conceited, but the villagers rush to sell them wares and laugh constantly at even the flattest of jokes.  The villagers see visitors as sacrifices towards their own survival and feel an odd sense of duty in making the visitors’ final day of life worthwhile.

If the village is going beyond its quota of 750 pounds of human material, any charming characters with a charisma of 17 or higher might be pulled away by whatever villager they are with and warned to flee.  The villager will not say why even if threatened with violence, but will insist that the character must leave before midnight for his or her own safety.  If a character physically forces a villager out of the surrounding forest, or takes an item from the village, the villager or item will quickly turn into vapor after one hour of exposure to ‘reality’.  Anyone who stays in the village, breathes its air, and eats the food provided for more than three days becomes a being of the Void and will suffer the same fate if they ever leave.

Third, after midnight it is the sleeping merchant, daughter and bodyguard that are grabbed and dragged away by the destrachans.  Despite his drunken state, the strong bodyguard is able to slip the clawed hand off of his mouth long enough to shout a shrill, ear-shattering scream.  He also kicks a vase in his room on his way out.  The destrachans move swiftly, but if a character is awake and reacts quickly he will see large humanoid shapes carrying off three people into the shadows and towards the mayor’s house.  If the character instead waits to ready equipment and gather his allies, he will find a trail of pearls left behind by the daughter’s broken necklaces.  Finally, if the party members were all in exhausted sleep, the otyugh’s mealtime song may wake them (see next paragraph).  

If the party acts fast, tracks the creatures to the mayor’s home, and quickly discover the hidden passageway into the tunnels below, they may be able to save all three bound prisoners before they are placed on the conveyor and diced up by the infernal machine.  If they take too long to figure out where to go, it is likely that all three of the prisoners meet a gruesome fate.  The strong fists of the bodyguard are chopped off and turned into animated disembodied hands, various pieces are eaten by the otyugh and destrachans, and the remainder of the parts tossed into the pool and combined into a gibbering mouther that will be set loose upon the next visited world to act as a probe of sorts for the consciousness of Rotund’jere.  If the party still has trouble finding a way into the tunnels below, the otyugh kept to clean up the nightly mess suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder, and conducts an odd wailing song as it stretches before mealtime, and again after.  The loud, haunting sound echoes through the tunnels and can be heard throughout the village, likely waking even the deepest sleeper.  Following the sounds will lead PCs to either the mayor’s house or a nearby cave connected to the chamber with the infernal machine.  Villagers will not attempt to stop the characters from entering the tunnels below, since it matters little to them whether the characters are drug or walk to their doom.

If the characters decide to turtle up and not investigate any of the disturbances, the destrachans go to find them after finishing up with the merchant, daughter, and bodyguard.  They will attempt to separate the group if they can with sonic attacks, in order to make the task easier on them.  They do not care what structures they destroy or villagers they kill in the pursuit of the player characters.  Captured characters will find themselves bound and placed on the conveyor, hoping to be rescued before being diced by the infernal machine…

*Goals:*

The goals of the characters should be simple survival, though this will be very difficult after midnight.  If they stay within the village and its forest, they could attempt a series of ambushes against their pursuers (Beedlebottom, destrachans, gibbering mouther, etc).  If they attempt to escape the village, they will find themselves in the Void where the chances of survival are severely lessened.  The best bet they have is to survive until the morning jump out of the Void.  Whether or not the characters will find themselves in a different region of their initial world or a different plane entirely is up to the dungeon master.

*Future Plot Threads:*

Once the characters know about the danger of the village, the DM may use it and the Void as further plotlines.  Maybe the characters decide to end the curse of the village and disrupt whatever inscrutable plan Rotund'jere had in store.  Such would likely require plane hopping, research and the collection of rare magical and mundane items.  Or perhaps the solution is simpler, though difficult in execution; where the characters have to bring normal food to the villagers to eat during the day instead of 'Void food', then protect the village from a siege when it leaps at night back into the Void for enough weeks that the villagers are returned to normal and can flee into a normal plane.  Or maybe the characters have to fight the semi-sentient 'village' itself and 'kill' it before it hops.  An imaginative DM can take this in many different directions.


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## UselessTriviaMan (Jan 12, 2015)

Wow. I'm glad I'm not the guy judging this match-up. Well done, gentlemen.

I'm definitely gonna have to bring my A game to get past y'all...


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## Radiating Gnome (Jan 13, 2015)

*Iron DM round 1 match 2: Waylander the Slayer vs Deuce Traveler*

Well, Damn it, I'm starting off with a tough one.  Two masters going at the ingredients hammer and tongs. So, rather than goof around with too much preamble, lets get down to brass tacks and try to pick a winner.

Okay, I lied, one preamble (since this is my first judgement this year): I make an effort to refer to the entry, not the DM: IMO it's important to be clear that I'm evaluating the entry, not the person who wrote it. So, this is a match between The Void Plague (VP) and The Happy, Hapless Honoraries' Horrific Happenstance (Hx5). 

*First Stop, Ingredients. *

Obsessive-Compulsive Otyugh - In VP, the Otyugh is given a name, and a special role -- it roams the countryside infecting villages and somehow seeding a religion for otyughs in the process. Murtag is a lot of fun, and I like him better than the wailing otyugh that appears in Hx5 in a very minor way.  So +1 for VP

Endless Quest - In VP, this is Murtag's compulsion to infect the countryside. I find this use weak -- he's not questing for something specific, not trying to infect a specific town, he's roaming and spreading the worms as a compulsion, but does that make it a quest?  I don't quite think so.  At the same time, the endless quest of the void-trapped villagers isn't really any better.  They're both gestures in the right direction, but I don't think either quite works. 

Dicey Situation - in VP, the PCs have to cut people up to remove the worms -- this feels like an ingredient is being slapped on something that it doesn't quite fit.  In Hx5, the void monsters cut people up with a nightmare machine (going to give me nightmares, for sure). Hx5 is a little better on this one, I think. +1 for Hx5

Void - Both used this fairly well.  I chewed on the VP voids a bit - I have to remind myself that the "voids" in that case are small v voids -- cavities -- not the extraplanar big V Voids.It’s also usually a warning sign when an entry comes up with multiple uses for an ingredient — usually that means they’ve come close several times but not really done it well once, but in this case it was serviceable. Hx5 uses the void as the sort of macro setting -- it's not really as integral to the story as the VP voids, but at least I don't have to stew about them.  Call it a wash. 

Suspiciously Nice Village - Again, both played well with this one. 

Wolf in Sheep's Clothing - While I'm disappointed no one tried to use the actual WiSC monster, both used this one fairly well as a concept. So, again, no advantages. 

SO, awesome.  Ingredients are no help at all.  

*Playability*

So, some of the good stuff here is that while both adventures rely on some backstory, neither relies on it a ton to include the ingredients, and there's plenty of action in both for the players to engage in.  

Both put the PCs at unusual risk -- the idea that a PC might become infected, then cured in VP is interesting (and terrifying).  They would both be interesting, and perhaps frightening to play.  

*Creativity and Rat Bastardy*

In VP, the players wander into the plague zone, perhaps get infected, meet the stepford people who are left behind cured, get on the trail of Murtag and wind up ... finding a spelljammer, jaunting off into the void to fight  the Gith? There's a sudden tone shift in the adventure, where it goes from a very grounded, spooky plague story in town squares and all of a sudden you're sailing off into the ether on a completely conveniently parked ship. That bothers me a bit.

I also struggle a little with how Murtag is spreading the disease — clearly, if he’s the carrier, it must not be spread by touch — so it must be airborne.  He roams through the warrens spreading the disease to the villages above them — how does that work? Wouldn’t he need to get closer? 

At the same time, the idea of the pursuit seems really interesting.  PCs get on the trail of the nice people, get to the kid “healing” them; once they get ahead of the kid on the trail they can start to follow in the path of the plague. They probably track it above ground until they get the idea that the carrier might be traveling underground, then they have to take on the pursuit underground, fighting past a readguard of religiously-inspired otyughs?  Could be a great time.

Hx5 feels a little less colorful, a little less concrete to me, but at least the tone seems to be consistent through the whole adventure -- even if the players must discover the horrible truth of the place, at least that truth doesn't feel like a complete left turn. Don’t get me wrong — Hx5 could be a lot of fun to play — the sinister carnival atmosphere, and the hints of Something Wicked This Way Comes, etc. But why 750 pounds of "human material”?  What’s special about that number? Why is it determined by weight? 

There’s a lot to like about Hx5.  Beedlebottom will be an interesting villain, and the scenes of entertainment and debauchery could also be a lot of fun to play out. Another thing I like about it is the very thematic horror feel of the game — the PCs don’t necessarily have to kill everything there — the important thing is to figure out what’s going on and survive until morning so they can escape.  

The alliteration of the name is cute, but feels out of place to the tone of the rest of the piece, but that's a petty complaint. 

*Final Judgement*

So, yeah. This is a tight one.  Both entries are really strong. Both could seriously win this round and move on to the next, but only one can.  So, how do I try to make a distinction?  

For that, I’m going to go back to….

[sblock]

…..major personalities.  In VP, the two major personalities are Alloric and Murtag, and each one is an ingredient in the challenge.  Alloric is the wolf, Murtag is the OCD Otyugh.  They come directly out of the ingredients in the challenge. The dilemma of having to figure out what to do with an apparently innocent 6 year old who is causing a lot of harm could be a fun challenge for a group that digs into good RP.  

In Hx5, the major personalities are Beedlebottom and the unnamed merchants, and the army of destrachans,  Beedlebottom is the Wolf, but the other characters don’t really tie to ingredients as well — the destrachans are perhaps creatures of the void, but that’s at best a weak tie to an ingredient.  The merchant and his crew are just hapless victims, not ingredients.  So, in a very important way, Hx5 is a little weaker than VP — it has used important elements that are not as well tied to ingredients than VP did.    

So, I’ll award this nail-biter decision to *Waylander the Slayer*. Thank you both for such terrific entries. 

[/sblock]


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## Wicht (Jan 13, 2015)

Radiating Gnome said:


> Wolf in Sheep's Clothing - While I'm disappointed no one tried to use the actual WiSC monster, both used this one fairly well as a concept. So, again, no advantages.




I too was hoping for a scenario with the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing as a monster. I've always loved those things. So I join in your disappointment.


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## Waylander the Slayer (Jan 13, 2015)

Great battle Deuce. I had a hard time, upon reading your entry, deciding which was better. I considered our ingredient use a split, and the strengths of the adventures were very different (yours I find to be very tightly bound and mine more sprawling), and both would be fun to play!

Frankly the inspiration came to me when I was writing to make Alloric a child, ala Omen, and everything cascaded from there (Murtag organically grew out of that, similar to Damien's hound). Putting the PCs in all sorts of moral quandaries; what to do with their infected friends, how to deal with an apparently evil yet benign child, the Church of St. Cuthbert and how they would react etc. was absolutely what made this a blast to create.

How Murthag spread the Plague was definitely a weak point, and something I wanted to spend more time thinking about- my initial thought, kind of embedded in the adventure was some sort of spore releasing mechanism which spread the void worm eggs (Murthag being some sort of an incubator).

As mentioned in the entry, the trip to the void/spelljamming was simply one option (as RG astutely observed, added on to increase the "void" use); i'd probably have gone with no easy solutions and the PCs having to design a way to return all these folks back to normal (would be difficult considering the politics of that alone).


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## Waylander the Slayer (Jan 13, 2015)

Wicht said:


> I too was hoping for a scenario with the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing as a monster. I've always loved those things. So I join in your disappointment.




I so did consider using a tree stump with a lil bunny being all friendly....


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## Wicht (Jan 13, 2015)

Waylander the Slayer said:


> I so did consider using a tree stump with a lil bunny being all friendly....




My son had a second complaint - that no one used giant polyhedrals for the dicey situation.

I suggested Modrons might have been appropriate.


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## Waylander the Slayer (Jan 13, 2015)

Wicht said:


> My son had a second complaint - that no one used giant polyhedrals for the dicey situation.
> 
> I suggested Modrons might have been appropriate.




Those unrelenting Modrons on a never ending march stumped by the cute bunny rabbit sitting on a tree stump, offering to play dragon dice...


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## Deuce Traveler (Jan 13, 2015)

I'm swamped, so can't write too much now.  Just wanted to say congrats to Waylander and a thank you to Radiating Gnome.


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## UselessTriviaMan (Jan 13, 2015)

I was hoping to see a cute little bunny / gambler; the WISC cheats by peeking at the hidden dice cups of the other players at the table. The obsessive-compulsive otyugh is on an endless quest to win in this dicey situation, because he believes that probability will eventually cause the odds to swing in his favor.

Umm... the suspiciously nice villagers have all lost their stuff to the wolf-in-sheep's-clothing, and are hoping that the PCs will win against this weird bunny.

If they do win, the WISC declares the game null and void.

Done.


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## phoamslinger (Jan 14, 2015)

[MENTION=57112]Gradine[/MENTION],    [MENTION=6678460]UselessTriviaMan[/MENTION], you have *24 hours* to post your entries to this thread.  Please include a list of ingredients at the beginning of the entry and please do not edit your post once it is submitted.  Please refrain from reading your opponent's entry until after you have posted your own.  You are on your honor to do so.

*Your ingredients are:

Give or Take

Heavy Water

Diseased Alderman

Celebrated Orc

Distant Terminus

Universal Language*


hope you have fun with them.  _insert evil laughter_


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## UselessTriviaMan (Jan 14, 2015)

Got it.

_Scribble scribble scribble..._


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## Gradine (Jan 15, 2015)

*Iron DM Round 1, Match 3- Gradine vs UselessTriviaMan*

*The Ingredients *
*Give or Take*- The bet Hades makes the party. Solve his puzzle, and take the Orc hero’s soul; or fail, and give one of their own in return
*Heavy Water*- The River Styx. Its murky waters weighs all who fall in down, imprisoning them to the torment of eternal drowning
*Diseased Alderman- *Hegio, leader of men, slowly infected with mistrust and racial animus by the Hatred of Ares.
*Celebrated Orc-* Tyndarus, the ancient Orc hero and only soul, living or dead, with the answer to curing the Hatred of Ares. Also potentially Homer, if the party requires his humming to save the day.
*Distant Terminus- *The realm of Hades, land of the dead, at the end of long journey down the River Styx.
*Universal Language- *Mathematics and music, both key to solving Hades’ riddle and putting an end to the Hatred of Ares.


*The Hatred of Ares*
_A mid to high level fantasy adventure, set in the Mythic Greek-inspired realm of Elis_

_“So difficult a thing, to sustain a war. So strange, the nature of a beast to so quickly turn to violence, and yet so quickly learn of its cost. How fitting, it is, that to end a war is so simple. Never easy, but always simple.”_
_-Aeschylus, Ancient Elisian Poet_

*Introduction*
The past few years have seen a stark decline in Human-Orc relations. Several of Humanity’s leaders, most notably Alderman Hegio of the powerful city-state Aetolia, have begun to spread fear and mistrust amongst of the Orcs amongst his people. In recent months, under the demagoguery of Hegio, the people of Aetolia have driven the last of the Orcs and Half-Orcs from their city. Hegio’s influence has now spread throughout the city-states, and humanity prepares for a long, grueling war with the Orcs.

Known to no mortal and suspected by only a few, Hegio’s creeping racism, now quickly growing overt, is the second coming of the Rage of Ares: a violence-inducing disease that sparked a brief but near-cataclysmic war between Man and Orc centuries ago. This more subtle disease, soon to be known as the Hatred of Ares, promises a longer and even more devastating war. Only our heroes can discover the truth behind the affliction, and race to find its cure before a second war can engulf the region in misery and death.

*Background*
Many centuries ago Man and Orc lived apart; Humanity in their cities and Orcs in their tribal forest communities. Athena taught Man mathematics, architecture and engineering, allowing their cities to grow great. Ares taught Orcs to follow their passions, most notably their rage, launching into endless tribal feuds and wars. While Man saw Orcs as monsters and shunned them, Athena took pity on the creatures, in whom she saw much potential. She offered her gifts to a tribe of Orcs, and under her guidance turned their passion into creativity, learning art, dance and music. Ares, angered by this, infected the humans of Elis with a terrible, violent rage. This disease would later be known as the Rage of Ares.

Humanity embarked on a massive, destructive campaign of war and violence, both against each other and the Orcs they so disdained. Athena rose to the defense of the Orcs, and chose as her champion the great Orc hero Tyndarus. Legend holds that Tyndarus single-handedly cured Humanity of the Rage of Ares, and ushered in a golden age of Human-Orc relations. In the end, Ares maintained his sovereignty over Humanity, while Athena claimed dominion over the Orcs. Ares taught Humanity passion, while Athena brought creativity to the Orcs. Both Humanity and Orc began to embrace their dual natures, with Half-Orcs venerated as diplomats and a reminder of what can be accomplished when two halves make a whole.

This history is known to any native of Elis, as well as most individuals from realms bordering the region.

Ares has been biding his time. Somewhat derisively called “The God of War”, Ares is the dark half of Athena. He is raw, unbridled passion where she is calm, calculating wisdom. Her nature is creation. His nature is destruction. But he has learned a thing or two from the humans he shepherds. He has gained patience, and has learned that the dimmest fires burn longest. He has replaced Rage with something more sinister, and more enduring. He has discovered Hatred. 


*Hooks*
·       A PC native to the region is sent a letter from a relative who has heard of the PC’s great deeds. He warns of the brewing war and begs the PC to intervene.
·       Trade and communication has slowed to a near stop between Elis and neighboring regions. A patron of the PCs hires the party to investigate the disturbance.
·       The PCs are travelling through the region by happenstance. They soon stumble across the Orc Homer (see *Scene 1 *below).

*Overview*
This adventure tells the story of the Hatred of Ares, and the quest the party must undertake to cure it before it leads to a devastating war. The main events of the quest are presented in a linear fashion, but they do not have to be run as such. The party may follow the breadcrumbs presented in this adventure, or they may choose to explore the region on their own first. Alexandria and Aetolia are two Human city-states that may be of interest to the party. Alexandria is far from Alderman Hegio’s influence, and remains a safe, if somewhat tense, haven for non-human characters. Its vast libraries contain much information about the region, its history and its deities. A thorough search may turn up important clues, such as Athena’s fascination with the Golden Ratio. Aetolia is barred to any non-humans but it is not impenetrable, and may give the party a first-hand glimpse of both Hegio’s racist demagoguery as well as the vicious war machines being constructed. Humanity has kept this war buildup secretive, and are planning a vicious pre-emptive strike against the Orcs.

The party will quickly learn that the humans of Elis have grown violently fearful of non-humans, and Orcs and Half-Orcs in particular. The Half-Orc Chieftess Hypathia shares with them her suspicions that Humanity prepares for war, afflicted by a curse similar to the Rage of Ares that once plagued their land. Hypathia has searched for an answer and has found only one: travel to Hades, the Realm of the Dead, to seek the aid of Tyndarus, the great Orc Hero, and find the cure to the affliction before the region descends into a brutal, bloody war.


*Scene 1 – The Orc in Distress*
This adventure begins with the PCs entering the region of Elis. Anyone familiar with the region will note that the road is unusually quiet. At a time you feel appropriate, the PCs stumble across the Orc Homer, fleeing for his life from small cohort of Aetolian soldiers. The PCs may attempt to hide Homer as he begs them for protection, but they while not have a great deal of time to do so, and may be at a disadvantage unless the party is quick and clever. If there is anyone of Orcish descent in the party, one of the soldiers utters a racial epitaph and attack on sight. Otherwise they demand the party turn over the Orc. If the party is successful in hiding Homer, the soldiers question them. Unless the party is made up entirely of humans, the soldiers are highly suspicious, which will make bluffing them more difficult. If at any point the soldiers strongly suspect that the party is hiding the Orc they attack, focusing their attacks on members of Orcish descent first, then demi-humans second, leaving the humans last.

Once the soldiers are taken care of, the Orc introduces himself, and answers the party’s questions to the best of his ability. He knows much of the background of the region and can fill in gaps of the party’s knowledge of both historical and recent events. His mistress, the great scholar Eugenia of Alexandria, was slain by Aetolian soldiers trying to carry rare books to the Orc Chieftess Hypathia. Homer escaped with the books and his life, if only barely. He knows little of the significant of the books, and is hesitant to show them to the party. Homer is a nervous and bumbling individual on his best days, and today is certainly not. He requests safe passage to Kyros, where Hypathia awaits.

The book _The Legend of Tyndarus _tells the tale of his turning the tide against the Rage of Ares. The other book, _Inferno_, tells of a journey into the depths of Hades, the realm of the dead. Several of the soldiers carry small pamphlets labeled _Hegio Tracts_, which contain crude drawings and warnings of the true savagery and brutality of the Orcish scourge.

*Scene 2: Kyros*
Kyros is small and fairly typical Orcish community, deep in the Aegean Woods. Like most Orcish tribes, it is primarily agricultural (another gift from Athena), which has allowed many of its members to pursue the arts. Music typically plays at all hours, as the Orcs are nocturnal and sleep in small bursts during the day, apart from a long communal sleep in the late afternoon. The tribe’s Chieftess, Hypathia, is a Half-Orc, and tends towards more scholarly pursuits. Her favorite subject is connection between mathematics (a specialty of Humanity) and music (a speciality of Orcs), and she will speak on the subject at great length if given half the opportunity. The Orcs of her tribe, and especially Homer, think it weird to think of music so rigidly, but mostly humor her out of respect to her wisdom and great leadership.

Hypathia also enjoys history, and is one of the first among the Orcs to suspect that Hegio’s racist rhetoric is a more subtle take on the ancient Rage of Ares. Hypathia has taken to calling it the “Hatred of Ares”, and while she has shared her theories with other Orc leaders she has yet to gain much traction. Most Orcs believe that the Humans will turn away from their isolationism once they see how poorly off they are without having the Orcs around, and don’t believe that Humans would be so foolish as to embark on another huge war.

Hypathia and Eugenia spent much time discussing their theories, and poured over countless books on the subject of Tyndarus. While there are many accounts about Tyndarus single-handedly ending the threat of the Rage of Ares, Hypathia has found no accounts of _how _he actually accomplished this. Hypathia grows desperate, and has begun looking to another solution: find the entrance to Hades, the Realm of the Dead, and ask Tyndarus himself. Hypathia believes that the book _Inferno _holds the answers she seeks, but she fears that she will not be able to convince anyone in her tribe to undertake such a dangerous journey. She begs the party to help them. Although the tribe is not wealthy, they have crafted many fine pieces of artwork that would collective sell for a great amount to right foreign collector, and Hypathia also has a few magical items of Orcish make to offer, if the party needs convincing.

First, Hypathia needs proof to convince the other Orcish tribes that Humanity prepares for war. If all else fails, Orckind at least needs a fighting chance to defend themselves. She asks the party to infiltrate Aetolia. If the party has already been to Aetolia and believes her story, Hypathia still asks for proof. If the party presents it, Hypathia needs a few days to decipher _Inferno_.

*Scene 3: The War Machine*
As mentioned in the Overview, Aetolia is currently banned to all non-humans. Presently, the only humans allowed into the city are conscripts in the city’s ever-growing army. Human party members may choose to infiltrate the army as conscripts. Non-humans will either need a strong disguise or infiltrate the city by other means. The safest means is through the city’s sewage outlets, though flight, invisibility, and other means are options as well.

The city itself is whipped into a frenzy of racism. All the people talk about are how vile and evil the Orcs are, and how Hegio had been right all these years not to trust them. The characters should be given an opportunity to catch a speech by the Alderman himself. He is charismatic and holds the crowd in sway, though it is helpful that at this point he is mostly preaching to the choir. He is an older man, and it is apparent that the people in the city hold him in the highest esteem. Any non-humans caught on the streets of the city will likely find themselves attacked at the hands of mob violence.

Gathering evidence will require infiltration into one of the city’s new military compounds. There is an abundance of evidence to be found, though none of it easy to reach. Letters to other city-states containing information on the number of troops or war engines pledged, as well as designs for new war engines. A letter written by Alderman Hegio to his most trusted general detailing his plans for the pre-emptive strike is the most damning evidence, but also the most difficult to retrieve. Any non-humans caught on a military compound will be attacked and executed on the spot.


*Scene 4: The River Styx*
By the time the party returns Hypathia has discerned the likely location of the entrance to Hades: the mouth of the River Styx. It lies deep underground, through the dangerous caves underneath the nearby Mount Olympus. The caves are treacherous, home to the violent Duerger, and are often avoided by all but the most foolhardy. 

To the surprise of most of the tribe, Homer offers to join the party on their journey to Hades. Hypathia is not shocked, however; Homer has long discussed with her his fascination with death and afterlife.

Fouler creatures besides Duerger lie deeper still, including Hades’ servant Hell Hounds and Kenku and the restless souls of Undead creatures who failed to pay the ferryman’s toll. This should be a grueling and dangerous journey; the Realm of the Dead is not so easily entered by the living. As the party descends deeper, Homer grows less nervous and more excited, and even begins prodding the party forward when they stop for rest.

The mouth of the River Styx is swarming with many spirits, trapped forever in Limbo. Most have lost their minds and all sense of their self after an eternity of boredom. A group of intelligent spirits may attack the party, hoping to steal their gold to pay the ferryman, or simply out of sheer spite for the living.

The ferryman cannot discern the difference between the living and the dead. He requires two coins from each passenger; he does not care about their origin or their denomination, but he can tell whether he is handed true currency or not, and will accept no false or counterfeit coin. He is large and imposing, and will physically block any passenger who tries to board without paying. If attacked he immediately causes the ferry to vanish, immediately sending any who already boarded the bottom of the River Styx, from which there is no return. If defeated, a new ferryman arrives in a new ferry in 24 hours.

Once the party boards they depart down the River Styx. The journey is long, though uneventful. There is little to do on the ferry, and the River is dangerous. Any person whose skin contacts the River must make a difficult save or else be overcome by waves of depression. They must continue to make such a save for every turn they remain in contact with the water. They then feel compelled to enter the River, and will attempt to do so until they succeed or are pulled completely from the water. The River Styx is never all that deep (no more than 15 feet at any point, give or take), but once fully submerged it is impossible to leave. The water is thick and heavy, and swimming is impossible even if one is able to resist the depression and compulsion long enough to attempt it. Falling in the River Styx leads to an eternity of endless drowning, of suffering with no release. A helpful spirit advises the party not to touch the water.

The greatest challenge to the party is maintaining their sanity through the four-day long trip down the river. The bottom of the river is filled with the drowning damned, and their endless moaning somehow manages to pierce the surface. At times stars appear in the sky, despite it still seeming like the river is flowing deeper and deeper underground. The stars hum a strange melody, and anyone taking time to study them determine they are actually glowbugs, and much closer than they initially appeared. Anyone with proficiency in singing or musical instruments will be able to pick up a few common patterns, although unless they are also well versed in mathematics, engineering, or studied the Golden Ratio at Alexandria (unlikely at this point), they’re not entirely sure what the pattern means, other than they are discordant, but also strangely calming. The pattern they are humming is actually the musical expression of the mathematical expression of the Golden Ratio. 

Homer, at this point, is completely calm. This will be first time anyone sees him smiling, which he does often. He spends most of the trip laying on deck of the ferry, humming along to the melody of the glow bugs. Occasionally he mimics the groans of the drowning dead, then chuckles quietly to himself. 

Everything about the trip is unsettling. 

It is important to emphasize the maddening dullness of the journey, but it is not advised to dwell too long. Emphasize the glowbugs, Homer’s weirdness, maybe roll a few sanity checks (without enough failures causing a PC to gain a quirk or flaw) and move along.

*Scene 5: Hades, Realm of the Dead*
Hades is a vast realm filled much that could catch an interested adventurer’s attention. It is difficult to navigate, and you could easily fill several session’s worth of material in the party finding their way upon reaching the realm’s shores. If you’d prefer to expedite the situation (and the adventurers are on a time crunch, after all), have the party met at the harbor by a Kenku emissary of Hades himself. Hades knows the purpose of their visit, and has instructed the Kenku to lead the characters to where they can find the soul of Tyndarus. Homer at this point wanders off, oblivious to the party and their quest.

The journey is brief, as Hades has the ability to make the travel as short or as long as he pleases. Glowbugs appear, though in lesser abundance. They continue to hum the same discordant, but weirdly calming tune. 

Hades is many things to many people, but his favorite guise when dealing with the living is that of a short, balding, slightly overweight middle-aged man wearing small spectacles and a worn, wrinkled suit. If angered, he shows flashes of a much more disturbing and demonic visage, but this is mostly for sure as well. He has so few amusements these days, and he’s willing to the help the party if they’re willing to amuse him. Besides, he grows weary of Athena and Ares’s constant bickering.

Hades wants the party to answer a riddle. He says that it should be easy for heroes of such great renown to answer, and poses a bet. Guess correctly, and he’ll give the adventurers Tyndarus’s soul. Guess incorrectly, and he will take one of their souls as forfeit.

Hades poses the riddle as follows: “Tell me the fundamental truth of the universe, in the universe’s own language.”

If the party is stumped, he gives them 24 hours in Hades to find the answer.

The party has free reign of Hades during this time, and once they are ready to answer, or at the end of the 24 hours, the party finds themselves back in the presence of Hades.

The answer is the song that the glowbugs sing. It is trivial to find a group of glowbugs and only slightly more difficult to catch and release them. Anyone versed in music can learn the song from the glowbugs and sing or play the song for Hades. If the party has difficult solving the riddle, have them bump into Homer towards the end of their time limit. He’ll be humming the same song when they find him, though he wont think of the answer and wont hum it in front of Hades (in the presence of whom he suddenly regains his nervousness).

If the party fails to provide an answer, or provides a wrong answer, Hades will claim a soul and give the party another 24 hours, at which point he provides the clue that they are closer to the answer than they think. The party can convince Homer to sacrifice his own soul in the event that this happens. He’s a little hesitant, but he warms to the idea eventually.

In truth, Hades wants the party to figure out the answer and truly believes it to be a fairly easy riddle. He’s mostly in it to see the look on the party’s face when they finally meet the great Tyndarus.


*Scene 6: The Great Tyndarus*
Tyndarus is an Orcish child of about 5 years of age.

He cannot speak, and barely acts like he understands or notices anything around him. This is not a condition he gained from centuries of neglect or torment in Hades. Tyndarus was never anything more than what the party sees before them; a small child, blind and deaf from birth.

“And yet the legends are true!” Hades shouts with uproarious laughter before vanishing.

Tyndarus was blessed with something not even Athena truly understand; he did not hear the sounds around him, but instead he heard the music of the universe. He would have been murdered at an early age if not for the intervention of old Orcish shaman, one of the first of Athena’s blessed. Under the shaman’s guidance Tyndarus began to sing the only song he could ever know.

The Golden Ratio, expressed as mathematical formula, itself expressed through song.

The day the shaman lost sight of Tyndarus is the day the young Orc wandered onto the battlefield, singing his song. And it was that day that the Rage of Ares was cured. Mortally wounded, the young Orc gave his life, unknowingly, to save the realm.

Tyndarus sings for the party, but does little else, and does not leave from the spot he is sitting. He is incorporeal and cannot be moved.

Once it becomes apparent that the party knows what they need to do, Hades appears before them again, no longer able to amuse himself at the party’s frustration. He offers to teleport them to the field of battle. There’s a war on, and Hades wants to get a good seat. He does tell them that they can’t take anyone they’ve found with them, and that includes the glowbugs, except for Tyndarus, who won’t budge. If the party does not have anyone versed enough in music to have learned the song, they will need to find Homer and convince him to leave (he’d really rather stick around a while, if they don’t mind).


*Scene 7: The Field of War*
Hades teleports the party into the middle of a vast plain in Elis. On both sides of them line up the gathered armies of Man and Orc, ready to wage an endless war fueled by hatred and mistrust. The armies are currently charging. Hades floats above, citing the better view.

The song takes a short amount of time to really take effect, during which time they are caught in a deadly melee between Human and Orcish forces. If Homer is required to sing the song, he clams up, his former nervousness returning. He is frightened both of the battle and at the thought of public performance, and will need to be both protected and convinced to sing the song. Alderman Hegio himself leads the charge, and is both a formidable spellcaster and keenly aware that the song will cure the disease. He orders his personal guard to kill anyone singing.

Orcish troops are mainly concerned with fighting for their lives, though a few close to Hypathia figure it out, throw down their arms and begin to sing along. This song spreads through the Orcish ranks quickly, and while it causes many defenseless Orcs to get cut down, given enough time and enough Orcs the Humans cease their attack as the Hatred of Ares fades.


*Aftermath*
If the party is successful during this battle they will have saved countless lives, as well as the homes of Orc and Man alike. Many lives were still lost in the battle, though it does not compare to the death and destruction a long war would have caused, or even the amount of death letting the battle come to its conclusion would cause.

If Alderman Hegio survives the encounter he is aware that his affliction is cured and grateful for it. He still has trouble shaking some lingering feelings of fear and mistrust, and warns that while he is committed to peace, it will take some time to repair the damage that has been done. Many of the soldiers in the Human army were not afflicted with the disease, and the pervasive spread of racial animus caused by the Hatred of Ares will take time to eradicate.

The party may have to flee the battle to regroup and attempt the song again. Orcish musicians can be trained the song and play it on battlefields. It may be possible for the party to capture Alderman Hegio and sing the song for him to cure his affliction. This will allow him to try to reverse the tide of war internally, but if the initial battle is allowed to end it will be a struggle as the vast armies of Man will split to hunt down stragglers and attack isolated villages.


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## UselessTriviaMan (Jan 15, 2015)

*Iron DM Round 1, Match 3- Gradine vs UselessTriviaMan*

*Ingredients
Give or Take
Heavy Water
Diseased Alderman
Celebrated Orc
Distant Terminus
Universal Language*

*Power Struggle*
_This system-agnostic adventure takes place in a no-magic/low-magic steampunk fantasy setting, and is intended for characters of mid-level experience._

*Introduction*
It is a time of prosperity. An unprecedented peace has reigned between the humans and the orcs for nearly three years, all thanks to one orc. Ugzugg the Bold - inventor of the steam-powered steel dragons - demonstrated to both kingdoms how his invention could be used to create new, faster, and safer overland trade routes for the betterment of all. Ugzugg’s steel dragons now travel the length and breadth of both kingdoms, providing fast and safe transport that now only takes days, instead of weeks or even months. 

Ugzugg is a hero in both kingdoms, but the fame has gone to his head. When he heard rumors that someone had discovered a new energy source that could supplant steam (rendering his dragon locomotives obsolete), he decided to deal with this in proper orc style: he’d sabotage his competitor’s work and murder him in the process. Explosions are a good way to do both at once.

The human inventor and scientist Aloysius Urey has been trying unsuccessfully to unlock the mysteries of atomic power, and his funding is running out. He invited Throckmorton Winfiddle IV, the Alderman of Phlogisburgh, to visit his laboratory in the hopes of impressing the noble and squeezing some grant money from the king’s wealthy cousin. Throckmorton wears a very distinctive Bane-esque respirator mask apparatus (lots of hoses and brass fittings) to help him breathe, due to a lifelong battle with tuberculosis.

Unfortunately, the Alderman’s visit is interrupted by the saboteur’s explosion. The blast destroys the atomic engine and instantly kills Throckmorton and his guards (and the unfortunate assassin); Urey survives, but is exposed to a lethal dose of radiation.

*Player Hook*
The PCs are minding their own business when the building they’re walking past suddenly explodes. They’re knocked down by the blast, but otherwise not seriously injured. As the dust cloud settles, they hear the panicked cries of Aloysius Urey from within the partially-wrecked building, calling for help. The PCs find Urey unsuccessfully attempting to revive the Alderman. 

*How It All Goes Down*
Aloysius Urey’s laboratory is destroyed, along with his life’s work. He is reluctant to leave the room, even if pressured. Those searching the area will find a dead orc; Urey will know that the assassin was sent by Ugzugg the Bold. 

But before anyone can leave, an ancient, white-robed gnome enters. Speaking telepathically, she introduces herself as the Oracle of Phlogisburgh and explains that the explosion was no accident, and someone tried to kill Urey. 

She’ll also inform them that they've all contracted a wasting disease (radiation poisoning) from the explosion, and without treatment they’ll all die within a week, give or take a day or two. (The Oracle wears a pendant that shields her from the radiation.)

There is a possible cure for the wasting disease, a liquid known as Heavy Water, but it will not be easily obtained. It can only be found in the Cavern of the Crystal Rose, in the heart of the Ch’quenya jungle. Once there, they’ll have to ask the Crystal Rose to give them some Heavy Water. But to be able to speak with the Crystal Rose, they’ll need to retrieve an item from Throckmorton Winfiddle’s private chambers - the Codex Vox. He stole it from the Oracle.


The only way to reach Ch’quenya in less than a week is to ride the steel dragons. The jungle of Ch’quenya is on the far side of the orc kingdom, at the absolute furthest way station.
The Oracle warns that the party will only have a few minutes to decide on a course of action, before the City Watch arrives.
If no one else suggests it, she’ll mention that it would be easy to disguise someone as the Alderman to gain access to his private chambers.

If no PC volunteers to don the disguise, Aloysius will do so just before the Watch arrives. 

At this point through a comedy of bureaucratic errors and half-heard information (unless the PCs correct them), the City Watch should come to believe that the dead person on the floor is Urey and the Alderman is dying of an unknown wasting disease.


Any reasonable plan to retrieve the Codex Vox from the Alderman’s chambers should be allowed to succeed.
The “Alderman” can easily order a steel dragon to take everyone to Ch’quenya.
The Oracle can’t travel (she’s too old and frail for such adventures), but she’ll show everyone how to work the strange Codex Vox device.

Unless the PCs open their mouths, word will quickly spread that Aloysius Urey is dead and the Alderman is dying of a mysterious wasting disease. Obviously, if the PCs don’t create and maintain the charade that Throckmorton is still alive, this mission will become much harder. They’ll have to break in to steal the Codex Vox from the Alderman’s chambers. The Oracle will have to charter a steel dragon to take them to Ch’quenya. And Ugzugg will continue to try to assassinate Aloysius, especially once they cross into the orc kingdom.

*Riding the Steel Dragon*
The steel dragons are titanic locomotives, but instead of riding on rails, they roll on huge tank-like tread feet. They can create their own paths, slowly chewing their way through obstacles (and using those obstacles as fuel), but this is an extremely slow process. Once a dragon has cleared a path, however, it can reuse that track of flattened ground to travel easily and quickly. Spread out along the tracks are refueling stations, allowing dragons to speedily get back on their way.

Initially, riding the steel dragon will be uneventful (aside from the worsening radiation sickness). But shortly after crossing the border into the orc lands, the dragon will briefly stop for refueling and a large group of orcs will come aboard, led by none other than Ugzugg the Bold himself. He's heard about the terrible illness of the king’s favorite cousin, and wants to provide a protective escort to the savage wilds of Ch’quenya.

The PCs will have to maintain the charade even longer, unless they can somehow find a way to convince the orcs to go away. Ugzugg hasn’t ever met Alderman Winfiddle, but he has heard of the metal-masked noble by reputation. He’ll want to befriend the reputedly rich noble, and will make himself quite annoying during the long trip. Plus, Ugzugg knows he’s responsible for the illness of the Alderman and wants to smooth this over as best he can. And if necessary, remind the PCs that killing Ugzugg would likely have Very Dire Consequences.

Ch’quenya is a rough place, but they can hire a guide to take them to the Cavern of the Crystal Rose in relative safety. A couple of possibly hungry jungle creatures will be encountered en route.

The Crystal Rose itself is found in an unexpectedly cold underground grotto, and appears to be a massive obelisk of glowing, rosy-pink ice jutting up from the water. In truth, the deuterium-rich ice surrounds a crystalline formation that can be communicated with via the Codex Vox.

The utterly alien “mind” of the crystal will comprehend a request for Heavy Water, but it will require payment for this difficult service. It will demand a life for a life. (It says something about crystals and sympathetic bonds, but that goes right over everyone’s heads.) Either a supplicant can give his own life to save the rest, or he can take a life to protect his own. The [Crystal, Rose] is utterly indifferent about which choice they make, as long as payment is provided. One human or orcish life will be sufficient for all. Once payment is made, the [Crystal, Rose] will begin producing deuterium and converting the pool to Heavy Water.

Swimming/soaking in the (surprisingly warm) Heavy Water for eight hours will flush the radioactive toxins from everyone. Now they'll just have to make it back home again and deal with the repercussions of dead nobles and/or orc heroes, and the subtle machinations of an alien Oracle who wants to go home.

*Dramatis Personae*
*Throckmorton Winfiddle IV:* Alderman of Phlogisburgh and cousin to the king. He wears a very distinctive respirator mask apparatus, covering all of his face but his eyes, because of his lifelong struggle against tuberculosis. Sadly, he died in the explosion.
*Aloysius Urey:* Scientist, inventor, and really smart guy who has nearly discovered atomic power. Unfortunately, he’s exposed to a lethal dose of radiation and will die without a cure.
*The Oracle:* A prognosticating, advanced gnome-shaped alien who has been shipwrecked on this backwater planet for the last 82 years, thanks to a collision with a certain comet. She’s got a good gig as the famed Oracle of Phlogisburgh, but she really wants to go home. This atomic disaster, while sad, could be the catalyst that sets events in motion that will let her return home, if she can pull the right strings.
*Ugzugg the Bold:* Famed orcish inventor and orcish national hero. He created the steel dragon, a titanic steam-powered locomotive that is rapidly propelling both humans and orcs into the first stages of an Industrial Revolution. He doesn’t want atomic energy to steal his limelight, and he’ll do anything to stop Urey’s progress. Killing him would have Major Consequences. 
*The Crystal Rose:* The alien crystal at the heart of a fallen comet, hidden within the Ch’Quenya jungles. It is the only potential source of Heavy Water, a cure for the radiation sickness, but only if the PCs can retrieve the Codex Vox to communicate with it and ask for its help.



*Give or Take* - The price for the cure, as required by the [Crystal, Rose]: one life. Will you give your own life to save the others, or will you take another life to save yourself?
*Heavy Water* - The required component for curing the Diseased Alderman’s (and the PCs’) radiation sickness, this can only be produced by the Crystal Rose.
*Diseased Alderman* - Throckmorton Winfiddle IV, Alderman of Phlogisburgh, suffers from tuberculosis and wears a respirator apparatus mask at all times.
*Celebrated Orc* - Ugzugg the Bold, famed orcish inventor and international hero. He created the steel dragons, massive steam powered locomotives that run on tank-like treads instead of rails. Primary contributor to the start of the Industrial Revolution and a lasting peace between the orcs and humans. He’ll do anything to prevent the rise of atomic power (and the decline of steam), including destroying the human inventor who is attempting to harness the power of the atom.
*Distant Terminus* - The PCs must accompany the Alderman to the far-off jungles of Ch’quenya, the furthest way station of the steel dragon tracks, to find a cure for their radiation sickness.
*Universal Language* - The Codex Vox, a quest macguffin that will allow the PCs to communicate with the Crystal Rose and request that it create heavy water.


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## phoamslinger (Jan 15, 2015)

Ok, in the judgment between *The Hatred of Ares* (HoA) and *Power Struggle* (PS), I think I've got a pretty good idea of who took this one.  But let's go through the motions just the same and see where things turn out.  The six ingredients were 

*Celebrated Orc
Diseased Alderman
Distant Terminus
Universal Language
Heavy Water
Give or Take*

which I have changed the order because this was more or less the order they appeared in both adventures.

*Celebrated Orc*; in HoA we had Tyndarus, a mythic heroic figure while in PS we had Ugzugg, famous inventor in a Steampunk setting.  In both stories the orc was Celebrated.  but were they both Orcs?  orcs had their origin before Mr Gygax brought them into 1st edition from Mr. Tolkein's trilogy.   Because of the movies, even younger generations now have a pretty good visual of what constitutes an orc and what doesn't.  While I liked the ying/yang of Ares and Athena bringing civilization, arts and passion to each race, the orcs in HoA ceased to be orcs.  Even the names of the orcs weren't terribly orcish.  So I could have substituted valley elves, gully dwarves, or even just different colored humans as the oppostion race in HoA and it wouldn't have impacted the adventure in any way.  In PS, Ugzugg may have been a great inventor, but his motivations were brutish and thug-like.  Other races could have been substituted here as well, but the characterization of a Celebrated Orc was stronger in PS than in HoA.  

*Diseased Alderman*; in HoA we have Hegio and in PS we have Throckmorton Winfiddle.  Both characters are leaders within their cities, but an Alderman is a member of a city council.  Winfiddle fits this image as a possible revenue source for the Aloysius Urey and a person of note, but not necessarily a major leader of the town/city.  But Hegio, from the amount of power he projects, is he only an alderman?  Mayor, Ambassador, Governor, General, Prince, King.  All of these titles would seem to be more appropriate from the amount of influence that Hegio projects.  So I found it difficult to see Hegio in a minor funtionary role within the city's government. On the other hand, Diseased applied well to both NPCs, the Hatred and the tuberculosis.  So a slight edge to PS.

*Distant Terminus*:  The end of a lengthy underground river journey and the end of a steampunk rail line.  Both worked ok in their stories.  In both it was a quest to a distant destination whereby the PCs could do whatever they needed to do to further the adventure.  I will give a slight edge to HoA on this one.  To get to a point where dead people hang out it makes a lot of sense that you'd have to travel a fair distance, otherwise you'd have dead things all over the place to have to deal with in normal life.  In PS, the Crystal Rose could have been placed anywhere.  It didn't have to be across the continent, UselessTriviaMan (UTM) just placed it there to satisfy one of the ingredients.  An edge to HoA.

*Universal Language*:  this one goes to HoA.  Gradine gave use of the language of the Universe, either music or mathematics.  UTM gave us a universal translator.  Not the same thing.

*Heavy Water*:  I will admit when this came up on the list of ingredients, I drew a blank on how I myself would have worked it into a story.  I was pleased that both DMs were able to find a workable definition, either the Styx or Deuterium enriched H2O that worked within the campaign settings they chose.  In fact, I wonder if both of them used this ingredient as the first one for building the rest of their adventures around.  There were still problems with both.  While it's used as a setting piece in HoA, the heavy water doesn't really impact the story that much, "Oh, look at the Water as we pass by it.  Don't interact with it, or else!"  But using D2O as a cure for radiation poisoning becomes techno babble, throwing scientific jargon as a solution that doesn't have a basis in reality.  The Styx river had to be the Styx river to get to the Underworld.  Bathing in *Heavy Water* in PS could have been replaced with Bathing in *Orcish Bloodwine* and achieved much of the same effect on the story.  I have to give this one to HoA.

*Give or Take*: Give me a soul or two OR solve the riddle and take the one you want.   Give OR Take a life for the cure.  This idea was firmly developed ad an important device in HoA, but in PS, I would have liked to have gotten the actual quote from the crystal. "It says something about crystals and sympathetic bonds, but that goes right over everyone’s heads." regretably went, yes, right over my head.  And it was just sort of glossed over. So the justification for the give or take in PS just wasn't there in my mind.

Problems I saw.

[sblock]In *The Hatred of Ares*, the Orcs weren't really very orcish to me while I was reading and it kept throwing me while I was reading it.  But other than that, it's a pretty strong Iron DM submission.  The Orc is the solution to the war being caused by the Alderman which the party will have to travel on Heavy Water to a Distant Terminus to solve a riddle, the answer being Universal Language.  That's five ingredients tied well together.  The Give or Take wasn't as strong in either of the two adventures, but it was handled better in Hatred.

In *Power Struggle*, I did like the fact that because the alderman had the disease, he wore a device on his face that allowed him to be impersonated by the scientist.  That's the sort of convoluted, out of the box thinking that makes an Iron DM ingredient into an essential ingredient.  If Winfiddle hadn't been diseased, a large part of the entire adventure would have come apart.  Even though you killed him off even before the adventure began, he was still a very necessary ingredient.  

But there were a lot of things that I felt could have been developed some more to make a stronger entry.  Just because the assassin is an orc, the scientist automatically suspects Ugzugg?  Telepathic Gnomish Oracle wasn't an ingredient, but she/it is a major component tying the story together.  And she's an alien?  There were a lot of details in the Dramatis Personae that didn't make it into the actual adventure, which made me wonder, was the Power Struggle of the title between the orc and the scientist, between the oracle and the alderman, or between the gnome and the rose?  Maybe Power _Struggles_ (plural) as a title could have been developed so that the adventure would have had a little more depth.  What was the actual comment made by the Crystal Rose?  And the use of the Codex Vox and also the Heavy Water, both macguffins.  For future reference, please keep in mind that ingredients that appear as macguffins are BAD, because like I illustrated above, they can easily be swapped out with a replacement ingredient and not have the slightest impact on the story.

Sorry UselessTriviaMan, but Gradine's entry was better developed and had a stronger use of the ingredients.

This round goes to *Gradine*.  Congratulations [/sblock]


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## UselessTriviaMan (Jan 18, 2015)

Gradine, are you (also) checking this thread every hour or so?


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## Gradine (Jan 18, 2015)

UselessTriviaMan said:


> Gradine, are you (also) checking this thread every hour or so?




Only at work. At home I have my tablet and it's closer to every fifteen minutes


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## Rune (Jan 19, 2015)

So, [MENTION=57112]Gradine[/MENTION] and [MENTION=6678460]UselessTriviaMan[/MENTION], now that judgement on your match has been posted, would you care to provide any illumination on the processes that led to two intriguing scenarios?


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## Gradine (Jan 19, 2015)

Great match, UselessTriviaMan. I'll admit I was sweating bullets for the bulk of it.

As for my process, I focused on making sure each use of each ingredient was both integral to the plot and tied directly to phrasing of the ingredient. Phoamslinger was mostly correct in deducing that the first ingredient I started with was Heavy Water. In truth, it was a joint revelation with Distant Terminus. The connection between the River Styx and Hades was too good to pass up. I had run a Greek themed campaign before, so I drew heavily from that. Racism was a major theme in that campaign, and with Celebrated Orc on the list it was an easy choice to return to. Diseased Alderman was the perfect ingredient to incorporate that, as it allowed the Disease in question to pull double duty as both an actual affliction and as a societal disease. I had decided early on that Universal Language would involve math or music or both, and by the time I had worked out the backstories of Athena and Ares, I knew exactly how to use it. Give or Take was the weak link. I had wanted to work it in as its usual form (a margin of error given at the end of an estimate) but I just kept drawing blanks. The version I settled on works, but I definitely wish that I had been able to incorporate it more strongly into the adventure.

I feel like I learned a lot from both the process and the judgment. Obviously the entire plot came together through the use of the ingredients. One lesson I tried to ingrain in my dramatic writing students is that guidelines enhance creativity, not hinder it, and this competition only helps to solidify that lesson. But I also had to make concessions to the guidelines for the sake of the story. The main example of this was with the orcs. I've long since grown tired of the "traditional" presentation of orcs, and I always prefer settings and stories that subvert the common tropes associated with the race. Here I used Eberron as a frame of reference to present a picture of orcs that were tribal, in touch with nature, fierce but also strongly passionate. Of course, by subverting the orcs and having them fill a niche more commonly associated with other races, I undermined the significance of Orc being part of the ingredient, which weakened my entry for the competition. Still, on the merits of the adventure itself, I stand by the decision I made. By hewing too close to Tolkien's orcs (or worse, Jackson's interpretation of them) I would have completely undermined the anti-racist sentiment of the adventure. Such orcs would have done nothing but confirm Hegio's suspicions. How many unequivocally good city leaders have sent unequivocally good parties of adventurers on missions to slaughter all the orcs? To me, they had to be orcs, they had to be that exact type of Orc, of the adventure doesn't work. Perhaps I could have done a better job conveying that. It's definitely something I will need to put a great deal more thought in for future rounds.

I'm still mulling over how I improve upon the adventure given more time. I will try to add those thoughts later add they come.


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## UselessTriviaMan (Jan 20, 2015)

First and foremost, congratulations to Gradine and kudos for writing one hell of an adventure. Your combination of Celebrated Orc and Universal Language was especially bloody well brilliant.

The 24-hour time crunch killed me. I actually rewrote this thing three times, trying to come up with better plots and uses for all of the ingredients. My first attempt was going to be titled Attempted Murder on the Orcish Express, but I just couldn't get everything to coalesce into something workable. The second attempt fixed several ingredient problems from the first, but then made other ingredients completely irrelevant to the story. The third attempt took parts and pieces of the first two and smooshed ‘em together with baling wire and duck tape, and became my official submission. I knew that I had several really weak ingredients, but I simply ran out of time. I totally agree with all of phoamslinger's criticisms, especially the use of bad macguffins.

Heavy water was the ingredient that initially caused me to head down a steampunk path. The scientific definition was very specific, so I tried to imagine a world where a nuclear reactor would somehow marry into an adventure with orcs. Steampunk seemed most likely. 

The distant terminus and steampunk made me think of Iron Dragons (I love that board game) which I then took another step further toward the fantastical, with tank tread feet instead of rail lines.

The title would have made more sense had it been Power Struggles. The multiple layers of struggle were intentional, but I didn't describe them nearly as much as I should have - especially between the relationship between the Oracle and the Crystal Rose. I really wanted to better define several scenes; the Crystal Rose give-or-take was the biggest.  

I wasted a lot of time at the end, trying to compose a rhyming verse for the Oracle's info dump at the beginning, but had to scrap it.

What I learned: Writing an adventure that fully integrates a half-dozen oddball ingredients is friggin' _HARD._ When writing with that kind of time constraint, be willing to throw away ideas that don't quite work and start fresh. I should have, but didn't.


Thanks for letting me join in the fun. It was an enjoyable (though frustrating) writing exercise, and a lot tougher than I expected it to be. I'll definitely be watching for the next one.


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## Rune (Jan 20, 2015)

Gradine said:


> I feel like I learned a lot from both the process and the judgment. Obviously the entire plot came together through the use of the ingredients. One lesson I tried to ingrain in my dramatic writing students is that guidelines enhance creativity, not hinder it, and this competition only helps to solidify that lesson.




There are dozens of tremendously creative entries through the years that back you up. 



> But I also had to make concessions to the guidelines for the sake of the story. The main example of this was with the orcs. I've long since grown tired of the "traditional" presentation of orcs, and I always prefer settings and stories that subvert the common tropes associated with the race. Here I used Eberron as a frame of reference to present a picture of orcs that were tribal, in touch with nature, fierce but also strongly passionate. Of course, by subverting the orcs and having them fill a niche more commonly associated with other races, I undermined the significance of Orc being part of the ingredient, which weakened my entry for the competition. Still, on the merits of the adventure itself, I stand by the decision I made. By hewing too close to Tolkien's orcs (or worse, Jackson's interpretation of them) I would have completely undermined the anti-racist sentiment of the adventure. Such orcs would have done nothing but confirm Hegio's suspicions. How many unequivocally good city leaders have sent unequivocally good parties of adventurers on missions to slaughter all the orcs?




Funny story: I once did something very similar with some orcs in one of my entries, only to have Wicht ding me for it. And it wasn't even an ingredient!



> To me, they had to be orcs, they had to be that exact type of Orc, of the adventure doesn't work. Perhaps I could have done a better job conveying that. It's definitely something I will need to put a great deal more thought in for future rounds.




I applaud your choice of Orc, because of the overtones of racism that it automatically carries with it. I think the adventure is strengthened by the choice. But, as phoamslinger pointed out, the _context_ of the adventure doesn't require that they be orcs at all. Choose goblins, kobolds, humans, troglodytes, or anything else and the adventure still works. 






UselessTriviaMan said:


> What I learned: Writing an adventure that fully integrates a half-dozen oddball ingredients is friggin' _HARD._ When writing with that kind of time constraint, be willing to throw away ideas that don't quite work and start fresh. I should have, but didn't.
> 
> 
> Thanks for letting me join in the fun. It was an enjoyable (though frustrating) writing exercise, and a lot tougher than I expected it to be. I'll definitely be watching for the next one.




I really don't think it's possible to understand just how hard it actually is without putting yourself through it at least once. But it sure is rewarding, isn't it? There's a reason why some people keep coming back for more!


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## phoamslinger (Jan 22, 2015)

[MENTION=60965]Iron Sky[/MENTION],   [MENTION=62721]MortalPlague[/MENTION], you have until *6AM Friday* to post your entries to this thread.  Please include a list of ingredients at the beginning of the entry and please do not edit your post once it is submitted.  Please refrain from reading your opponent's entry until after you have posted your own.  You are on your honor to do so.

*Your ingredients are:

Knight in Shrinking Armor

Desperate Bluff

Centaur Politics

Underground Railroad

Juvenile Disciple

Abomination from the Farm Realm*


_have fun_


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## Iron Sky (Jan 23, 2015)

*Against the Aberrancy*

_Agents of the Aberrancy_ sets the players as agents of a centaur resistance against the horrific conquering task-masters of the sprawling Aberrancy. It features formidable and cunning foes, fanatic loyalty, dangerous wilds, bleak slave camps, stealth, covert rescues, brutal choices between the good and the necessary, noble sacrifices, dangerous infiltrations, daring thefts, ancient artifacts, hasty escapes, running battles and deadly combats, petty politics and desperate alliances, gruesome executions, and an epic final battle.

It can be played in any game system in a Medieval to Renaissance/steam punk era setting.

*Back Story*

The Hundred Peoples, the Centaur tribes of the Megali Pediada grasslands, long lived wild and free with their gods of freedom and sky, hunting and racing all across the broad plains. Then came the ever-expanding empire of the Aberrancy, a twisted race from a dark plane where all was owned by the Prime Horrors and every job and bit of land leased out at their whim. When rumors arrived of the Aberrancy's spread, of their single-minded harvests of any valuable resource found, of their unnatural methods of taking what was wild and pure and creating walled, rigid prisons to grow and reap plants and animals – these were heard by the Centaurs, but so foreign and distasteful were these ideas that the whole concept was discarded as myth and fear-mongering.

They came on giant carriages of iron chained to the earth with spike and beam – a novel and risque form of transportation championed by Harvester Caeneus and regarded as ridiculous, impractical, and gauche by the conservative Aberrancy elites. A twisted creature riding a fearsome multi-legged mount of horror and metal and sinew, Caeneus had arrived to pursue the Knight-Harvester role granted to him by the newly-titled Duke of Mountebank, Lord of the Savage Plains. His stolen artifact armor, _Ablative Balm_ has had no small part in his obtaining the position.

Caeneus arrived and called for a meeting with all the leaders among the Hundred Peoples. When they arrived, hesitant to enter Caeneus' mobile fortress of high walls and straight edges, he cajoled them with promises of peace and trust, the ancient magics of his powerful artifact scale mail Ablative Balm armoring them against their doubts. When they entered, they were penned in and slaughtered, only the young shaman Kentauros escaped to warn his people against Caeneus' treachery.

Despite his warnings, the Hundred Peoples – bereft of their greatest leaders – were quickly conquered by Caeneus' Paladins of the Pyre, his Iron Trains with their cannon-armed Siege Cars, and their centaur-unassailable mobile wooden towers. Before long, the remnants of the Hundred People were compelled to settle in a dozen Granges, walled estates whose entrapping walls and boundaries were inimical to the nomadic centaurs. Worse, each had a Soylent Plant into which centaurs were regularly herded and from which none ever returned.

Kentauros managed to organize a loose rebellion with himself and his few young disciples at the nucleus as the last Shaman of the Blue Sky. They have formed an secret network that smuggles centaurs out of the Granges beneath the walls – though the price of being caught is gruesome: Caeneus has them taken to the top of what was once called Grove Crag, a cliff face with a small clump of trees atop it, have a limb tied to a tree and are cast off the cliff, separating the limb from the rest of the body, which then plummets to the rocks below. The limb and its rope are left there as a grisly reminder. Due to its new appearance, it is now most commonly called 'O Nine Tails and is located in the heart of Birkau Grange.

Those few Free Peoples who still roam are scattered and demoralized and, unless Kentauros can find some way to unify them and depose Caeneus.

*The Hook*

The group could have several means of entering the situation:

• They are already members of the resistance to the Aberrancy from elsewhere that have been dispatched to aid the nascent rebellion in the so-called 'Savage Plains'.
• They are approached/hired by Free Peoples agents to meet with Kentauros.
• They are given a work lease by the Duke of Mountebank to work as consultants to Caeneus while actually following secret orders to depose him by any means since the Duke sees Caeneus as a threat – his remarkable successes in his current Knight-Harvester position might result in him being offered the Duke's lease at the next Aberrancy Cabinet. Even aiding and abetting the centaurs is not outside their job description if it has results.

*The Free Peoples*

Regardless of how they have entered the situation, the group will be approached by Kentauros. Kentauros is a noble and charismatic centaur with an incredibly loyal circle of young disciples who practically worship him, most noticeably an intelligent Eyrie Hawk named Sacree that has not yet gone through her adult molting. Eyrie Hawks old enough to leave the nest but not yet molted are sent out into the world to learn of the world before returning to adult Eyrie society and so stumbled upon Kentauros. She is one of their most powerful secret weapons, both as an aerial spy and unobtrusive lookout during rescue operations.

_Roleplaying Kentauros_: Kentauros smiles often despite the grimness of circumstances. He is straight-forward and honest and not without a (sometimes grim) sense of humor. He never belittles or speaks poorly of any centaur no matter how much he disagrees with them, reserving all his hatred for the Aberrancy. His eyes flare with anger and his voice becomes harsh whenever he speaks of them.

Kentauros fills the party in on what has happened, with special distaste for the nearly-blasphemous concepts of walls and ownership of land and animals and people, railing on them as blasphemous to their gods of Wind and Sky. He also reveals the scattered and divided state of the Free Peoples, who fall into one of several disunited factions:

• *The Reclaimers* – led by Kentauros, the Reclaimers seek some way to overthrow Caeneus, establish a united centaur government, and fight any further Aberrancy intrusions to the Megali Pediada.
• *The Emancipators* – led by an old female centaur named Apodrasi, the Emancipators seek to free as many centaurs as possible from the camps, but have little further ambition.
• *The Exodi* – led by a male centaur maimed while being tortured in one of the Granges named Treximo, this group believes the centaurs should flee the Megali Pediada and seek a new life in some distant land.
• *The Survivors* – led by a hardy female centaur named Zo, these centaurs concern themselves with little but trying to survive in the mountains, forests, and badlands where the Free Peoples roam who have little thought beyond just continued survival.
• *The Remnants* – this group makes up the majority of the Free Peoples. It has no leaders, instead those that are to sick, weak, starved. and/or despairing to do much of anything, many barely even taking care of themselves and putting great strain especially on the Survivors who struggle to provide for them.

Kentauros has tried repeatedly to bring the others around to his cause, but while he is the most known, respected, and even revered individual in the Free Peoples as well as their spiritual leader, the leaders of the other factions are increasingly fixed in their ways and the Remnants are to broken to be stirred into any action more significant than moving camp to avoid Aberrancy patrols. He does have a plan, but needs some outsiders who can pose as Aberrancy agents to succeed. If the group is more mercenary, he promises them their picks of Caeneus' armory and treasury should the plan succeed in addition to a small cobbled-together payment up front.

*The Plan*

The plan has several steps:

*1) Free a centaur thief named Kleftis from the Aushwin Grange*. Through contact with Sacree, Kentauros has recently learned that Kleftis has seen and can forge Aberrancy documents that could give plausibility if they were trying to bluff their way into Caeneus' operation. He has also revealed the special powers the armor, _Ablative Balm_, that Caedeus wears is said to posses.
*2) Infiltrate Caeneus' headquarters in the mobile fortress Rustmourn*. This would require non-centaurs with forged Aberrancy warrants and job-leases who can pass as Aberrancy agents.
*3) Steal Ablative Balm from Caeneus*. This task will be difficult as he rarely leaves the safety of his headquarters and the only time he has been spotted not wearing the armor is within his fortified, high-walled track-mobile fortress Rustmourn, currently sitting in the heart of Birkau Grange. Whoever steals it must be in Caeneus' good graces enough to be allowed into the fortress when Caeneus has his guard down. They will have to escape Rustmourn on their own, but can be smuggled out of Birkau Grange in the Resistance's tunnels.
*4) Unify the Centaurs*. Use the powers of _Ablative Balm_ to bring accord to the centaur leaders, unify them behind a common goal, and armor them with courage enough to fight back.
*5) Surrender Kentauros to Caeneus*. The only time Caeneus leaves his fortress is to witness executions, placing bets as to how many times a victim will need to be thrown over before their limbs tear away, and giving them a last desperate chance to beg for their lives (which he never grants). Since Caeneus will likely be alarmed once _Ablative Balm_ has been stolen, Kentauros is the only centaur that he is sure Caeneus will leave Rustmourn to see executed.
*6) Attack 'O Nine Tails during Kentauros' execution to kill Caeneus*. Even with the centaurs united, this will be a jeopardous gamble as they are weak from starvation, skirmishes with Caeneus' Paladins, and Caeneus' repeated purges of the strongest and most outspoken in the Granges from where the Free Peoples draw many of their number. They will face Caeneus' heavily-armored Paladins and their horrific mounts, a pair watch towers, and a guard of regular (mostly-humanoid) Aberrancy troopers.

*1) Kleftis Contingency*

Assuming the group agrees to help, they will be sent with a small group of Kentauros' disciples including Sacree to rescue Kleftis as well as to get a glimpse of Aberrancy procedure, organization, and tactics. 

_Roleplaying Sacree_: Sacree has a screechy voice and, when landed, tends to hop from foot to foot when she gets excited. Once in a while she breaks off into a sudden bout of preening, complaining of “molt soon”. She constantly refers to Kentauros, using awed and reverent tones (as reverent as a hawk can sound anyway) as all the other disciples do.

The trip takes a few weeks, which can include any of the following *Megali Pediada encounters* if desired:

• Crossing a railroad track after watching one of the Iron Trains pass, belching acrid smoke. Amid the over-packed cattle cars full of centaurs and flatbeds packed with crates and barrels are a few step-pyramid-like Siege Cars with numerous cannons.
• If a more dangerous encounter is desired, the train could be broken down and they have to bypass it's mile-long length while avoiding patrols, the desire to rescue the centaurs inside – packed so close that the dead among them cannot even fall – and the like.
• Hunt down a great beast for food as the centaurs once did across the plains.
• Fend off one of the predators that hunts the same beasts and has picked the group as an easy meal.
• Be ambushed by Aberrancy Scouts, including a Paladin if desired.
• Have an opportunity to ambush the same, potentially rescuing the Free centaurs they are escorting back for execution.
• Seek shelter from and/or avoid dust or lightning storms, prairie fires, and/or blizzards (depending on season).
• Encounter travelers, merchants, and/or diplomats passing through on their way to or from the Aberrancy.
• Meet refugees fleeing from the last land the Aberrancy conquered.

_Fights with Aberrancy troops_: Whenever facing Aberrancy troops they tend to have the following tactics. Most are humanoid with a scattering of normal humans and non-humanoids:

• Aberrancy regular agents, officials, and bureaucrats are armed mostly for show and will flee to and hide behind the nearest regular troops.
• Aberrancy Scouts are lightly armed and armored, often with fast mounts. They will flee for reinforcements or perform fast hit-and-run attacks if forced to fight.
• Aberrancy Troopers are usually disciplined and moderately armed and armored. The smaller, more compact Troopers form shield walls in combat with taller musketeers (replace muskets with crossbowmen whenever mentioned if it doesn't click with your campaign) firing over their heads
• Paladins of the Pyre are berserkers. They are gigantic humanoid monstrosities of translucent, bulging skin containing living fire wielding massive Blood Iron weapons and plated armor riding multi-legged beasts akin to plate-barded centipedes or the like into combat. When wounded, some of the living fire gouts out, burning anyone nearby and, causing their form to diminish slightly. Their armor is designed for this and the overlapping plates collapse inward as the Paladins grow smaller, making the armor even more densely layered and harder to penetrate. They are fearless and terrifying, their bodies exploding in a blast of shrapnel and green fire if they are killed.
• All Aberrancy soldiers use Blood Iron weapons and musket balls/crossbow bolts. Wounds inflicted by these weapons almost always get infected. Mechanically, this can halve or negate magical healing, inflict diseases, slow normal healing, or some combination of these effects.

Once at Aushwin Grange, getting in first involves stealth to approach the walls, avoid patrols of Aberrancy troopers and the occasional horror-borne Paladin. Once they locate one of the hidden tunnel entrances, they pass through a long tunnel into the Grange, there to meet with a centaur agent on the inside who will lead them to Kleftis.

Once inside they might have any or all of the following *Grange encounters*. For most, Sacree urges them to not intervene as they might “save one to lose all”.

• Aberrancy troopers or agents whipping or beating centaurs.
• Emaciated, hollow-looking centaurs watching them pass with exhausted disinterest.
• A strong wind blowing smoke from the heavy smoke-stacks of the attached Soylent Plant, with its stink of burning flesh.
• Centaurs struggling weakly as they are dragged towards said Plant. 
• Troopers laughing and gambling in walled compounds scattered throughout the Grange, often with broken centaur slaves attending them.
• A centaur informer hurrying towards the nearest Aberrancy compound to rat them out.
• Dead centaurs left to rot in fields or ditches.
• Meager farms outside crudely-built centaur stables. Sacree informs them the Centaurs have never been farmers and take to it poorly, unlike the massive mechanized farms beyond the Grange where Caeneus uses them as slave labor.

When they reach the ramshackle stable where Kleftis resides, he has changed his mind about escaping at the last moment as he fears the risks of escaping and the horrible death that will follow. While he is sure he can forge the documents, if he is given the details of the plan, he likely considers it too difficult to pull off and is sure it will fail. The players can convince him, but will require good rolls and/or good role-playing to get him to acquiesce.

_Roleplaying Kleftis_: Kleftis is a coward, but also hates the Aberrancy. He is jumpy, his tail flicking non-stop, and his eyes dart around at the smallest sound or movement.

If desired to spice up the encounter, any of the following *Kleftis encounters* might occur:

• An Aberrancy agent might arrive on inspection who must be killed, captured, or hidden from.
• Other centaurs arrive at Kleftis' house to find the group there. Kleftis whispers in the ear of one of the players that one of the centaurs informs to the Aberrancy in exchange for extra rations and will surely do so if he is allowed to leave.
• Kleftis demands they prove themselves first by stealing something from one of the Compounds, killing a member of the Aberrancy, or sneaking inside the Soylent Plant to discover what happens to the Centaurs who disappear within.

When they finally convince him, they must lead him to the tunnel and get him to freedom. For more flavor, any of the following Kleftis escape encounters or unused *Grange encounters* (above) might occur on the way:

• A stop to steal proper papers, inks, stamps, and waxes and/or actual warrants/leases from a compound or the Grange Main Compound for Kleftis' forgeries
• They have to hide from a patrol.
• They see a centaur being beaten to death by a few troopers and Kleftis insists they must intervene.
• Kleftis has second thoughts (perhaps after seeing one of the above) and must be re-convinced.
• A patrol has discovered the original tunnel and they must make their way to another one.
• Delays from any of the above have taken too much time and it is getting light, making their sneaking more difficult.

When they escape, they lead Kleftis back to the Free Peoples, perhaps having any of the *Megali Pediada encounters* (above) that were not had on the way there.

*2) An Infiltration Aberrant*

Kleftis first confirms the persuasive powers _Ablative Balm_ is said to have from rumors overheard amongst the Aberrancy agents and troupers - namely it is said to give the wearer supreme insight and abilities to sway others to their side of any argument or disagreement (see _Ablative Balm Powers_, below.

Kleftis then takes a few days to perform the forgeries. He creates for the group the position of “Consult-elect, provisioned and provided the work-right of observation, alteration, and suggestion to any and all Aberrancy personnel within the domain of the current Duke of Mountebank, Lord-Assigned of the Savage Plain, oversight authority up to and including the granted position of Knight-Harvester.” They are listed as Consult-elect X, Consult-elect Y, with whatever names they wish to use.

With these papers and parting blessings from Kentauros, they are then given one of Kentauros' disciples to deliver to Caeneus to get in his good graces. The disciple, Thysia, is dying from a wound gained skirmishing with the Aberrancy that became infected (as most wounds inflicted from Aberrancy Blood Iron weapons do). She has no knowledge of the broader plan – in part for security reasons if she is tortured – but since she is dying anyway and trusts Kentauros implicitly, she has offered her life for the cause. The group must take her to Rustmourn in Birkau Grange, a week's travel away.

_Roleplaying Thysia_: Thysia is young and brave, but underneath the strong face, she is terrified of dying and often asks the group about distant lands, speaking wistfully of her dreams of traveling the world she had when she was younger. Like the rest of his devotees, her faith in Kentauros is absolute.

On the way, they might encounter any of the normal *Megali Pediada encounters* (above), as well as:

• Thysia's wound becomes do bad she might die before arriving. They must find rare herbs, perform emergency treatment, rapidly increase their pace, or all of the above to ensure she is alive when they get there.
• A friend or lover of Thysia's follows them, trying to convince Thysia to abandon her sacrifice. Thysia calls upon the players to side with her and support her argument.
• Thysia begins to recover from her infection and begins to have doubts (note, this circumstance will likely bring up some challenging and philosophical roleplaying).

When they arrive at Birkau Grange, they are met by a patrol of Scouts, then directed or led to Rustmourn. Rustmourn is a massive rusting fortress of red/black iron that rides astride two massive train tracks that stretch to the horizon, leading back to the Aberrancy. Its base is six feet off the ground, the only means of entrance one large ramp and two smaller side ones or via dropped chain ladders. Several swiveling cannon turrets loom above it. The Aberrancy flag of a world inside a drop of blood flies on purposely-tattered rust-red flags randomly about it.

When they approach, the main ramp is lowered, cannons tracking them as well as muskets. An agent meets them at the base of the ramp to look over their forms, then admits them. Once inside, they are met in the courtyard by Caeneus himself, escorted by two Paladins. He examines their paperwork personally and seems somewhat annoyed at how “the Duke's must always meddle.” He gloats over Thysia, then orders her immediately to the 'O Nine Tails “so our new compatriots can enjoy the spectacle.”

If they try to find a way out of it (quick execution, say they are tired from travels, etc) he immediately gets suspicious and rechecks their papers. They are then given the “honor” of choosing which limb to tie off first when she is thrown and places bets on how long she will beg when given a chance and how many tosses it will take before her a limb comes off.

If they for whatever reason did not deliver Thysia (she died, changed her mind, was left behind, etc) or tried to deliver her already dead, Caeneus will require more and more difficult tasks from the *Abberancy tasks*, below.

_Roleplaying Caeneus_: Caeneus is a huge, bloated aberration, but not without his own hideous charisma. He is forceful in everything he does – giving orders, laughing, eating, etc. He is also extremely calculated and cunning, quickly on to any slip of the tongue or hesitation. He likes to pound on things for emphasis – walls, tables, nearby slaves, his allies shoulders or backs and the like.

_Ablative Balm Powers_: _Ablative Balm_ is a suit of bronze scale mail gone green with age. It is said to be the armor worn by one of the gods when they forged the world, used to get her way when in arguments with other gods. In addition to its potent protective capabilities, it also works to sooth out any conflicts, arguments, disagreements and the like by providing the wearer just the right words and phrases, psychologically maximized for their ability to charm, wound, placate, humor, humiliate, goad, inspire, or whatever reaction is desired in a given situation.

Whenever the wearer find themselves in such a confrontation, a dry, professional voice comes into the wearer's head asking “would you like my analysis and advice?” If they agree, one of the scales on the armor disintegrates and the user gains the armor's benefits for the duration of the encounter in question. As such, the more it is used in this manner, the less useful it becomes in combat. It is said when the last scale is used, the armor vanishes, to appear fully formed elsewhere in the world.

When not in use, the same dry voice occasionally comes into the user's thoughts, little barbs, jabs or comments precisely targeted to the user's personality to encourage them to use Ablative Balm's ability again (guilting, suggesting usefulness, inspiring paranoia, feelings of vulnerability, etc). This effect becomes more potent and insistent the further the wearer gets from the armor.

Caeneus then assigns them several duties, which may include any of the following Aberrancy tasks to gain his trust:

• Following with a patrol to look for inefficiencies and insubordination, poor behavior or discipline, lazy officers, and the like.
• Inspecting a Grange and providing him the names of five centaurs that should be “eliminated” as soon as possible along with their reasons for doing so.
• Hunting down an escaped centaur and bringing them back dead or alive (for execution at O' Nine Tails).
• Joining Caeneus at a feast in Rustmourn and having him inform them of world events going on beyond the Savage Plains.
• Finding a thief, centaur sympathizer, and/or inept agent and bringing them in for justice (O' Nine Tails, of course).
• A tour of one of the Soylent Plants to look for any ways to improve efficiency. If this task is given, they find that centaurs brought inside are carefully vivisected and their parts made into a dozen different “exotic delicacies” that have become the newest rage among high society in the Heartrealm of the Aberrancy.
• A tour of one of the intensely worked animal or plant farms that he has subleased to some of his Paladins, often requiring spending time with one of them. The Paladins are nasty, brutish, and violent, with all the worst aspects of a drunken tyrant, abusive taskmaster, and a raging inferno. Their mounts are worse and known to simply devour unsuspecting centaurs (or careless Aberrancy agents or troopers!) that come to close. This is invariably considered hilarious to the Paladins unless the agent or slave was especially useful, in which case it is merely annoying.
• An examination of the train routes, schedules, and packing techniques, especially any way to increase the number of centaurs that can be transported in one load without killing all of them.
• A tour of a mine, lumber yard, or other intense extraction focused enterprise to look for any ways to increase the already tremendous exploitation of any and all native resources.

*3) Absconding with Ablative Balm*

Once enough of these tasks are completed to his satisfaction, he trusts them enough to give them more-or-less an autonomous hand, letting them roam unsecured in the Rustmourn, Plants, farms, and Granges with order to report whenever they find something that might be improved.

It is up to the player's creativity to find, wait for, or create the opportunity to steal _Ablative Balm_ at this point. It will only work when he is in Rustmourn as he always wears _Ablative Balm_ when he leaves. When not wearing _Ablative Balm_, it is locked in a chest at the foot of his bed; his room left under guard at all such times.

Depending on their methodology for stealing it, they may be half-way through the Grange before the theft is discovered, or they may have to fight their way out of the fortress itself.

During this time, one of several *Theft Escape encounters* may happen:

• Running battles with Aberrancy troopers, scouts, and agents.
• Spontaneous (or perhaps Free Peoples-planned) slave revolts in the Birkau Grange.
• A stand up-knock down battle with a Paladin of the Pyre.
• A chase through a Grange, farm, large compound, Soylent Plant, or escape tunnel.
• Centaur resistance fighters holding a heroic rear-guard action at a tunnel entrance to give them time to flee.
• Hijacking a train and using it to escape, fighting the troopers protecting it and/or freeing centaurs as they go.

They shouldn't face Ceaneus directly yet. If situation seems to be forcing it, he will send one of his Paladins to fight in his stead, feeling vulnerable without his armor (Aberrancy assassins hired by the Duke weigh as much or more on his mind as suicidal centaurs and their allies!).

When they escape, the return may feature any *Megali Pediada encounters* (above) as usual until they reach the Free Peoples.

*4) Coalition Building*

Upon their return, Kentauros immediately takes _Ablative Balm_ and begins learning how to use its abilities. In the mean time, he sends the players with word of their success to convince the leaders of the various factions to meet with him.

The various leaders might just require persuasion, or may also ask them to perform tasks to gain their trust such as:

• *Emancipators* – free one or more slaves from a Grange, find a group of Emancipators that are running late on returning from a mission, smuggle foodstuffs and/or weapons into a Grange
• *Exodi* – scout and/or map a path to the nearest nation that might harbor them, find information on which lands might be most favorable to taking them in as refugees or citizens, find information on and unclaimed lands that might be available for resettlement
• *Survivors* – help hunt, forage, find fresh water, shelter, or wild herbs, patrol for Aberrancy scouts, treat the sick or wounded

Once the group has gathered the leaders and Kentauros has had time to learn how to use _Ablative Balm_, he calls them all together, using the artifact's powers to help not only to bring them around to his position, but also to convince them to lead their strongest and most capable hunters and warriors on a desperate and potentially suicidal attack on 'O Nine Tails. Even with _Ablative Balm_'s assistance, it will take all of his and the player's social skill and charisma to convince the strong and stubborn leaders to go with the plan and should be roleplayed to the hilt. The discussion may also delve into events after the assault such as dismantling the Granges and Plants, driving out the Aberrancy forces, setting up a new government, and dealing with further Aberrancy incursions if the rest is successful.

*5) Surrendering the Shaman*

Once the Free Peoples are convinced, they gather their best and strongest and prepare to set out. When they are ready, after a benediction and subsequent rousing speech by Kentauros, the party travels ahead of the main forces with Kentauros and his disciples to search ahead for any Aberrancy scouts that might warn of their coming. Any of the usual *Megali Pediada encounters* (above) may occur if desired.

When nearing Birkau Grange, Kentauros passes_ Ablative Balm_ to the party, telling them to deliver it to whomever emerges to lead the centaurs should their plan succeed and he not survive. He then gives a final speech and blessing to his disciples, most of which wail openly and many of whom must be convinced forcibly to not sacrifice themselves with him or whom attempt to talk him out of it at the last minute.

He then tells the group that they should lead the attack half-an-hour after he leaves and wishes them luck. He then departs. Sacree riding on his shoulder until the last moment.

*6) O' Nine Tails*

The attack is timed so the group will arrive at Birkau Grange near dawn. Agents inside the Grange are set to throw open the gates and at first light. The players and the disciples form the first vanguard of the Free Peoples' assault, rushing and fighting their way across the Grange to reach O' Nine Tails as the ragged force of Free Peoples and spontaneously uprising Grange centaurs following behind. Any suitable *Grange* or *Escape *encounters may be faced on the way, as desired.

Upon reaching the base of O' Nine Tails, they find Kentauros strung up, ready to be cast off the cliff. Several Paladins of the Pyre escort Caeneus, as well as a platoon of Troopers. A handful of Scouts that immediately rush off to bring reinforcements and a pair of light-cannon armed watch towers that overlook the approach to O' Nine Tails.

They must fight ahead of or alongside the centaurs, eventually fighting past the main melee to face the heavily armored Caeneus astride his hundred-clawed mount Megagith and bearing his huge cleaver-like bardiche, _Limb Feast_. As the players reach him, he says “you've come for him, I assume?” and casts Kentauros of the cliff with a laugh, leaving him to dangle as they fight Caeneus.

*Free at Last, Thank Wind and Sky, We Are Free At Last!*

Assuming they win the battle, the players must face O' Nine Tails. Depending on the game master preference, Kentauros may be uninjured, permanently maimed, or a heroic martyr (perhaps depending on how long the players took to defeat Caeneus and if they attempted to lift Kentauros up during the battle).

If he lives, he is unanimously elected as the leader of the Free Peoples and leads them in their further battles against the Aberrancy.

If he dies his disciples become fanatical Knights of Kentauros, taking up the fallen Paladin's armor – cutting away the excess to fit their small frames – and declaring a crusade against the Aberrancy until it or they have fallen.

The characters will likely have their choice of loot from Rustmourn's treasury and armory, as promised.

*Future Adventures*

There are many possible adventures that may follow *Against the Aberrancy*:

• If Kentauros died, finding a suitable leader for the again-factional centaurs.
• _Ablative Balm_ is stolen, and they must track it down
• The battles to liberate the Granges, with each Paladin claiming their right to the title of Knight-Harvester and running their Grange like their own petty kingdom, perhaps with reinforcements from the Aberrancy.
• The formation of some new unified government for the previously clannish, tribal, disunited, and disorganized centaurs, as well as a standing army. This is made more difficult by Aberrancy assassins and saboteurs.
• The inevitable clash with the Duke of Mountebank and/or whatever Knight-Harvester is assigned to bring the centaurs back into line.

*Ingredients*

*Knight in Shrinking Armor*
Caeneus, Abomination and Knight-Harvester given a lease from the Farm Realm to oversee the Savage Plains. He wears _Ablative Balm_, scale mail that degrades when used (shrinking) as well as giving potent psychological insight to further the wearer's control of social situations (shrinking).
Also, his Paladins of the Pyre, whose armor shrinks down as their fiery substance depletes
Potentially, the Knights of Kentauros who rise up if he dies and take up the dead Paladins' armor, cutting it down to fit them.

*Desperate Bluff*
The gambit to have the players pose as Aberrancy agents to steal Ablative Balm.
Also, O' Nine Tails, where desperate escaped centaurs are given a (false) desperate last plea for their lives before they are executed.
Also, the same bluff where the desperate attack against the Aberrancy and Caeneus is staged at the climax of the adventure.

*Centaur Politics*
The separate parties within the centaur Free People who must be unified by favors and persuasion for the gambit to have a chance.

*Underground Railroad*
The Emancipators, the faction of the Free People who smuggle centaurs out under the Grange walls.
Also, Caeneus' new railroad, which is “underground” in the cultural sense that it is avante-garde and does not conform with the tastes and ideals of the mainstream Aberrancy culture.

*Juvenile Disciple*
The young, zealous followers of the Shaman and centaur leader Kentauros, especially Sacree, who is a pre-molt (juvenile) Eyrie Hawk.

*Abomination from the Farm Realm*
Caeneus, an abomination (in physical form) from the Aberrancy (an abomination culturally to the nomadic, free-spirited centaurs) whose structure is that of a single group of owners farming out lands and jobs to agents at its whim. They also immediately “farm” (I.E. focused harvest of a specific thing in gaming nomenclature) valuable resources to depletion upon arrival/conquest of a new territory.


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## MortalPlague (Jan 23, 2015)

*Strawman*
_A 5th Edition D&D Adventure for 4th Level PCs_

In Roan Valley, there is peace.  But in distant Cleftwood, there is war.

For ten years, the Roan tribe has sent their best young warriors to fight with their cousins against the cyclops threat.  Very few return.  The war has turned against the Cleftwood forces, and they need more and more soldiers.  With heavy hearts, the elders of the tribe have sent more and more sons and daughters to fight, younger and younger; as soon as they can hold a bow, they leave for Cleftwood.

Darriabran had not always been different.  An encounter with Vellendria of the Falling Leaves, a Lady of the Summer Court changed all that.  Smitten by her beauty, and enchanted by the sound of her voice, Darriabran pledged himself to her.

From that moment, he was not like the other centaurs.  His words would carry more weight when he spoke, and when angered, he could inspire fear in those who tried to confront him.  At first, the gifts of Vellendria confused him, but as he spent his mornings trotting through the woods of Roan Valley, he felt at peace.  He felt the lure of nature, heard the song of the fey, and knew his was a different destiny.

When they sent him to Cleftwood, he disappeared.


*A Plea For Help*

The PCs are approached by the centaurs while passing through the Roan Valley.  There are many small hamlets scattered about where the centaurs trade with farmers.  The area is rolling grasslands, with a number of small forests about.  It is tranquil and pastoral.  Serious trouble is rare.

A group of five centaurs meet the PCs, led by an older grey-bearded centaur named Abanno.  He proudly introduces himself as the Khan of the Roan Valley Clan, and will ask the PCs if they are capable hunters and warriors.  He doesn't seem to value magic or religion overmuch, and will sniff at any claims of magical might.  He is pleased by those who boast and brag about their feats.  He will gladly boast of the time he put an arrow in a hill giant's eye, or the time he out-wrestled a giant python while bathing in a pool.  Many of his stories feature admiring nymphs looking on.

After a bit of introductions and bragging about accomplishments, he will get down to business.  The Clan has been sending their young warriors to Cleftwood, but the last six months has seen every group attacked by a scarecrow the size of an ogre.  The four centaurs with Abanno are clearly terrified at the mere mention of this thing (for centaurs are superstitious creatures and suspicious of magic), but Abanno has seen a lot in his day, and takes it in stride.  He wants the PCs to destroy this thing, so that they can continue to support their cousins in their war against the cyclops forces.

He will agree to give the PCs three small amethysts worth 150 gold pieces each if they slay the beast.  If they seem reluctant, or press for a better reward, he will agree to throw in a pouch with 10 platinum pieces.  Any PC who is suspicious of his motives may make a DC 15 insight check to reveal that he is being awfully generous for a centaur.



*The Hunt Begins*

The centaurs are pleased to aid with the hunt, showing the PCs to where the giant scarecrow has been sighted recently.  They will happily boast of their own exploits, with Abanno laughing uproariously at every tale, even though he's heard them time and time again.  Abanno is gregarious and jovial to a fault.  Insightful PCs (DC 15) may begin to notice that this is a facade, the Khan is more devious than he lets on.

Soon enough, the PCs will arrive at the place where the attacks took place.  Here the road flirts with the outskirts of a large forest; there is a thin strip of woodland, with trees and bushes to block clear line of sight to the fields beyond.  But there is clearly signs of conflict; many hoofprints are all about, and many of the bushes have been thoroughly trampled.

Curiously, there are no tracks besides hoofprints, though there are some scarecrow pieces laying about on the ground.  Bits of straw and flaps of leather are littering the ground; the scarecrow was certainly here.  The lost pieces lead the way back out into the field beyond the small copse of trees.

It's clear that the centaurs are nervous here; this scarecrow monstrosity is nothing they understand or are willing to confront.  Only Abanno seems composed, and even he mutters about strange happenings and curses.



*Ride Out With Me!*

The trail of scarecrow parts is easily followed.  Once the PCs are in the field proper, they can get a good look at the area; there is a band of grassland about three hundred feet across, before another forest begins.  There is one huge oak tree in the middle of the clearing, twisted and gnarled.  Its branches are heavy and they dip low, providing plenty of shade beneath it.  The PCs don't know it, but the scarecrow-creature lurks here, invisible.

The Scarecrow is, in fact, a fabrication by Darriabran to rescue his bretheren from their march to war.  He knew he could not stand idly by while young centaurs were sent to their deaths, and he alone had the capacity to do something about it.  Relying on his people's superstition (and inspired by the local farmers), he built a scarecrow-suit with wood and leather, stuffed it with straw, and fastened it to his equine frame to give it mobility.  He has sticks to move the arms, and the legs bounce as he gallops along.  He is no master craftsman, and his scarecrow suit loses pieces with regularity.  But so far, it has not been forced to stand up to close scrutiny.

Each time he rescued young centaurs, he would send them into the forest, to the fey lady Vellendria.  She would help them find their way through to greener pastures, where they would be free from conflict.

As a warlock, Darriabran knows the _One With Shadows_ invocation, which allows him to become invisible when he does not move in dimly lit areas (such as the oak tree's canopy).  So there he will wait until the PCs draw near, and then he will spring to action, attempting to spook them with loud noises, aggressive movements, and faerie fire.

But wait!  The moment the scarecrow appears, Abanno and his four centaurs emerge from the woods behind the PCs.  During the second round of combat, the centaurs begin to pepper the scarecrow with arrows.  Abanno, as it happens, knows enough about Darriabran to have guessed the truth, and he knows that he needs to put the young warlock down.  But if Darriabran is killed by the elders of the tribe, he becomes a martyr; instead, the centaurs will kill him with the PCs aid, then they will turn on the PCs and slay them.  That way, Abanno can return to his tribe with crocodile tears, saying they arrived too late to save poor Darriabran, but at least they avenged his death.

Darriabran's centaur-suit is very protective.  On the second round of combat, it will offer him superior cover against all attacks (a +5 bonus to AC).  On the third round, enough bits will have fallen off of his armor to reduce that bonus to normal cover (a +2 bonus).  By the fourth round, the scarecrow suit will be nearly down to its frame from all the vigorous conflict.

On the third round, two of the abducted young centaurs emerge from the woods on the far side of the field, and begin to fire at Abanno and the older warriors!  The PCs, caught in the middle of a vicious battle between Abanno and Darriabran will be left to choose a side.  It ought to be clear that the juvenile centaurs are aiding the scarecrow.  And the Khan and his men are definitely trying to bring the scarecrow down.  If the PCs are confused about the switch-up, Darriabran may ask for their aid, trying to plead his case while Abanno argues that Darriabran is a no-good warlock who must be put down.

If Darriabran is slain, Abanno will turn on the PCs and try to kill them, unless he and his centaurs are badly hurt.  His side of the story is much more compelling if he has a corpse or two to back it up.



*Wrapping Things Up*

If he survives the encounter, Darriabran will thank the PCs for their help.  With Abanno out of the way, he expresses that he will try to talk some sense into the other elders, and stop them from sending their sons and daughters to die in Cleftwood.  Abanno's was the strongest voice for war, after all.

The reward promised to the PCs is found in Abanno's pouch, and Darriabran will not object to them taking it.  In addition, the young warlock will give them a small pouch filled with _Dust of Dryness_ as a token of his gratitude.




*Adventure Elements*

*Knight in Shrinking Armor* | This is Darriabran in his scarecrow armor.  The armor sheds pieces, and thus shrinks, which has an effect on his AC (which also shrinks).

*Desperate Bluff* | Darriabran donning the scarecrow suit is a desperate bluff, trying to spook his people into no longer sending their young to war.  Also, Abanno's attempt to kill Darriabran and blame it on the PCs is a desperate bluff to solve the problem for his people.

*Centaur Politics* | The adventure revolves around the conflict of young centaurs being sent to war, which is certainly a political issue.  In addition, Abanno's plan to kill Darriabran is informed by politics; he wants to have the warlock's death shown in a certain light for his own benefit.

*Underground Railroad* | Darriabran is rescuing the young centaurs and sending them to Vellendria, that they may find a new home free of war and strife.

*Juvenile Disciple* | The young warlock is a juvenile disciple.

*Abomination from the Farm Realm* | The scarecrow suit is the abomination from the farm realm.


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## phoamslinger (Jan 23, 2015)

sorry this took so long.  I've had a lot of stuff going on in RL, and I wanted to make sure that I had the time to do justice to, what I expected to be, a couple of off the wall, but solid, entries.

I realize that the standard fare for judging is to break things down, item by item and look at pros and cons of each along the way.  we have *MortalPlague* with his _Strawman_, (SM) and *Iron Sky* with _Agents of the Aberrancy_, (AA).

the ingredients were;

*Knight in Shrinking Armor

Desperate Bluff

Centaur Politics

Underground Railroad

Juvenile Disciple

Abomination from the Farm Realm*

[sblock]keep in mind that all judgements are subjective any way you want to slice it.  

both entries used a seriously tough set of ingredients, and used all six of them in a cohesive fashion.  Shrinking Armor, yes.  Knights, yes.  Centaurs, yes.  Politics, yes. Desperate Bluff, yes (and I wondered if anyone would pull a "cliffs of insanity" play on words, so I liked O' Nine Tails).  and all the rest of them.  MortalPlague's abomination seemed weak at first, until I began to consider how it was represented as the the bogeyman of the adventure.  so good enough within its scope.  

good solid IRON DM fare from both contestants.

but there was something in one of the entries that really stood out that needed to be addressed...

[sblock]Iron Sky, Rune was concerned when I gave you guys extra time, but back in the day when I was competing, I would spend 3-4 hours typing, maybe an hour editing and enough time for one or two last read throughs before hitting -Reply-.  so, I figured that giving some extra time would make for a tighter, better edited adventure.  not 13 pages.

Agents of the Aberrancy is AMAZING STUFF.  I will be saving it to my harddrive and will pull it out someday as a massively cool mini-campaign or as a full blown campaign all on it's own.  I suspect that a lot of folks following this contest or reading through it someday in the future will be doing the same. 

but if you go back to the first posting of this thread, where are laid out *The Rules*, the second sentence reads 

"Each match will consist of two contestants given a single set of six ingredients with which to construct a brief adventure in any game system or genre."  

...if I give the win to Iron Sky, there would be a sense from any future contests I judged in that more is better (and more and more).  it took me a solid hour to read through Agents, because I didn't want to accidentally miss or gloss over a detail that might be crucial to some later plot development.  if I had to take two hours to read two entries, well, best to put the brakes to that right now.  while I could deal with it and might even like it to the extent of getting more detailed entries from participants, it would probably generate some unhappiness from any other judges who caught the overflow.  so best to just not go there...

in addition, the whole point of an Iron DM is to come up with a concise adventure.  I've lost competitions before where I threw the kitchen sink at the judge and the ruling went against me.  given enough time, enough text, enough campaign length, bringing six random, contrary, ingredients together becomes easier and easier.  

but doing it in the space of a single adventure or a single encounter, well that's a pretty good trick.  a trick that MortalPlague was able to carry through with.  Strawman is a little rough around the edges, but it used all six ingredients well.  all else being equal, a strong negative vs a strong positive means that[/sblock]

 [MENTION=62721]MortalPlague[/MENTION] takes this round.  congrats.[/sblock]


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## Rune (Jan 27, 2015)

[MENTION=60965]Iron Sky[/MENTION] and [MENTION=62721]MortalPlague[/MENTION], now that your match has been judged, I'm sure we'd all like to know what was running through your minds when you first saw those ingredients. And what you did with that.


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## Iron Sky (Jan 27, 2015)

First off, might I suggest imposing a word limit on the first entry if you are looking for one? Both the 2nd and 3rd rounds have "brakes" built in via defined word limits: I explicitly looked for them for the rules for the first round and the lack of a limit on the first entry led me to believe length was not an issue as it clearly was in the future rounds. 

Had I known length was an issue, I could have casually shaved off 1/3 of the extra details in one pass (the encounter tables could each be summarized in a sentence, future adventures, and the "_roleplaying X_ sections could be cut if I knew length was an issue). I did so just now to check and I dropped 2k words in 3 minutes of CTRL-X.

Getting an auto-fail for exceeding an _unstated_ word-limit is not especially satisfying, especially given how easily it could have been trimmed had I known. 

That said, you are volunteering to do this in your own time and it is entirely subjective - as you say.

As to creating it:

My first thoughts on seeing the ingredients were "how can I not make Farm Realm silly?" and "I have another Iron DM with Centaurs?" Then I got down to work.

I wrote this in about 5 hours and the 45 minutes or so I spent editing was not nearly enough. As soon as I hit *Reply*, took a break and came back to read it again, I saw easily a dozen editing errors. In retrospect, I should have stepped away for 30 minutes _first_ then done my editing passes with fresh eyes. If it was judged based on editing, I definitely deserved a loss as MortalPlague's editing was impeccable.

My methodology starts by looking up all the different definitions of every word in every ingredient to get any potential meanings I might have missed. Once those are written down, I read over them a few times, looking for things that connect in my mind, plays-on-words, and begin to work out a setting and story line in my head to bring it all together.

At this point, I try to make sure each ingredient is as essential as possible - I.E. how much would everything change if they weren't centaurs and were pixies or elves instead? If another ingredient could be easily substituted, then my ingredient is weak and I see if there's any reasonable way to strengthen it, especially if I can bind it to another ingredient or two. Sometimes they are as good as they can get given the time constraints and you just have to move on.

A rough time breakdown for creating this entry:

*Defining ingredients* - 30 minutes
*Brainstorming adventure based on ingredients* - 30 minutes
*A blur of non-stop typing, busting out 12 pages of adventure* - ~3-4 hours
*Writing the ingredient summaries* - 30 minutes
*Woefully insufficient editing* - 45 minutes
*Wailing and gnashing of teeth upon re-reading it after I hit Reply and saw editing mistakes* - 5 minutes

Congratulations to MortalPlague and thank you to phoamslinger for judging and Rune for putting this all together! It was a ton of fun (haven't done one in years) and definitely @ mention me if you need contestants for any future Iron DMs!

I'll look forward to reading entries in future rounds.


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## Rune (Jan 27, 2015)

Iron Sky said:


> First off, might I suggest imposing a word limit on the first entry if you are looking for one? Both the 2nd and 3rd rounds have "brakes" built in via defined word limits: I explicitly looked for them for the rules for the first round and the lack of a limit on the first entry led me to believe length was not an issue as it clearly was in the future rounds.
> 
> Had I known length was an issue, I could have casually shaved off 1/3 of the extra details in one pass (the encounter tables could each be summarized in a sentence, future adventures, and the "_roleplaying X_ sections could be cut if I knew length was an issue). I did so just now to check and I dropped 2k words in 3 minutes of CTRL-X.
> 
> Getting an auto-fail for exceeding an _unstated_ word-limit is not especially satisfying, especially given how easily it could have been trimmed had I known.




I didn't have any part in judging this match, so I don't want to speak for phoamslinger, but I do want to respond to this from my point of view. 

While it is true that the first round does not have a hard word-count limit, I saw a few red flags as I read your entry, which I think were, at least partially, causes by or exasperated by the length and ambition of the piece. 

In particular, there were several instances where you provided multiple versions of an ingredient. This is a great way to reinforce a thematic ingredient (because such iterations are linked through the theme), but generally only results in a multitude of diluted ingredients in all other cases. I think reigning in the entry might well have given you cause to focus on one of each a little more. 

That said, I wasn't judging, so I only read the piece once. All of the above is merely an expression of a first impression. 



> I wrote this in about 5 hours and the 45 minutes or so I spent editing was not nearly enough. As soon as I hit *Reply*, took a break and came back to read it again, I saw easily a dozen editing errors. In retrospect, I should have stepped away for 30 minutes _first_ then done my editing passes with fresh eyes. If it was judged based on editing, I definitely deserved a loss as MortalPlague's editing was impeccable.




Again, I don't want to speak for phoamslinger, but I don't think it was the presentation so much as the problems caused by the ambitious scope plus consequent diminishment of focus. More editing would have helped that, but only by cutting deep. For what it's worth, though (nothing), I would have critiqued some of MortalPlague's ingredients harshly, too. 



> *Defining ingredients* - 30 minutes
> *Brainstorming adventure based on ingredients* - 30 minutes
> *A blur of non-stop typing, busting out 12 pages of adventure* - ~3-4 hours
> *Writing the ingredient summaries* - 30 minutes
> ...




As a general rule that can be applied right at the start, the tougher the ingredients, the more editing will be required. 



> Congratulations to MortalPlague and thank you to phoamslinger for judging and Rune for putting this all together! It was a ton of fun (haven't done one in years) and definitely @ mention me if you need contestants for any future Iron DMs!




Thanks, and no problem. September is most likely, I think.


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## MortalPlague (Jan 27, 2015)

_Against The Abberancy_ was a spectacular adventure, and I'm looking for a way to fit it into my current gaming schedule.  I know my players would enjoy it greatly.  When that happens, I'll be sure to let you know how it goes, [MENTION=60965]Iron Sky[/MENTION].

As for me, this has been a whirlwind of events.  Let me break it down a little.

I noticed the Iron DM thread up and going, a good fifteen pages in or so.  I've competed in a few of them before (I think once against you, Iron), and I have always had a lot of fun piecing together an adventure from different elements.  It's a great creative exercise.  So I dropped a post in the thread, suggesting if they needed an extra player, I'd be happy to step in.

Not 48 hours later, they kicked off our bracket.

I received the elements on Wednesday night, late, just before I went to bed.  I was busy preparing for my Thursday game, where my players would be dining at a Banquet in the Nine Hells, hosted by Dispater himself.  So anything but idle thought on the elements was shelved in favor of rigorous prep-work.

Thursday morning, I went to work.  Then I had 90 minutes between work and my evening game to polish up my Nine Hells banquet.  Then I went to my Thursday game, where I'm co-DM'ing with a friend of mine as we finish up Rise of Tiamat.  He did not finish his section, however, which meant the banquet did not happen.  Instead, I was drafting up ideas between rounds of combat (especially after my paladin got knocked out and nearly slain by an ancient white spellcasting dragon).

Getting home around midnight, I set out hashing out ideas.  Every element actually clicked pretty well for me; I'd been spinning them around, but the centaur warlock angle had the most appeal.  I called up my friend to bounce ideas off of, and I came up with the twist that Abanno was actually double-crossing the PCs.  I had my adventure.

I had till 6 AM, so I had enough time to work on this.  I realized I hadn't asked what time zone it was from, so I checked in.  6 AM... eastern.  In an hour and a half.  I immediately set to typing, and managed to get it in with 3 minutes to spare.  If I'd had the extra few hours, I know I could have polished it up quite a bit more, and I would have included a stat block for Darriabran (who, admittedly, is a little more complex than an ordinary centaur).  But I was just happy to get it in with an idea that tied everything together nicely.

I hope, for the next round, things fall on a day where I'm less busy.  I'll still be running Dispater's Banquet on Thursday, but all my prep work is done for it, so there's no work beyond the session itself.  I'm excited to see where things go from here.

Thanks to [MENTION=60965]Iron Sky[/MENTION] for the excellent competition; when I saw _Against the Abberancy_, I was sure I had lost.  And thanks to [MENTION=2342]phoamslinger[/MENTION] and [MENTION=67]Rune[/MENTION] for running the competition; organizing and judging something like this can't be easy work, and I really appreciate all your efforts thus far.


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## Iron Sky (Jan 28, 2015)

Rune said:


> I didn't have any part in judging this match, so I don't want to speak for phoamslinger, but I do want to respond to this from my point of view.
> 
> While it is true that the first round does not have a hard word-count limit, I saw a few red flags as I read your entry, which I think were, at least partially, causes by or exasperated by the length and ambition of the piece.
> 
> ...




I don't think I've had an Iron DM contest where I _didn't_ have multiple uses of an ingredient, so I didn't realize that was an issue. For the record, I've won 1, taken 2nd in 1 and lost the first round in another (not counting this one). This would is my 8th adventure submission.

My issue wasn't with losing - I would have had no problems with a review that compared our ingredients and then said something like "it was close, but due to _AA_'s extreme length, I went with _SM_." The judgement we received was roughly the equivalent of "_AA_ was disqualified for an unspoken rule infraction before I could begin to compare them and so _SM_ wins by default."

This was likely disappointing to SM as well, since seeing how well your piece fared both as a whole and on a per-ingredient basis is extremely helpful for any further Iron DM competitions - be it this one or a later one. I don't see why MortalPlague should not get the benefit of such a review just because mine was disqualified.

 [MENTION=2342]phoamslinger[/MENTION], would it be possible to review MortalPlague's adventure at least on a general and per-ingredient basis so he has that feedback before the next round?


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## phoamslinger (Jan 28, 2015)

the rest of the week is pretty tight for me, but I will see what I can put together.


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## Rune (Jan 28, 2015)

Iron Sky said:


> I don't think I've had an Iron DM contest where I _didn't_ have multiple uses of an ingredient, so I didn't realize that was an issue. For the record, I've won 1, taken 2nd in 1 and lost the first round in another (not counting this one). This would is my 8th adventure submission.




It isn't an _issue_; it's just a red flag. It often means the author doesn't have a clear vision of how the ingredient fits in as an _integral_ piece of the adventure. Most judges take it as a sign that they need to direct more scrutiny toward the usage(s), although they may not always comment on it. And it's been that way since the beginning; Nemmerel would certainly call someone out on it. But then, he'd probably think the judges are too nice, nowadays. 



> My issue wasn't with losing - I would have had no problems with a review that compared our ingredients and then said something like "it was close, but due to _AA_'s extreme length, I went with _SM_." The judgement we received was roughly the equivalent of "_AA_ was disqualified for an unspoken rule infraction before I could begin to compare them and so _SM_ wins by default."
> 
> This was likely disappointing to SM as well, since seeing how well your piece fared both as a whole and on a per-ingredient basis is extremely helpful for any further Iron DM competitions - be it this one or a later one. I don't see why MortalPlague should not get the benefit of such a review just because mine was disqualified.




I feel ya. Sometimes it stings all the more when you've put as much effort in as you obviously did. Especially when the judgement's reasoning blindsides you. 

Personally, I didn't see an implication of disqualification in there, though. It read to me as two entries evenly balanced on ingredient use, so the judge went through the rules looking for something to hang the decision on that would be less subjective than just picking a favorite. He latched on to the phrase, "brief adventure," and there you go. In the end, did bias slip in, anyway? Maybe. But the effort was made to minimize it. 



> [MENTION=2342]phoamslinger[/MENTION], would it be possible to review MortalPlague's adventure at least on a general and per-ingredient basis so he has that feedback before the next round?




This is a fair request. As would be a request for more detail on your ingredients' use.


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## Rune (Jan 29, 2015)

*Round 2, Match 1: MortalPlague vs. Gradine*

[MENTION=62721]MortalPlague[/MENTION] and [MENTION=57112]Gradine[/MENTION], you have *48 hours* to post your entries to this thread.  Please limit your entry to 3000 words.  Please include a list of ingredients at the beginning of the entry and please do not edit your post once it is submitted.  Neither the list of ingredients at the beginning of your entry, nor the title, will count against this limit, _but everything else (*including any definitions or descriptions of your ingredients that you may wish to include*) will!_  Please refrain from reading your opponent's entry until after you have posted your own.  You are on your honor to do so.

*Your ingredients are:

Infinite Loop

Ice Frog

Chapel of Wings

Astronomer's Husband

Athletic Airship

Banal Competition*


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## Gradine (Jan 30, 2015)

*Round 2, Match 1: MortalPlague vs. Gradine*

*The Ingredients *
*Infinite Loop*
*Ice Frog*
*Chapel of Wings*
*Astronomer’s Husband*
*Athletic Airship*
*Banal Competition*

*The Diamond Toad*
_A low to mid level “high” fantasy heist, set in the floating city of Caelum_

*Introduction*
_The Diamond Toad _is a heist adventure and thus works quite well with a “gang of thieves” party of characters, though can be adapted to fit many parties by having an important NPC require the _Anora Major _in return for providing their assistance. In addition, while the floating city of Caelum includes some fantastical elements (including the floating continent and its airships) these elements are not at all out of place in a less magical (or completely non-magical) steampunk or clockwork setting.

*The Setting*
Many centuries ago, so the stories claim, Nephelai, the goddess of the sky, looked down upon humanity, bound to the ground like so many other beasts, and took pity upon them. Through her inspiration, engineers developed the Silver Wings, mechanical wings that gave their ships the ability of flight. Mankind took their new airships to the sky, and made it their first order of business to colonize the floating continent above that had always seemed so far from their reach. Thus Caelum, the floating city, was born.

In the years since mankind has developed propellers and engines that allow their ships to fly with greater ease, but they still commemorate that first great invention with an annual festival, capped off with grand _Race of the Silver Wings_. Teams of athletes retrofit their ships with the ancient devices, requiring a steady team of rowers and peddlers to power their flight, and compete against one another in a relay contest of endurance, strength and perhaps most importantly: perception. While airships circle a set path through the city, each team’s spotters must be ever vigilant for the rally’s flags, hidden throughout Caelum’s labyrinth of soaring spires and connecting bridges. The first flags are often numerous and easy to spot, but as the competition continues the flags get fewer and harder to find, eliminating those teams that fail to find and claim each set of flags. This continues until the final flag, the victory flag, is discovered.

The elders of the city complain how banal the competition has become, spending most of their time regaling youths about how the _Race _used to take days. These days the competition’s planners have run out of unique ideas for flag locations, and the teams have memorized past locations, so the _Race _now rarely lasts more than an hour. Still, the _Race _is the culmination of the city-wide holiday, and most of the city, from the poor groundlings to the royal family, still turns out to watch the _Race _while it lasts. Stores are closed, homes are empty, and most of the city’s police and navy work the competition.

In other words, the _Race of the Silver Wings _is the perfect opportunity to pull off the crime of the century.

*The Client*
Jonas Stormcrow is a Navy chaplain and priest of Nephelai, goddess of the sky. He is famed through-out the city as a champion of the lower classes, and while this and his unorthodox relationship have earned him a few enemies in the aristocracy and church, he is generally regarded as well-liked, especially amongst his peers in the Navy. His husband, the recently named Royal Astronomer Quentin, has been rubbing many people the wrong way, including Jonas. The chaplain fears that the fame and wealth has gone to his husband’s head, culminating in the commission of sculptures commemorating the various constellations he discovered. The pride of his collection is the _Anura Major_, a pure diamond sculpture the _Big Frog_, Quentin’s most famous discovery and crucial to the Explorer Guild’s navigation. Jonas finds the sculptures not just unnecessarily gaudy but a major repudiation by his husband of his life’s work combating economic inequality. In an effort to teach his husband a lesson, Jonas has utilized his contacts to find a fence and team of unscrupulous characters (the PC’s) to pull off the heist. Jonas expects 50% of the cut, but can be haggled lower, which he plans to donate to charities that assist the poor.

Jonas is soft-spoken but confident man in his early 30’s. He is friendly and generally comes across as a nice guy, though as a life-long member of the economic elite his attitudes towards the poor, while well-meaning, can come across as incredibly patronizing.

*The Score*
Quentin’s entire collection of sculptures, each one commemorating a constellation in the night sky, is impressive, including a ruby-studded brass fox and a small emerald & turquoise sea turtle, but the _Anura Major, _a pure diamond frog sculpture the size of a large fist, is worth more than the rest combined. It is well-guarded in Quentin’s Royal Observatory, and while Jonas knows of a few of Quentin’s common passwords, he has never been allowed entry. In particular, Jonas knows that his most valuable treasures are guarded by clockwork sentries, golems and several traps, mundane and possible magical.

Gaining entry to the Royal Observatory is in itself a difficult task, as it requires first gaining entry to the Royal Academy. Normally the Academy is guarded by Naval patrols, but the Navy is currently pre-occupied with policing the _Race_. Regular guard duty is light but still present, and will require great stealth and cunning to get past.

Most of the clockwork sentries and golems can be defeated by some good old-fashioned hitters, through intrepid sneaks might find the command words in Quentin’s journals. Traps include mundane alarms and “pound of flesh” deathtraps, though the trickiest trap to catch and disarm is a motion sensor in the display room, which when triggered causes the display pedestals to lower into the secure vault below. The vault itself is protected by the toughest combination lock money can buy. Only the most experienced safe-crackers with the most sophisticated tools (and about an hour of drilling) can crack it, though Quentin is absent-minded and still keeps the code (encrypted in a mathematical cipher) on a note in his locked work desk. 


*The Mark*
Quentin Stormcrow is the Royal Astronomer, recently appointed to the position thanks to his discovery of _Anura Major_, the Big Frog whose eye, the Gleaming Light, has aided the Explorer Guild in navigating and mapping undiscovered corners of the world, bringing Caelum untold wealth and prestige. While used to living a modern lifestyle at the behest of his husband, Quentin has let the fame and wealth go to his head, and has become more insufferable than he was previously considered. Like many new to wealth, he has a taste for flaunting it and a fear bordering on paranoia that he will lose it.

Quentin is in his mid-30’s, with a slight but unathletic frame. A professor of astronomy and ecclesiastical studies, he is extremely intelligent if occasionally a bit addle-headed. If engaged with in conversation he is overly pedantic and constantly demeaning, though never intentionally so.

*The Distraction*
The _Race of the Silver Wings _is a fine distraction, but is often too short for an enterprising team of criminals to make the most of. Luckily, Jonas knows exactly where the victory flag is due to make its appearance; hanging out of one of the windows his Chapel of Nephelai. If the victory flag can be prevented from making its appearance, the _Race _will continue indefinitely, its remaining competitors left to circle through the city in an endless loop, keeping the bulk of the city (including the royal navy) occupied.

Of course, getting to the flag’s location is almost as difficult a proposition as breaking into the Royal Academy. Jonas’s chapel is attached to Royal Naval Base. While Jonas will be able to disguise a few of the party members as new acolytes, it is still going to be risky (not aided at all by Jonas being a terrible liar). Once there, the party must incapacitate the race’s committee members or otherwise prevent them from displaying the victory flag when given the signal to. Instead, the party must devise their own signals, as they should display the victory flag as soon as the score is safely removed from the Royal Academy.


*The Plan*
Jonas has approached the party a week before the _Race_, giving them a small window of time to stake out the major locations and organize any additions they feel like making to the plan. Allow the party the opportunity to acquire and disguises and tools and plant them in helpful locations if necessary.

*The Complications*
There are two major complications. First, the race’s organizers know exactly when and where the victory flag is supposed to appear. They will be initially concerned when the signal they give to display the flag goes unanswered. While nervous at first, they will begin to see it as a blessing in disguise as they notice the crowds growing more and more excited when it becomes apparent that the remaining competitors are having difficulty finding the victory flag. The organizers will still send someone to check on their victory flag team, which will need to be dealt with by the party at the Naval Chapel, though if the heist goes down quick enough they may be able to avoid them.

A more major complication comes in the form of Mammatus Pearl, the diminutive sky pirate captain who has caught wind of Jonas’s plan (he’s no criminal mastermind himself and wasn’t as discreet enough in finding the party as he should have been). Captain Pearl plans to undertake the heist without Jonas’s help, keeping the entire cut of the score to herself. She will dispatch teams herself to the Chapel and Observatory, who will no doubt get in the party’s way and might call more attention to themselves and the heist than the party would like. They can be fought, tricked, or even potentially bribed with a percentage of the cut into helping out, though they are generally lazy and somewhat incompetent, and their “help” doesn’t amount to much.

Possible complications for the party:


A pirate trying to destroy a clockwork sentry accidentally breaks its control beacon, causing it to ignore commands and go berserk, attacking everyone.
A pirate accidentally triggers the motion detector in the Observatory’s display room, forcing the party to find their way into the secure vault to reach the _Anura Major_.
The pirates beat the party to the victory flag and have taken the place of _Race_ crew. If the party incapacitates them without discovering their true nature, this will leave them with a nasty surprise when the real crew wakes up and busts out of the nearby closet!
A _Race _team with inside knowledge that the victory flag should have shown up at the chapel starts to get suspicious by the endless loop and begins looking carefully in the windows, calling the organizers if they spot anything or anyone suspicious.
The pirates and party strike up an uneasy truce at the chapel, only for the organizer’s investigators to appear, giving both sides an opportunity to turn on the other.
 
*The Aftermath*
People talk for weeks about how exciting it was to finally see a _Race _last a decent length of time. The organizers begin planning to delay the revealing of the flags in future _Races _later rounds, though being generally incompetent, their plan is sure to go poorly. Jonas is easily avoided if the party needs the _Anura Major _for some other purpose. Otherwise Jonas’s fence is fairly easy for anyone connected to the city’s underworld to find. If Jonas is not given his cut he grows angry and sets the city’s police force after them, naming them culprits who kidnapped him and forced him into helping. If given to Jonas it takes him several weeks to collect his payment for the score, though he keeps his word and pays the party their share. Depending on how the pirates are handled, Captain Pearl can become a fierce enemy or helpful ally. 

*The Sequel*
Quentin tries his best to keep the theft under wraps, but secretly dispatches bounty hunters to track down the culprits. They are easily able to track the plan to Jonas. Even if the party gives the stolen goods to Jonas to fence, he has little loyalty to the party and is instead more concerned with placating with his husband. Unless they decided to allow Jonas to donate the entire portion of the score, he’ll give the party up easily. If caught Quentin has no plans to murder the party for their deeds; instead, he’s impressed by their abilities and wants to hire them to track the down his stolen sculptures and steal them back for him, and perhaps acquire even more items for him in the future. If they refuse he has more than enough evidence to turn them over to Caelum’s police. Unless the party wants to become fugitives they must comply until they can find a way out from under Quentin’s employ.


*The Ingredients *
*Infinite Loop- *The distraction: the _Race of the Silver Wings, _after the party hides the victory flag, becomes this. Without the victory flag, the remaining teams circle the city endlessly, trying in vain to find it.
*Ice Frog*- The score: The _Anura Major_, the diamond sculpture of a frog commemorating the discovery of the constellation _Anura Major_.
*Chapel of Wings- *Jonas’s Naval Chapel, dedicated to Nephelai, Goddess of Wings, and the location of the victory flag.
*Astronomer’s Husband-* The client: Jonas, husband of the mark: Quentin Stormcrow, Chief Royal Astronomer.
*Athletic Airship- *Airships powered by the Silver Wings; the muscle-powered contraptions that allowed the first of humanity's ships to take to the sky. These ancient machines are used to participate in the _Race of the Silver Wings_.
*Banal Competition- *What the _Race of the Silver Wings _has become, leading to short and ultimately unfulfilling competitions.


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## Rune (Jan 30, 2015)

Oh, my. Posted with more than 24 hours left! You must be awfully sure of your entry, Gradine!


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## Gradine (Jan 30, 2015)

Rune said:


> Oh, my. Posted with more than 24 hours left! You must be awfully sure of your entry, Gradine!




More so that I get home from work tomorrow with about thirty minutes to spare, and I don't fancy cutting things that close


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## MortalPlague (Jan 31, 2015)

*The Queen Under The Stars*
_A 5th Edition D&D Adventure for 5th-8th Level Characters_


*The Elements:*

*Infinite Loop* - Feleira's star-forged ring which allows her to share her immortality
*Ice Frog* - Fadden's frogs and their icy toxin
*Chapel of Wings* - Feleira's seat of power / owl roost / place of immortality ritual
*Astronomer's Husband* - Fadden is an ex-husband, whoever wins Feleira's hand becomes the new husband
*Athletic Airship* - Ethandril the giant owl is an athletic airship
*Banal Competition* - Counting the stars in the sky is a banal competition



*The Background:*

Feleira the Luminous, Queen Under The Stars is an immortal Lady of the Fey.  She has long been a student of astronomy, though the fey practice astronomy in different ways than mortals.  With a long life span comes a different perspective, and Feleira has spent her years painting the stars in their different positions as the centuries pass, forming a marvelous web of light and dark on the walls of her palace.

With her eye turned to the heavens, Feleira models many aspects of her life on the heavenly bodies above.  Her romantic inclinations follow the path of a comet that comes every sixty years, appearing in the sky for a year's time before it departs once more.  Sometimes, the marriage lasts beyond the comet's stay, but never for more than a few years; inevitably, she and her husband part ways.

The Queen Under The Stars possesses a magical ring, forged by ancient celestials from a star that fell from the sky.  This ring protects Feleira from any disease or poison.  It is also instrumental in a ritual of immortality, that Feleira's husband may share in her longevity.

Feleira's most recent ex-husband is a man by the name of Fadden the Fair.  He was a Fey Lord of the Marsh, who dwelled in the great marshes of the Feywild.  His were the creatures there, and chief among them, his frogs.  He caught Feleira's eye at the last celebration, but theirs was a short-lived union.  They split ways after merely two months, and so bitter was their parting that Feleira stripped him of the immortality he'd been gifted with.


*The Hook:*

_"In the sky, a new star appears, and thus begins the revelry.  Join with the fair folk beneath the jewels of the night sky, with food and drink of quality and quantity.  This missive is your invitation to join in the celebration, where Feleira the Luminous, the Queen Under The Stars will choose her suitor.

At the High Perch, Ethandril will remain until the new moon.  Appear, be swept up in the revel, and dance with the Queen for a chance at her hand."_

The letter is scribed in an immaculate hand, on white parchment edged with silver gilding.  It doesn't matter where the PCs found it, but it is in their hands now; an invitation to join the Queen Under The Stars at a grand party.  Who could pass up such an offer?


*Introductions And Mingling:*

High Perch is a wondrous place, full of towering trees and a village amongst those giants.  Bridges and walkways arc back and forth throughout, but the top of the tallest tree is the perch from where the village gets its name.  And on top of the tree is an owl, larger than any dragon by a fair stretch.  The owl's name is Ethandril, and he bears Feleira's Palace on his back.

The characters will find a tall ladder onto the back of the creature, where they will emerge at the edge of a large courtyard.  Here on Ethandril's back is a labyrinthine net of towers and collonades, of gardens and beautiful buildings, all of it airy and wondrous.  At the far end of the courtyard is an elegant, flowing structure with owl wing embellishments and plenty of open windows.

There are people here too; a myriad assortment of fey and mortals are mingling in the courtyard, all of them dressed in finery.  Perceptive or insightful characters might notice a short man in a green doublet wearing an owl mask, sticking to the edges of the crowd and waving off any attempts at conversation; whether or not they notice him, they will meet Fadden later.

Before the characters can join in the celebration, they are met by an elf lady named Avellia.  She wears stylized owl armor; a helm with sweeping horned brows, a beak for a noseguard, and a cloak of feathers.  Perched on her shoulder is a great horned owl named Benthas, who does the talking.  The owl will demand to see their invitation.  His disposition will be much softer if any of the characters is dressed in any sort of finery, but he will still be authoritarian until he sees an appropriate letter.  Avellia will interject with calming, soothing sentiments, and she will scratch the owl's head when he becomes agitated.  Once the fussy owl has scrutinized the letter to his satisfaction, he will allow the characters to join the festivities.

Here, the PCs may mingle with some of the guests on board, and may seek more information about what's happening.  In all likelihood, all they know is what was contained in the letter.  Most of the guests on board know the details of the celebration, but the fey are coy and playful about sharing information.  The PCs may also meet some of the following NPCs:


 Priggs the Satyr, who loves to drink and dance, and is a shameless flirt
 Bosterly Banderwick III, a young noble who fancies himself an adventurer
 T'Raste, a beautiful elven bard here to chronicle the occasion
The characters may notice the court is very gossipy, and conversations keep circling back to lovers and ex-lovers, particularly about Fadden and Feleira.  Other prior husbands are mentioned (Jinnael the Sly and Postrothal are mentioned most often), but Fadden certainly receives the most mention, particularly his strange fascination with frogs.  The characters may also notice a set of large black boxes set off to one side, clearly gifts from a suitor.  Anyone who examines them closely may hear the sound of something moving inside; they contain a number of ice frogs.  If asked, NPCs may reveal they were placed there by a pair of men and a woman wearing owl masks.


*A Sky Full Of Stars:*

As the characters meet and greet, they will notice as Ethandril takes to wing, leaving High Perch far behind.  The giant owl is a graceful flyer, and keeps his flight level and even.  As he flies, the sun sets, and the sky darkens, revealing the canopy of stars far above.

Feleira the Luminous makes her appearance with a grand entrance; she descends from her chapel, her face skyward, bathing her pale skin in the starlight.  Her beauty and grace are without peer, and while her eyes remain fixed on the stars above, she will sing a soft song in sylvan, welcoming their first light upon her face, and bidding them to stay through this night of courtship.  Her dress is sleek and dark blue, patterned with tiny magical lights that mimic the stars above.

With the stars properly greeted, Feleira will turn her radiant gaze on the assembled suitors.  She will greet them all, and will speak of the evening's agenda; a challenge first, and then a dance.  At the culmination of the dance, she will gift her hand to a suitor who has impressed her.

The first challenge is this; count every star in the sky.

Feleira will remain outside, on a high platform where she may gaze upon the stars.  The PCs may approach this in a number of ways; counting the stars will take an intelligence check.  For complete accuracy, the DC is 20; the further off the result is, the further out the PCs are numerically.

Priggs will lose interest in the counting and will come over to bother the PCs; the satyr will poke fun at anyone still counting, boasting that he counted them all twice already.  If he isn't kept from annoying the counter, the intelligence check is made at disadvantage.

The PCs are welcome to come up with an alternate way to count the stars.  Or perhaps a way to amuse or entertain Feleira.  Bear in mind that fey, even ones so serene as Feleira, have a sly sense of humor, and enjoy a clever take on a solution.


*Dancing and Revelry:*

After about an hour, Feleira will make her way to the suitors, and ask for an answer.  Given a correct answer, or a reply that amuses her will put a character into the Fey Lady's good graces.  Regardless of which sort of answer she is given, she will graciously invite the characters to remain for the dance.

As the murmur of conversation spreads across the courtyard, more and more owls will perch along the perimeter, or circle overhead, all emerging from the winged structure at the far end.  Benthas and Avellia will check in on the PCs to make sure they aren't causing trouble; the fussy owl seems to believe that the characters are up to something.  Avellia seems amused at the suggestion, and will mollify the owl's fears at every turn.

Priggs will be eager to show off his dancing abilities; hooves are the only way to dance, to hear him tell it.  Bosterly Banderwick III will suggest that his training in all forms of dance will catch the eye of the Fey Lady.  Neither one scored well with counting stars.

Observant PCs might notice  Fadden lurking about once more, carrying an elegant black box in his hands.  If questioned or approached, he is calm and polite, though an insightful character will notice he seems to be watching Feleira.  His other owl-masked servants have all taken up positions near to the black boxes.

As the dance gets under way, Feleira will dance with anyone who catches her fancy.  If the PCs did well with counting stars, she will gladly spin with any or all of them.  Acrobatics would be the relevant skill, but allow a PC to use other skills creatively here, so long as they can explain how it would be of use.  If the characters peformed poorly at counting stars, the Lady will not approach them for a dance unless they dare to request it of her.

Concluding the dance, Feleira will stand at the front of the assembled dancers, removing her ring and placing it on a velvet cushion before her.  The ring is the focus for the immortality ritual, though that effect remains even with the ring removed.  However, without her ring, the Queen Under The Stars is no longer immune to disease and poison; the time to strike has come.  Before she can announce her suitor, a dart strikes her neck from a place of hiding.  With a gasp, she will put her hand to her neck, her skin going completely pale, and shaking, she will fall unconscious.


*What's Fadden Up To?*

Fadden the Fair has slipped aboard the airship with three helpers, all disguised with stylized owl masks in black and silver.  His helpers have carried four large black boxes, and positioned them beside the dance floor; each one contains three giant frogs, all of them hungry and waiting patiently for their master to release them.

He has a small black box his own which contains a blowgun and a dart tipped with a potent concentration of the toxin from the skin of his ice frogs, which freezes the blood in the veins and induces a great torpor.

While the crowd is mingling and chatting, Fadden is getting re-acquainted with the layout of things; he is trying to assess any of the possible threats in the crowd.  While the assembled guests are counting stars, Fadden is keeping an eye out for a good point to launch his attack from.  His helpers are setting up the boxes, making sure they are spread out so the frogs can attack quickly.  As the dance progresses, the helpers are each near the boxes (the lady has two, while the men each have one box), while Fadden himself will move to his hiding spot, open up his blowgun, and poison the Queen.

It is possible for observant PCs to derail Fadden's plans.  If they notice the suspicious activity and take steps to head him off, it is entirely possible that he never has the chance to unleash his frogs and poison Feleira.  This is perfectly fine!  Observant and pro-active characters deserve to have a chance to head off a disaster before it happens.


*The Confrontation:*

There is a gasp from the assembled court, followed swiftly by screams.  Fadden's owl-masked minions have opened the large boxes and unleashed a dozen ice frogs, who are leaping about and are using their toxic skin to paralyze and render guests unconscious.  Furthermore, a particularly large ice frog is bounding towards the edge of the courtyard, where it clearly intends to try and paralyze Ethandril himself!  In the chaos, Fadden appears from nowhere and snatches the ring from its cushion, disappearing swiftly into Feleira's quarters at the head of the courtyard.

The characters must take action!  They are the only ones; none of the others among the suitors are adventurers, and the guards were the first victims struck by the frogs.  They may need to divide their efforts; the frogs must be stopped before they can devour the guests they have paralyzed or knocked out.  The larger frog must be stopped before it can paralyze Ethandril, sending the entire airship into an spiral to the ground.  And, Fadden himself must be stopped before he can complete the ritual and regain immortality.  Surely once he is immortal once again, he will flee the airship with the ring.

Avellia and Benthas have moved to cut off the huge frog headed for Ethandril; she will cry out to the PCs that she'll hold it long enough that they can save the others.  Without any aid, the frog will down her in a round or two.  But it might buy them the time to deal with the dance floor frogs (or send help to her, should they choose).  Either way, Fadden will have enough time to begin his ritual.

The key of it is the ring; if placed on a finger, it will cleanse a victim of the frog's toxin.  If the PCs don't realize this, perhaps one of the NPCs tending to the wounded calls out that their magic does nothing to rouse the sleepers, and the ring must be found to cure them.

They will find Fadden at the Altar of Stars, a room at the far end of Faleira's chambers, where glass windows offer a beautiful view of the night sky.  A telescope is affixed to a mounting, and it seems to gather starlight to focus it in a single point on the altar's top.  Fadden has placed the ring on the altar, and there he speaks the words to the ritual that will grant him immortality.

The PCs will likely need to fight Fadden.  He is too near to his goal to listen to any sort of reason.  But if the PCs have a convincing argument, they can sway him to surrender peacefully.  Otherwise, he must be brought low by force.

With Fadden defeated, the characters may retrieve the ring and return to Feleira, there to place the ring on her finger and remove the effects of the toxin.


*Conclusion:*

Feleira will be greatly thankful to whoever places the ring back on her finger, and will declare them the victorious suitor.  She will take that person as her husband (a largely traditional title, since she will marry a woman just as much as a man).  There will be a great wedding, and the hero will be gifted immortality through the same ritual that Fadden was attempting.  The husband's companions will all be granted gifts of sylvan riches.

It is likely that Feleira will tire of this new husband in the usual year and a bit.  Additionally, the Queen Under The Stars is a very low maintenance spouse; she is amused to allow her husband to go off on adventures, so long as he or she brings something back for her.  It is largely up to the DM how to use this unique connection for a character going forward.  A marriage to a fey lady has many upsides and just as many challenges.

In short, her husband is in for a year that will be anything but dull.


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## MortalPlague (Jan 31, 2015)

[MENTION=57112]Gradine[/MENTION]...

[sblock]I love your heist.  It feels very 'Lies of Locke Lamora' inspired, with the ships and the vaults and cultured society.  Nicely done.[/sblock]


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## Gradine (Jan 31, 2015)

@_*MortalPlague*_

[sblock]Thanks, I really enjoyed your adventure too! I especially love how evocative your writing style is. I try to be poetical at times but I find it so much easier to fall back into a more utilitarian style. Maybe I'm just a technical writer at heart. I know one thing; I'm really looking forward to the judgment![/sblock]


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## phoamslinger (Jan 31, 2015)

this should be interesting.

OK, we have Gradine's *The Diamond Toad* (DT) and MortalPlague's *The Queen Under the Stars* (QUS).  and the ingredients were...


...let me start out by saying there were things I liked and things I didn't like about both entries.  the ingredient list was intended to be a pain to work around and it seemed that this turned out to be the case.  both entries took some liberties and stretched for possible meanings to make things work.  sometimes this can be a matter of interpretation, but if the stretch is too much, it can make for a weaker entry.

the *Infinite Loop*
In DT, this was the race that didn't end right away and in QUS it was the wedding ring.  the problem in DT is that eventually the race does end, even if it gets called because the trophy flag has disappeared.  so while the loops may be longer than anticipated, they are not really infinite.

using a wedding ring as an infinite loop is interesting, because I've actually been to a few ceremonies where the priest goes into the symbology of rings and how they are supposed to form an ongoing, permanent bond.  that would make this usage of the infinite loop a really good interpretation EXCEPT that the queen divorces her "husband" after a year or so; kind of killing the whole infinite symbology.  

neither entry really achieved an "infinite" loop in their scenario.  so no advantage to either.

the* Ice Frog*
Gradine made the assumption that because diamonds are referred to as ice by criminals, and his adventure is about a robbery, that this would work.  this is a bit of a stretch, but one that I think, within that context, is workable.  MortalPlague actually had giant frogs that released a poisonous toxin through their skin that caused a chilling effect.  the problem here is really with the diamond frog.  not in its "ice" aspect, but as a frog.  Quentin's discovery of the Anura Major could have been envisioned as an elephant in the sky and suddenly we would have an ice elephant in place of an ice frog.  the Iron DM ingredient in DT becomes a macguffin (which I've commented on previously) and is not a strong usage of the ingredient.  point to QUS.

the* Chapel of Wings* (I wondered how this was going to get used...)
DT had a temple dedicated to the goddess who gave wings to ships that led to the building of the city, the race, and was where the protagonist/antagonist hides the victory flag.  QUS made mention of the chapel in the ingredient list, but I had to go back and look for where the Chapel actually comes into the adventure or is actually significant.  ...and didn't find it.  point to DT

*Astronomer's Husband*
DT had the naval captain who sets up the plan.  QUS had the previous husband who is the villain of the piece, but ALSO potentially (actually very likely) one of the PC's.  I don't think I've ever seen a submission where one of the adventurer's became one of the key ingredients in an Iron DM.  quite clever.  point to QUS.

the *Athletic Airship*
in DT we have a back to basics airship with rowers and peddlers (and bellowers and flappers and I can think of a whole slew of really silly naval positions with silly names trying to get a boat into the sky).  in QUS we have a really big owl (in other words, a ROC).  while the imagery goes well with the elvish palace of the owls motif, owls aren't really airships or athletes; too much of a stretch on this one.  point to DT.  

the *Banal Competition*
in DT we had the race that has been the same race for a long time.
in QUS we have the contest to count stars.

the problem I have with both of these I draw from real life.  NASCAR bores me to tears, watching cars go round and round, yet it still draws millions of fans.  and in DT the same thing happens.  everyone knows how the race ends, yet it pulls the attention of the populace, young and old, rich and poor.  not quite banal yet.

on the other hand we have counting stars, an occupation that has occupied people for thousands of years and still people go to universities and build Hubble telescopes so that they can keep counting, identifying, logging, naming, etc.  not too banal yet.

so another wash (at least to me).

not that I judge based on point system really, anyway.  but both entries had 2 strong elements and four weak ones.

[sblock]

one thing that I really didn't like happened several times in QUS.  counting all the stars is a DC 20 skill roll (tough, but not that hard at all if the PCs approach the problem aggressively), and failing they can work around.  if the players don't intercept the toad, the elf lady jumps in the way.  if the players don't figure out the ring as a cure all, a helpful NPC hands it to them the solution on a platter.  several times throughout the adventure, an easy route is given away if the players get stumped.  if you were playing with a time limit at a convention, maybe.  but not in a regular gaming session.  looking back at DT, Gradine throws several possible monkey wrenches into the mix, and then throws in a few more and the only easy out is the rival pirate band being slackers and not really exerting themselves.

part of being a Rat Bastard DM is to throw your players into a situation and sit back and watch them suffer if they can't figure it out.  because 9 times out of 10, your players will come up with some OTHER solution that you never even conceived of that turns out will work just as well if not better than the one you originally thought of.  if you just hand all the solutions to your players, where's the fun in that?

this particular style of "easy-peasy" adventure writing really came to the fore with 4th edition and seems to be carrying over to 5th.  I don't care for it much, but there's a vocal majority of DMs out there who accept it as the norm ("We don't want to TPK our players on a crashing giant owl, we just want them to have fun!  If everyone dies, where's the fun in that?"  - I really can't explain it I guess...), so I will try and overcome my bias and not judge on the basis of it.  

but my bias is still there and may come up in a later judgement...

looking at the ingredients that I liked, either DT's Chapel and Airship or QUS's Ice Frogs and Husband, the Chapel tied itself into the story well, but the airship competition is kind of background to the actual adventure.  I didn't really care for QUS's ice frogs that much, but the Astronomer's Husband becoming one of the PCs really stood out in my mind.  plus while I discounted it early on, the wedding ring as an infinite loop was also well done (one of those ceremonies I mentioned was my own way back in the day).

both entries pulled some really tough ingredients together and I had some issues with both of them, but I think I'm going to give this one to MortalPlague.  [/sblock]

still need to get the other two judges to weigh in and see who actually takes it.


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## Radiating Gnome (Jan 31, 2015)

*The Queen under the Stars (QUS) vs The Diamond Toad (DT) (Radiating Gnome)*

*The Queen under the Stars (QUS) vs The Diamond Toad (DT)
*
This was an interesting set of ingredients -- some really challenging ones in there, so we can expect to see two Iron DM semifinalists tested; so lets get the examination started.  

And lets talk about those ingredients.  

*Infinite Loop.*  Ingredients that use terms like "infinite" are always tough because it's easy to settle for using something close to the ingredient -- take for example the race in DT.  Here, the race is certainly a loop, but the whole point to it is that it does end -- and only for a few moments during the heist when the flag is hidden does it really feel like it might go on forever -- but those minutes don't make a great stand-in for infinity.  And since the short, lame race is also the banal competition, this ingredient is just close, not really on target.  At the same time, in QUS, the infinite loop is a ring that allows her to share her immortality.  It certainly gets a little closer to infinite (since it grants immortality) -- and since it's tied to a wedding ceremony, the ring part of the ingredient is also fairly significant to the story (and ties itself nicely to the "husband" ingredient later.  I'd be happier if immortality were closer to infinity, but still, QUS has a slightly better use of this ingredient than DT. +1 to QUS.

*Ice Frog *- In DT, the Diamond Frog is just a dingus. It could have just as easily been the maltese falcon or the Emerald Ferret, and it would have been just as significant.  In QUS, Fadden has ice frogs that serve him and that the PCs will have to face in battle.  That's a bit better than just being the dingus, although it could be argued that the frogs could have been almost any monstrous ally, but again this ingredient is marginally better in QUS. so +1 again. 

*Chapel of Wings* - In QUS, the Chapel of Wings is presented as many things (and we've already talk about how that's often a bad sign in previous judgements). I liked a lot about the massive Owl that carries the chapel and Feleira's observatory on it's back -- I like the way the owl motif is carried through other trappings in the setting, I thought that was a good touch. I think that tends to help save the ingredient a bit.  In DT, the Chapel of wings is the hiding place of the flag that signals the end of the race.  I had a problem with the idea that the location of the victory flag was a secret -- and yet it's held in a place that seems really obvious for an aerial race. But, maybe that's a quibble.  But if the location were not a secret, it would help me like the ingredient better. As it stands, the flag's location could be any suitably high place, and it just happens to be one that fits this ingredient -- but if the location were part of the tradition of the race, that would make it feel more integral to the story.  So, call this one a wash. 

*Astronomer's Husband* - In DT, the astronomer's husband is Jonas, the party's client. In QUS, the astronomer's husband is Fadden, the bad guy.  Both are totally serviceable, so no advantage there.  

*Athletic Airship* - This one was really tough.  I'm not sure how I would have handled it if I were in the contestants shoes.  In the case of QUS, this ingredient is also covered by the great owl that flies Feleira and her court around.  And while I can accept this as a use of Chapel of Wings, I don't like it for Airship -- airship implies some pretty specific things, and the massive owl doesn't fit very well.  Meanwhile, in DT the athletic airship are the actual racing craft for the big race -- totally works.  +1 to DT.

*Banal Competition* - Another really brutal ingredient to try to use.  In QUS, it's the contest to count the stars. In DT, it's the race, which has become trivial and lame over the years. I don't see much to recommend one use ahead of the other, so no advantage earned here.  

So, in the end, I think that QUS has a slight advantage over DT as I look at the ingredients.  

*Playability & Creativity*

I really like both of these entries, and could see playing them. I really like the challenges of the double-location heist adventure, and at the same time I really like the details of the fey court -- the owl and frog imagery in the descriptions, and so on.  Both are really well done, and playable. 

*Casting My Vote*
[sblock]
But, in addition to being a bit ahead in the use of ingredients, I think Queen Under the Stars feels more like a complete whole to me -- a very difficult feat with such a challenging handful of ingredients. The wedding theme tied the ring/loop, the chapel, and the husband together in a really tight, organic way.  

Diamond Toad works, but feels more cobbled together -- we can see the stitching more, etc. 

So, that's me, casting my vote for QUS and Mortal Plague -- don't forget that there will be two other judges casting ballots in this round. As you can see, it's no easy decision....
[/sblock]


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## Rune (Feb 6, 2015)

*Round 2, Match 1: MortalPlague vs. Gradine*

What better way to begin the second round than with two solid adventures that couldn't be much more different in tone and structure? To be perfectly honest, I've read both entries multiple times and I haven't got the faintest idea yet which will stand out as the superior entry. I expect that the articulation of my analysis will provide clarity by the time I've finished. 

Because this is so, you can expect for my criticism to be a little harsher than it might otherwise be (although, some of the criticisms I intend to raise are pretty significant). This should not be misconstrued as disapproval of the adventures in general; I like them both. 

Structurally, though, both have issues that must be addressed. 

First, neither has a very compelling hook. Gradine's entry, _The Diamond Toad_ (henceforth, _Toad_), glosses over a classic employment-hook. Being hired to participate in a heist for the history books ought to be compelling, but as with much of the adventure, it is either implied and assumed, or resolved offscreen, as it were. The only help the DM is given in actually playing out the interaction is the note that the PCs may be able to haggle for a better cut. That's it. 

MortalPlague's entry, _The Queen Under the Stars_ (_Queen_), sends an invitation to a party. Intriguing, but easy to ignore if it's the only hook. Had the palace on the giant owl's back come to pick them up, _that_ would have been hard to pass up (and given it a purpose in the adventure, but we'll get to that). 

Once we get past that, though, things pick up. _Toad_ gives us a background and a plan, but provides PCs plenty of opportunity to adjust the plan and make preparations. It really feels like the build-up to a heist and I think would play out very well, especially for players who love to plan. 

Added to this, the plan as proposed has some unspoken difficulties that the party will have to identify and deal with. For instance, in order to accomplish both non-infiltration parts of the heist (making sure the victory flag stays out of play and actually stealing the sculpture(s)), they will either have to split the party or devise some other means of being in two places at once. Given the likelihood of meeting resistance at both locations, things could get tricky. 

And, on top of that, we are provided with some really good complications to make sure things stay interesting. Nice. 

On the other hand, _Queen_ is much more direct in its approach, even while it injects an element of intrigue straight into the heart of the story. We get a party, where the PCs get a chance to fit in--or not. Simultaneously, we get a dastardly scheme unfolding right under the PCs' noses and, importantly, which the PCs have a chance of foiling! And then we get what looks to be a very chaotic fight. Finally, to the victor goes what promises to be a _very_ entertaining reward.

In general, we are provided with good assistance in running the adventure, but one gaping hole must be called out. We have _absolutely_ no instruction on how to run Fadden in the almost certain fight that will feature him. All we have is a name and a goal. There isn't even any clue as to what abilities he might have at his disposal. That's pretty significant. 

Okay. Ingredient time. 

*Infinite Loop.* Even though _Toad_ ties this ingredient in well with the others (as, indeed, all of the ingredients are well woven), and even though it's inclusion is necessary to the proposed plan of the adventure, it's interpretation is a bit of a stretch. The race is extended; nothing more. 

_Queen_ provides a much more clever interpretation. Not only is the loop a ring, which literally has no beginning or end, it also is the central component in a ritual that grants immortality. Unfortunately, the ring is merely a MacGuffin, but at least it is only briefly so. 

I'm tempted to call this a wash, but, given how close these entries are, I'd better be more definitive. Therefore, I'll lean toward the version that actually uses the ingredient. _Toad_ incorporates it's delayed race very well, but it's not an infinite loop. 

*Ice Frog.* _Queen_ uses it's frogs as a crucial aspect of Fadden's scheme (and personality), but I don't really get a feel for the necessity of their icy nature. Sure, it flavors the poison, but the adventure wouldn't suffer in the slightest if any other paralytic poison was used. 

_Toad_ suffers a similar problem. Given that the adventure is a heist, the fact that it is merely a MacGuffin could be ignored, if only the diamond had some important reason to be a frog. But the adventure doesn't care what the shape is and that turns what amounts to the central ingredient of the piece into nothing more than scenery. Which is bad. 

*Chapel of Wings.* Neither entry provides a compelling reason why this ingredient should be featured prominently in it. In _Toad_, the victory flag could just as easily be at any other location in the city. 

_Queen_ has more reason for being there--presumably an important piece of the ritual, but wings? I like the flavor that the owls give the setting and I get that the palace, chapel included, is on the back of a giant owl (for some reason), but I still don't understand how or why a Fey Lady astronomer dedicates a chapel to the birds (or their wings. Or whatever). The focus seems split between the stars and the owls. They make for good flavor, but the ingredient suffers for it. 

*Astronomer's Husband.* As good as the characters in _Toad_ are (and they are--they provide lots of fodder for complicating things and for building future adventures on), we don't ever really get a sense of how important astronomy is to the adventure. Really, any royal title for the astronomer would suffice. 

_Queen_ gives us something much more substantial; astronomy is so important to Feleira that her very marriages (and dissolutions thereof) are dictated by it, which leads to...well, everything. The (ex-)husband so generated is a constant factor throughout the adventure, even before the PCs become aware of him. And then, one of the PCs becomes the new husband as reward when all is said and done. 

I have previously mentioned that including multiple versions of ingredients is a dangerous game to play. This is an example of how it can be done without splitting the focus and diluting both. It is not a case of throwing both out there and seeing which works; they both work well (and reinforce each other).  

*Athletic Airship.* The setting provided by a palace on the back of a giant owl is evocative and _really_ cool. I just wish I could find some reason for it to be relevant to the adventure. But, alas, I can't. The only thing we get is the added hazard of having the paralyzed owl plummet from the sky during the frog-fight. 

It's cool. I _want_ to love it. But I want it to _matter_, too.

In contrast, _Toad_ provides some very quirky athletic airships (in multiple ways--the design, the crews, and the function are all athletic) that serve as a tremendous backdrop for the adventure. Regrettably, potential player interaction with these airships is likely to be minimal. How cool would it have been to include one in the getaway plan? Missed opportunity notwithstanding, this entry does it better. 

*Banal Competition.* There is really nothing banal about either of these competitions. There is no part of a race amongst airships with flapping wings that is unoriginal. Nor is a contest to count the stars while atop a giant owl in flight. Trite, maybe. Pointless, maybe. Unoriginal? Nope. 

Sure, in the context of the adventure, one is presented as such. And yet, it is the weakest presentation of the two. Why? In _Toad_, the ingredient serves merely as a setup for the background--it isn't even true of the diversionary event, since the heist changes it. _Queen_ at least gives it to the players to do something with.

[sblock]Even as I wrote all of that, I kept reversing my decision at different points.

I really like the potential that _Toad_ has for fun. It's a strong adventure. Stronger, I think, than _Queen_, even though the latter is pretty tight and no less evocative (giant oversight in providing Fadden's abilities notwithstanding). _Toad_ has more going on and it's all very good. 

Added to this, the ingredients all mesh well; they form a solid frame to rest the story on. All of which is why it breaks my heart a little to look back at my critique of the ingredients and note that _Queen_ generally uses those ingredients in ways that fit better and are more relevant to the adventure. 

I am forced to weigh the quality of the adventures against the ingredients they use. The thing is, _Queen_ is also a good adventure and I think that the difference in quality between the adventures is not as great as the difference in how well the ingredients were used. 

Consequently, my judgement falls toward MortalPlague. 

...Which makes this a unanimous decision. MortalPlague will advance to the championship round to face either Waylander or Wicht.

At this point, I usually try to give the contestant who isn't advancing something to walk away with that is constructive, perhaps educational, and hopefully inspirational, but I don't think I have much in the way of advice for Gradine. 

I was pretty impressed with both of Gradine's entries, particularly the subtle cleverness of the scenarios presented. You've already demonstrated an ability to weave your ingredients together well. I think if you can manage to do so just a bit more centrally (by which I mean "directly into the PCs' paths but not in a MacGuffiny way") into those aforementioned clever scenarios, you'll have a solid shot at winning one of these Tournaments.[/sblock]


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## Rune (Feb 6, 2015)

[MENTION=62721]MortalPlague[/MENTION] and [MENTION=57112]Gradine[/MENTION], now that all three judgements are posted, can you walk us through your development process. I, personally, would very much like to know how the two richly evocative adventures became so.


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## Gradine (Feb 6, 2015)

First off, congratulations to MortalPlague for advancing. QUS is a hell of an adventure; just remarkably well-written with such great, evocative imagery and flavor. To read the judges struggling with the decision between it and DT (and especially Rune calling DT the greater adventure; I think my jaw literally dropped when I read that) honors and flatters me more than you could all know. I was sure I was a goner the moment I finished reading QUS. I’m a huge fan and I’m definitely going to be rooting for you in the championship! 

To speak a little of my process. While this is my first time competing I’ve lurked through a few these (back in the early days of 4th edition, so ‘06 & ‘07?) and did a little research, so I knew coming into this competition that one of the most important things was to weave the ingredients together, rather than leave them as distinct, disjointed elements within the adventure. So both times I looked to see where I could combine ingredients in interesting ways. In Hatred of Ares this started with combining Distant Terminus and Heavy Water to create the River Styx & the Realm of the Dead, while (Diseased Alder)Man and (Celebrated) Orc called to mind classic Humans vs Orcs settings. It was just a matter of tying those two together and the remaining ingredients into the puzzle the heroes needed to solve. With this match, what first struck me was Banal Competition and Athletic Airship. I couldn’t shake comparisons to the Race of Eight Winds from the Sharn supplement for Eberron, and so I ran with that. Infinite Loop seemed easy enough to tie into that competition, so I began to think of who would benefit from making a big, city-wide contest last indefinitely. This is where the heist scenario began to develop, though the first inspiration for that actually came from my wife. Ice as slang for diamonds was a particularly clever turn, I thought, and while “diamond frog” is the epitome of a dingus, I thought that cleverness (combined with how difficult I expected it to be for anyone to justify the use of “ice frog” and not “lightning elephant” or “magma lizard” or any other type of creature) might have been enough to save me on that particular ingredient. The animal motif seemed to fit well with astronomy, so I set up the Astronomer’s Husband as the client, and chaplain of the Chapel of Wings which I could tie as an important location for the race and the heist. Quentin is actually a former PC of mine (a professor of religious studies) and his husband Jonas was an NPC priest of a weather deity, so it was pretty easy to repurpose them for the adventure (Pearl was another PC in that campaign, a dwarven sky pirate played by my wife).

I had never written a heist before, let alone anything quite so open-ended. I tend to write fairly linearly for my home game, and you read so much against linear adventures, but they seem to have an edge as far Iron DM goes, for reasons that should have been obvious (but I’ll get to that later). I actually read a few articles about writing heist adventures, and while they certainly helped me make a great heist that I’m extremely proud of, I think hewing too closely to that advice is what cost me the most.

My biggest problem is that I combined three ingredients (Banal Competition, Athletic Airship & Infinite Loop) into a single, albeit extremely important, event. I really like how it ties into the adventure as a major distraction/background event, and in following the advice I was reading (that the most important elements were the Background, the Locations and the Players) I thought it was good enough to tie those ingredients as a major background event. The problem with DT as an Iron DM is that it ties three ingredients together and doesn’t let the PCs really interact with them much. As it stands the PCs really only interact with one of the three ingredients, and it’s by far the weakest of the three (the “Infinite” Loop). As obvious as “the PCs should really interact with all of the ingredients” may seem as Iron DM advice, it’s not something that really occurred to me, especially as I was expending so much energy to craft a good heist. Of course, now that it’s been pointed out what an issue this is, I think the solution for this is obvious. But again, it’s not something I think I could have come up with without the critiques that I got.

I mean, obviously, as soon as I hit “post” I was kicking myself for not including a Silver Wing Airship as a getaway vehicle. It’s such an obvious thing and a total missed opportunity. It’s the one thing I think I would have fixed without the benefit of hindsight, but since I mostly won that ingredient anyway I don’t think it would have been enough to tip the scales. So here’s what I would change. Have somebody suggest hiring/bribing a team in the competition to serve as their getaway. It should be easy, considering the party would have the ability to determine who wins. A gang with contacts in the underworld shouldn’t have trouble finding a team short on scruples. Both the Academy and (obviously) the Chapel are on the race loop, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to drop both teams off, and then later pick up the party at the academy. Collecting the flag and the second team would require a bit of trickery as more eyes will be on that location. The second team might have to set up a distraction elsewhere in the Naval Yard or Chapel to cover their escape. This is all well and good until the day of the race, when the team shows up early to say that their Seeker (we’ve been reading a lot of Harry Potter to our daughter, sue me) is violently ill, likely poisoned by a rival team. The team doesn’t time to find a backup Seeker (dear JK Rowling, please don’t sue me) and needs somebody from the crew to take their place. This a great first wrench to throw as the team is already being split and now they’re likely losing their best lookout.

Now you’ve got a PC actually involved in the race. While the race itself is probably a dull experience for the player in question (a series of perception checks to spot flags, probably easy enough if the the party has sent a decent enough lookout along) there are plenty of wrinkles to throw in there. First, there’s that aforementioned rival team (spoiler: they totally poisoned the first Seeker) throwing all sorts of subtle sabotage their way. It’s the Seeker’s responsibility to catch and counteract such sabotage (the team can quickly brief them on what to expect). The Seeker’s also probably in the best position to notice the pirates heading the Chapel and Observatory. They’ll have to figure out a way to warn the other teams that they’ve got company coming. But now the party is involved with all of the elements, including the Race itself (and it’s important the Seeker do his job well, because the team doesn’t do well enough they could be cut from the competition, costing the other heist teams their cover and getaway).

And the main reason I didn’t even think to go in that direction was the advice I had read about giving the Player’s as much autonomy as possible to come up with their own plan. Live and learn.

Some other things random thoughts or changes as a response to the critiques:

Given a little more time and energy I probably would have fleshed out the puzzle locks in the Observatory, and actually tie the puzzles and their solutions to the unique astronomy of the setting. This ties Quentin’s astronomy into the adventure more strongly and also helps flesh out his character, who would otherwise likely never even be met by the party. He’s totally arrogant enough to lock his prized possessions with puzzles he thinks he’s the only one smart enough to figure out, and obtuse enough to place such puzzles in a location where they are literally surrounded by the answers. Maybe I’d tie an actual infinite loop into one of the puzzles/solutions? It’s a stretch but it’d be better than the not really infinite loop I’ve got now.

I really don’t know what else I’d do with the Ice Frog. Every good heist needs a good McGuffin and it’d be a shame to not tie it to an ingredient. Like I said, I thought I’d done enough with the turn on Ice = DIamond and tying the animal motif to astronomy, but as has also been mentioned the constellation itself could have been anything and in the end it’s still just a dingus. But it’s my dingus, and I still love it so (otherwise I wouldn’t have named the adventure after it). Maybe this is a place where “Kill Your Darlings” is appropriate advice but where else would I use the ingredient? I’ve been thinking about this for over a week now and I’m still coming up blank, so it’s not like I could say with the benefit of hindsight I’d have done this any differently.

My first thought with Athletic Airship was also “giant flying animal.” But then I thought, when is an airship not an airship? When it’s not an airship. So I had to sit down and really think of how to make the airships in question both airships but also athletic. I feel pretty happy with how they came out. I especially like how out-dated they are at this point in the setting, so the only real use they have left is in ridiculous athletic competition. The crew team is a pretty huge deal at the university I went to, and we all liked to joke “Who actually rows anywhere anymore?” “Crew.” This is what ultimately inspired the design of the Silver Wing Airships.

There was one comment about tying the Chapel to the history of the race and I thought I’d done that (it’s by far the most common location for the victory flag, I think I said 4 times in the past decade and the place most people were expecting it to turn up). I guess I could have been clearer about that. Or at least made it stronger.

I actually had to look up the dictionary definition of Chapel to make sure I wasn’t just using it as a generic synonym for Church. This is why I attached it to the Naval HQ (that and having to sneak through the Navy was a great additional complication for the second team). I would like to say that I kept calling it a Navy and not an Air Force because this particular civilization would have considered the crafts still primarily ships, but the truth was I just really, really nervous about the word limit. 

My greatest wish was that I could have tied the pirates to one of the ingredients. They’re such a great, important complication to the adventure and it really bummed me out that I couldn’t tie any of the ingredients into this element. Maybe this is where I could have Ice Frog turn up in some way but I really couldn’t think of any way to do that without it seeming so incredibly forced and out of place.

An idea that just now strikes me; a twist on the client-job offer scenario, where the party of thieves hears about Jonas’s plot the same way the pirates do (the guy just has no subtlety whatsoever) and instead of waiting for Jonas to come them, they seek Jonas out with an offer to take the job. This way they might better expect complications from other groups who might have heard similar rumors.

In any case I want to thank the judges for the excellent feedback. As my first time I feel really good about how far I managed to get and I really look forward to competing in future competitions with what I’ve learned from these two rounds. And again, congratulations to MortalPlague. Like I said, I’m a huge fan and I’ll be rooting for you in the next round.


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## Rune (Feb 6, 2015)

Gradine said:


> To speak a little of my process. While this is my first time competing I’ve lurked through a few these (back in the early days of 4th edition, so ‘06 & ‘07?)




I was taking a break from the Internet for a few years, so I'm not sure,  but I think EN World had a gap in IRON DM Tournaments from 2005 or so to 2009. If you have or can find tournaments that I have missed, I'd love to have links to those. 



> I knew coming into this competition that one of the most important things was to weave the ingredients together, rather than leave them as distinct, disjointed elements within the adventure. So both times I looked to see where I could combine ingredients in interesting ways.




It is important, yes. It gives the adventure a depth of consistency and strengthens the structure. 



> I had never written a heist before, let alone anything quite so open-ended. I tend to write fairly linearly for my home game, and you read so much against linear adventures, but they seem to have an edge as far Iron DM goes, for reasons that should have been obvious (but I’ll get to that later).




I can't agree with you here. As a judge, I've bounced more than a few entries at least partly because they were too linear. If I advanced such an entry, it was usually in spite of the linearity. As a contestant, most of my bounced entries were my more linear ones. 

The thing is, linearity is not inherently bad (Radiating Gnome's time-travel adventure from last year's tournament is an example of a good linear adventure), but it _is_ inherently limiting, and not just for the players. Given two otherwise equal entries, the winner will probably be the one that trusts the players to set and pursue their own goals and trusts the DM to let that happen, _as long as enough tools are provided to make it easy_. 



> I actually read a few articles about writing heist adventures, and while they certainly helped me make a great heist that I’m extremely proud of, I think hewing too closely to that advice is what cost me the most.




I'd be interested in seeing that advice. 



> And the main reason I didn’t even think to go in that direction was the advice I had read about giving the Player’s as much autonomy as possible to come up with their own plan. Live and learn.




When I said that your adventure was stronger, this is a large part of why. Really, I think that a lot of the things you are kicking yourself over are actually your strengths as a contestant. Don't worry so much about what you think the judges want to see. Build on your strengths and hone your craft until the pieces you produce win, not because of a judge's preference, but because they are flat-out superior. 



> In any case I want to thank the judges for the excellent feedback.




And thank you for putting in the time and energy to compete. 



> As my first time I feel really good about how far I managed to get and I really look forward to competing in future competitions with what I’ve learned from these two rounds.




As well you should. Both of your entries were pretty impressive.


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## Gradine (Feb 6, 2015)

Thanks for the response to my response. I think it can be easy in defeat to overanalyze and draw the wrong lessons. Perhaps it would have been enough to just introduce those ideas rather than force them on the adventure. Giving the DM more tools is I think salient point.

I'm not usually blessed with an overabundance of confidence, but I love writing and this competition has certainly given enough confidence to consider writing more for an audience. And I'm definitely excited at the prospect of competing again next time.


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## MortalPlague (Feb 7, 2015)

Gradine said:


> And I'm definitely excited at the prospect of competing again next time.




Gradine, it was an honor to compete with you.  Yours was an excellent adventure, and I could definitely see it being great fun to play at the table.  As always, the caliber of the competition in these events is very high; I don't think I've seen a poor entry yet.  These have all been top notch.

I'll post something a little later about how my adventure evolved.  There certainly was an evolution from my initial concept to the finished entry, and I'd love to share some of the more far-fetched concepts I considered, then discarded.

On another note, since counting the stars and an old, tired race didn't quite fit as a 'banal competition', I'm curious what would have served to fit the bill?  Purely from an academic standpoint here... I found that to be one of the hardest elements to work with, and it seems both myself and my competitor missed the mark on that one.


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## Rune (Feb 7, 2015)

MortalPlague said:


> On another note, since counting the stars and an old, tired race didn't quite fit as a 'banal competition', I'm curious what would have served to fit the bill?  Purely from an academic standpoint here... I found that to be one of the hardest elements to work with, and it seems both myself and my competitor missed the mark on that one.




I dunno; that was your job!

To be fair (to us), I think the original ingredient, "banal airship," would have been tougher (even if "athletic competition" would have been easier).


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## Rune (Feb 7, 2015)

*Round 2, Match 2: Wicht vs. Waylander the Slayer*

[MENTION=221]Wicht[/MENTION] and [MENTION=1830]Waylander the Slayer[/MENTION], you have *48 hours* to post your entries to this thread.  Please limit your entry to 3000 words.  Please include a list of ingredients at the beginning of the entry and please do not edit your post once it is submitted.  Neither the list of ingredients at the beginning of your entry, nor the title, will count against this limit, _but everything else (*including any definitions or descriptions of your ingredients that you may wish to include*) will!_  Please refrain from reading your opponent's entry until after you have posted your own.  You are on your honor to do so.

*Your ingredients are:

War Game

Demonic Kangaroo

Treasured Junk

Repurposed Temple

Boastful Promise

Absent-minded Golem*


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## MortalPlague (Feb 7, 2015)

Rune said:


> To be fair (to us), I think the original ingredient, "banal airship," would have been tougher (even if "athletic competition" would have been easier).




I think it would have, yes.  Hah.

So, how did I come up with Queen Under The Stars?

I saw several versions of the adventure evolve and be tweaked or discarded.  Early on, I decided the astronomer would be a demigoddess, who would use her ring to grant immortality to whoever became her husband.  That element changed very little through the adventure.  Bouncing ideas off one of my players, we spun yarn about a Discworld-style nation who determined who would wed the Astronomer Queen through a series of banal competitions aboard an airship (athletic airship, in this case, meaning an airship devoted to athletics).  There would be frogs, because the prophecies had been written down by a prophet who was hard of hearing and had badly mistranslated things as he wrote.  The chapel of wings would have housed the prophecy.

In the end, I decided it would end up too silly, and the tacked-on nature of the elements wouldn't earn me many points.  I kept the Astronomer Queen, and shifted things to a more serious competition of courtship.  I had the PCs as the 'support team' for one of the candidates; basically, they'd flit about beneath the notice of really powerful NPCs and sabotage things or tweak things in their favor.  Still aboard the airship, still doing banal competitions.  I could never quite reconcile how the PCs would become involved in such an affair, though.  Why would they be the first choice for an epic level NPC?

I don't remember exactly when it occurred to me to shift the PC into the role of 'husband-candidate', but that's when things started to fall together.  The PCs get a hold of a letter (which they really aren't the intended recipients of), and so they slip on board the airship and participate in a fey revel.  The other big shift was a switch from 'demigods' to 'fey', which brought things down to the point where PCs could easily be involved without being epic level.  It also made the elements fit together better, and made it easier to use the frogs.

The other thing that went through several iterations was the finale.  In my earliest drafts, I didn't have a villain.  It was the PCs versus other NPCs competing for the same prize.  But when I shifted things to the fey court, the idea of a 'Lord of the Frogs' came up, and I realized he could be using the icy toxin to put Feleira into a sleep from which she would never awake.  And it would only happen at the climax of the dance when she took off the ring to give it to her chosen suitor!  Perfect!  I had him touch a frog to her cheek, and the toxic skin would induce the torpor.  But the idea played out as too visible; he wouldn't get away with it.  So instead he used a blowgun with the frog toxin, and unleashed several frogs on the populace.  I was gleeful when I realized that the frogs could also paralyze the airship; I thought I was being quite clever.  That would make it very important that the airship was 'athletic', and not merely a regular airship.  Also, it tied the ice frogs to the airship element.

Overall, these elements were tough.  I was looking up frogs on wikipedia for inspiration, trying to find something unique to frogs where they couldn't be swapped for another monster (hence the toxic skin).  The athletic airship was a fit to come up with; I had visions of some titan swimming through the astral sea with a court on his back, I considered some sort of flying machine like what Gradine came up with, but I went with the owl as a symbol of the night.  And the banal competition... how do you put a dull competition into an adventure in a central way without making it a dull adventure?  These were very challenging elements, and I enjoyed working with them at every turn.  They kept me thinking, kept me working right up until the final moment.

Gradine's entry was very impressive; I really enjoyed the ideas surrounding the heist, and I could definitely see this being a blast to run at the table.  My group of players tends to enjoy roguish stuff like that, so I'm taking notes for a future campaign.  A heist with airships is simply too much fun to pass up.  I really hope you continue to compete in these, because I'd love to see what comes next.

As always, thanks to the judges.  A lot of hard work has gone into this competition, and your efforts are appreciated.  I hadn't ever been to round two before, so I didn't even realize that all three judges would weigh in on the entry, but the feedback and criticism has been very valuable.

I can't wait for round three.  Best of luck to Wicht and Waylander.


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## Rune (Feb 7, 2015)

MortalPlague said:


> As always, thanks to the judges.  A lot of hard work has gone into this competition, and your efforts are appreciated.




Thank you for the appreciation. 



> I hadn't ever been to round two before, so I didn't even realize that all three judges would weigh in on the entry, but the feedback and criticism has been very valuable.




When we have three judges for the panel, anyway!



> I can't wait for round three.




Best get ready to tighten up, then. Round Three has a 2000 word limit!


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## Wicht (Feb 9, 2015)

*War Game:* _ The “contest” between Lord Kyngamoto and Lord Ingyatomi_
*Demonic Kangaroo:* _Jurhaoni, an oni demon capable of possessing and animating an inanimate object, currently housed in a bronze statue of a kangaroo_
*Treasured Junk:* _General Hoshi's command boat, the apple of his eye_
*Repurposed Temple:* _The long abandoned Temple of Seven Gates; used as a staging ground for the contest between Lord Kyngamoto and Lord Ingyatomi's samurai_
*Boastful Promise:*_ Lord Kyngamoto's boast that his samurais can defeat ten times their number in battle_
*Absent-minded Golem:* _Sutondor, an ancient stone golem tasked with caring for the Temple of Seven Gates, his programming was long ago corrupted with age_

*The Battle of the Temple of Seven Gates*
_A Pathfinder adventure for oriental characters of 7th level, featuring mass combat. _

*Adventure Background* 
The Temple of Seven Gates, built deep within the jungles of Harami province, upon the shores of the Tya river, has long been bereft of human life.  The monks of the temple were a strange bunch, devoted to the worship of beasts, foreign and domestic, and strange demons. They filled their temple with hundreds of statues of animals from all over the world. Their veneration drew the attention of a clan of Choz-Oni, evil demons capable of possessing and animating statuary. The vile creatures tormented and eventually killed the monks and took control of the temple complex. The only remnant of the ancient order is an immense stone golem named Sutondor, which performs random acts of upkeep, his programming long ago corrupted so that he can no longer keep track of the order in which he does his tasks, nor even what his tasks are actually meant to be. 

The Temple is about to become the scene of a major “war game” between a hundred samurai belonging to Lord Kyngamoto and a thousand samurai belonging to Lord Ingyatomi. The impetus for this battle was a boast made by Lord Kyngamoto, rather carelessly, that his samurai could easily defeat ten times their number in battle. The PCs, in the employ of Lord Kyngamoto have been tasked with delivering on their Lord's boastful promise.  

Due to the fact that the Shogun has officially outlawed open warfare between samurai clans, Lord Kyngamoto and Lord Ingyatomi have chosen a rather remote region for their samurai to battle in, and they have officially commanded their forces not to fight to the death. Nevertheless, such war-games have the potential for becoming quite bloody.  

*Synopsis*
The PCs, tasked with commanding the hundred samurai of Lord Kyngamoto, arrive at the ancient Temple of the Seven Gates upon the shores of the Tya River two days before the forces of Lord Ingyatomi are to arrive. As they and their troops prepare to engage their enemies, who are, it is rightly thought, going to attack via the river, they encounter the great stone golem, Sutondor, who, so long as he is not attacked, mostly ignores the presence of the troops as he goes about his bizarre tasks. At the same time, the clan of Choz-oni, led by Jurhaoni, begin tormenting the samurai, even going so far as to kill a few of the soldiers in the night, leaving their bodies in gruesome displays.

The samurai under the PCs soon begin to speak of the temple as haunted, and there are threats of desertion. Some few even attack Sutondor and get themselves killed. The PCs must balance the activities of the second day carefully, assuaging the fears of their men, investigating the deaths from the evening before, working around the activities of Sutondor, and continuing to prepare for the coming battle. That night, there are more deaths among the men, and some strange occurrences featuring the temple statuary.

On the dawn of the third day, the forces of Lord Ingyatomi attack, coming down the river in flat bottomed boats. They are led by one General Hoshi, who commands his many troops from a gold bedecked junk.The boat is the General's pride and joy. The general is quite willing to command his troops to not fight to the death, surrendering or playing dead upon the first strike upon their persons, so long as two conditions are met: one, that the samurai fighting under the PCs do the same, and two, that no damage comes to his boat. If his boat is ever damaged, he flies into a rage and commands his men to fight to the death.

As the battle rages, Sutondor takes it upon himself to begin tending to the grounds in the middle of the battle. At the same time, the activities of the Choz-oni, who delight in mayhem, are stepped up, as they attempt to act in such a way as to cause the battle to become ever bloodier and more confusing.   

The PCs must use all of their skills and abilities to thwart the canny oni, keep their troops from being massacred and, if at all possible, for the honor of their Lord, win the day. 

*Character Hooks*
The adventure, as conceived, is intended as a one-shot scenario, but it is quite possible to draw the PCs into the scenario in the context of a longer campaign. If the PCs are adventurer's in the employ of a Lord, the names can simply be changed to fit the actual circumstance of the PCs. If the PCs are unemployed adventurers then the easiest hook is for Lord Kyngamoto, realizing the foolishness of his boast, to hire the adventurers to lead his troops into battle, basing his decision on knowledge of their abilities and circumstances.

*The Major NPCs*
_There are three major NPCs in the adventure, whose actions and decisions, apart from those of the PCs, will most shape the events of the Adventure. They are as follows._
*Sutondor:* This ancient stone golem is generally peaceful, but also resolute in carrying out the duties given to it by its makers. Unfortunately, the programming of the golem has become corrupt so that the golem is somewhat “absentminded,” having no real memory of anything it has done more than ten minutes previously nor even what its duties truly are. Thus its activities are almost completely random. The duties of the golem originaly included sweeping out the temple, raking the grounds, trimming the plants growing around the temple, wiping down the bricks of the walls, repairing the path leading from the temple to the river, putting anything out of place in the temple back to where it should go and feeding any animals on the grounds. Now it is as likely to be found feeding the bricks and sweeping the animals in a confused sort of way. Only if the golem is attacked does it attack back, and then only for a few rounds, before it forgets what it was doing and returns to its duties. 

*Jurhaoni:* The leader of the Choz-oni, Jurhaoni inhabits a bronze statue of a kangaroo, a beast quite foreign to the area, but one whose shape amuses the oni. The pouch of the kangaroo statue operates as a handy haversack so long as the oni inhabits the statue. Jurhaoni, and all his clan, are quite wicked, delighting in tormenting mortals, inflicting fear and death. Throughout the days and hours leading up to the battle, the oni move surreptitiously through the temple, freezing in place whenever there are multiple soldiers around. They do what they can to break the equipment of the PC's samurai, confuse the work of the soldiers, and strike fear into the samurai by killing lone soldiers during the night. Encased in their statuary bodies, the oni feel quite safe, as they cannot actually be hurt until cast out of said bodies.

*General Hoshi:* Leader of the thousand samurai fighting against the PC's and their troops, General Hoshi is a proud, pompous man, possessed of an adequate military mind, but more interested in fishing than in battle. He sees the battle of the Temple of Seven Gates as a diversion, the end result of which is certain. His pride and joy is an imported gold-plated junk from which he directs his samurai during the battle. If the junk is ever damaged, General Hoshi becomes quite lividly furious, vowing to kill all of the PCs and the samurai under them.  

*Adventure Events*

*Day One*

 The PCs arrive with their men at the Temple of Seven Gates.
 Sutondor makes his first appearance, meticulously raking the stone path leading to the river. So long as he is ignored, he ignores the soldiers, and is soon seen sweeping off the sides of the temple with an ancient broom.
The PCs must begin arranging their defenses.
 A brick falls from the second floor of the temple, braining one of the samurai. There are whispers that the golem might have dropped it.
 The temple complex is invaded by a large herd of spotted deer. One of the deer is later found dead at the feet of a strange statue of a kangaroo, its heart missing.
  One of the soldiers, moving around inside the temple sets off an ancient summoning stone, conjuring forth an immense rampaging dire.
 During the night three samurai are killed. One is found torn apart amidst a group of gore encrusted tanuki statues. A second is found hanged inside the temple. A third has been drained of blood. When Sutondor is next seen, he is covered in said blood. All three bodies are missing their hearts.

*Day Two*

 The samurai are convinced the temple is haunted. There are whispers of desertion. 
 Sutondor spends an hour undoing any defensive structures the PCs have arranged before turning its attention to caring for the temple garden.
 One of the samurai sees a statue of a five tailed fox moving inside the temple.
 The statue of the kangaroo is seen in multiple places by the PCs.
 At the same time as the day before, a herd of spotted deer invade the temple complex.
 A group of five samurai decide that Sutondor is to blame for the problems and suicidally attack the powerful golem. 
During the night the oni in the tanuki statues kidnap a sleeping samurai, take him into hidden chambers in the temple and torture him so that his screams echo throughout the complex.
 A samurai is killed in his sleep with a dagger, his heart removed; said blade is found hanging from the innermost gate, blood still dripping from its point.
 As dawn approaches, one of the Choz-oni, inhabiting the statue of a wolf, makes a mistake and is discovered while attacking one of the samurai. Assuming the PCs join the fight, the destruction of the statue reveals the oni, who seeks to inhabit another statue, or, failing this, fights to the death.

*Day Three*

 The thousand samurai of Lord Ingyatomi arrive and the battle of the temple commences.
General Hoshi plans on attacking in three waves, with a fourth group in support. He has two hundred archers stationed on the far side of the river to provide cover. The first wave of two hundred samurai are to land their boats and charge the defenses of the defenders from the front. The second wave of two hundred samurai is to land to the north of the temple and attempt to flank the complex. The last wave of four hundred samurai are to land at the height of the fighting and help mop up the remaining defenders.
During the fight, the tanuki statues go on a murderous rampage killing any samurai in their way indiscriminately. These twelve statues function as their own combat unit.
Depending on the success of the oni in mucking up the defenses, a certain number of weapons, positions, and constructed fortifications begin falling apart. 
 Sutondor moves into the middle of the battle and begins trying to sweep up samurai from the battle field with his broom.
 The herd of deer arrives early, but the battle confuses them and they begin running throughout the temple, getting in the way of the fighting.

*Complications*

 It is possible for the PCs to figure out ways to get Sutondor to work for them. The golem can be manipulated if the PCs are willing to spend the time to figure out how to do so. However, any success in this area is limited as the golem will forget what it was about after 1d6x10 minutes.
 If the oni think the PCs are on to them too early, they will misdirect by possessing statues, move them, and then vacate the same statues to inhabit others. The PCs can thus never be sure of which statues are truly possessed at any given time, excepting the statues of the tanuki and the statue of the kangaroo.
 The PCs might be able to convince General Hoshi to postpone the battle while they cleanse the temple of evil, but doing so will require great amounts of evidence and some powerful diplomacy.
If Jurhaoni is cast from his kangaroo body, he flees into the massive chimeric statue located in the middle of the inner shrine, and, in the midst of the battle, animates the huge stone shape to wreak havoc amongst the samurai.


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## Rune (Feb 9, 2015)

Cutting it pretty close, [MENTION=1830]Waylander the Slayer[/MENTION].


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## Waylander the Slayer (Feb 9, 2015)

War Game: The Coliseum Games
Demonic Kangaroo: Hiawatha
Treasured Junk: The key to controlling Hiawatha
Repurposed Temple: The colesium
Boastful Promise: Made by Augustus Maximus
Absent-minded Golem: The “map” that leads to the temple
War Games of Infamy
Background
The ancient tribes of the Orakami face eradication; their ways and people slowly being wiped out by the  Ordo Imperium who landed on their shores a decade ago. Now they face the most difficult of choices, and perhaps the final solution; summon and control the destructive aspect of their most powerful totem; the Great Hiawatha, the First Kangaroo; he who is said to lead the Orakami to their land.  However, the path to summoning and controlling Hiawatha is not easy, and one that only the bravest may tread, and few may survive.
Hook
The player characters are tribesmen of the Orakami, an ancient people similar to the aborigine tribes, who have left with but one option, to summon the demonic aspect of Hiawatha. The armies of the tribes have amassed, now confronting the superior forces of the Imperium. The PCs will have to negotiate through the battle front, and into the main city or Palentium where the Ancient Temple has now be repurposed by the Imperium as the Coliseum for the
Part 1- Entering Palentium
Palentium is heavily fortified and guarded, however, the main attraction that occurs periodically is the War Games. In fact, Imperator Augustus Maximus believes that the results of the War Games conducted in the Coliseum are indicators of the favor of their divine gods; they try to make it as authentic as possible.  The in charge of the Coliseum, Aquius Verla, has promised the most powerful and authentic natives, and the best of the best for the war games, and also guaranteed “victory” for the Imperium in the war games (the opposing side is usually bled out and made weak, though provided with authentic armor and weapons). Unknown to Aquius, his main Requestor, Ayena Mallor, has slowly come to understand and love the Orakami ways and has agreed to aid the PCs.

-	The PCs are thrust into the arena as “the natives” having to defend against the imperium forces. Thankfully, Ayena makes sure that the characters have their full complement of spells and weapons. It’s up to the PCs as far as how they handle themselves during the war games; there are a few key goals here
o	Before, every such event Maximus boastfully promises victory for their forces, as he has been “told” by the gods themselves. Upending and defeating the Imperium forces in the coliseum severely impacts the morale of the troops and the credibility of Maximus.

Part 2- The Temple of Hiawatha
o	The PCs have been provided a “map” of the Old Temple; a small kangaroo golem that can only be awakened with a prayer known to the shamans of the Orakami.  There is a small problem however, the magic of the golem is no longer as potent, and it constantly takes wrong turns, and makes other mistakes. The PCs will have to protect the golem at all costs, to get to the secret temple chambers

o	The PCs also need to recover a small wooden talisman before performing the ritual, now in a junk pile in the main gladiator galley. Recovering it will be difficult, as the PCs will have to go through the gladiators.


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## Waylander the Slayer (Feb 9, 2015)

Rune said:


> Cutting it pretty close, [MENTION=1830]Waylander the Slayer[/MENTION].




Unfortunately got stuck at work and had to do some firefighting over the weekend on a project. Apologies for the formatting and the skeletal entry


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## Radiating Gnome (Feb 10, 2015)

It’s a common enough occurrence in Iron DM that a contestant has RL problems that interfere in his ability to complete an entry – it seems like that happens at least once per contest, and it’s always a shame to see. However, there’s a precedent for short, hastily completed entries that were so cool they won anyway, so we should make no assumptions, and get right down to judging this worthy contest between The Battle of the Temple of Seven Gates (7G) and War Games of Infamy (WGI).  

*Ingredients:*

*War Game.*  In 7G, we have the lopsided challenge the PCs are forced into; outnumbered 10-to-1 to settle an idle bet made by their Lord. It’s an effective use of the ingredient, and sets up the whole adventure.  In WGI, the war games again pit the PCs as the “natives” in staged entertainment battle they’re scripted to lose.  I like this one too, and I can forgive any striking similarities to movies I might have seen.  A lot.  It still works. 

*Demonic Kangaroo.* In WGI, we understand in the background that the demonic aspect of the Kangaroo god Hiawatha needs to be summoned, but in the actual action of the adventure that doesn’t seem to come up – it’s apparently something the PCs will have to do, but this is a victim of the author’s time crunch. In 7G, on the other hand, the Demonic Kangaroo is a statue of a kangaroo, possessed by a demon, that teases and torments the defending samurai.  An excellent application, so advantage 7G

*Treasured Junk.* In 7G, this is the enemy General Hoshi’s pride and joy, and his command center. It works, but the adventure does not need the presence of this offshore command center – it’s not really integral.  At the same time, in WGI, the more mundane use of Junk seems to be the less obvious choice, but it’s again not important that it be there – in the scene, the junk hides the prize, but it might as well be a chest – it doesn’t matter that it’s junk. So, that one also really suffers.  I don’t think either is really worth the advantage here, but might circle back if I wind up needing a tiebreaker.  

*Repurposed Temple.* The setting for the mock battle in 7G is the temple of the Seven Gates, long abandoned and now haunted by demons. I found this setting evocative, well-illustrated, and engaging – a place I really wanted to run for players. So, really good stuff.  In WGI, I think we have a clear victim of time crunch – there’s no sign of the coliseum being a repurposed temple except in the list of ingredients.  Clear advantage to 7G.

*Boastful Promise.*  In WGI, the impresario staging events in the coliseum has promised powerful, authentic natives whom he guarantees the imperial forces will defeat. It works. In 7G, Lord Kyngamoto has boasted that his samurai can defeat a force of Lord Ingyatomi’s ten times their strength – this one also works.  And, I think it benefits from being the entire setup for the adventure, rather than being a potentially unnecessary detail like the one in WGI.  

*Absent-minded golem.*  I’m amused by Sutondor – he is a fun addition to the adventure in 7G – but in a very real way he’s a tacked-on complication that does not need to be there.  In that way he’s not really a stronger use of the much less colorful kangaroo golem guide used by the PCs in WGI.  So, even though I like Sutondor a lot, he doesn’t earn much advantage here.  
Still, looking at the ingredients as a whole, 7G has a big leg up over WGI.  

*Overall*

I really like 7G.  It has flavor and texture and a hopelessly complicated situation that the PCs are caught in, beset on all sides and desperately trying to keep their contest with the enemy samurai non-lethal will be a really complicated challenge.  

WGI, on the other hand, is obviously less developed; the clash of cultures implied in the adventure could be used a great deal more. I’d love to see this fleshed out – I’ve always been a sucker for adventures that involve gladiatorial contests, so I want a lot more from this that it doesn’t quite deliver 

*Judgement
*
[sblock]
So, at this point, it’s not much of a surprise that I’m going to cast a vote for *The Battle of the Temple of Seven Gates*.  
*Waylander*, I’m glad you submitted your entry at the buzzer even if it wasn’t everything it could have been.  Like I said, we’ve seen those dashed off entries blow the minds of the judges in the past, but this time, that didn’t quite happen.  
So, *Wicht*, you get my vote.  We’ll have to see how the other judges vote. 
[/sblock]


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## Wicht (Feb 11, 2015)

Rune said:


> Hey, now! If you want to passive-aggressively imply that the judges should hurry up, do so in the other thread.




Far be it from me to hurry the judges, who, as true connoisseurs of the art of writing, choose every one of their succulent words with the utmost care, polishing and refining each as one would a fine gem destined for a frame of gold.


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## Rune (Feb 11, 2015)

That's better. Harrumph.


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## Radiating Gnome (Feb 11, 2015)

Wicht said:


> Far be it from me to hurry the judges, who, as true connoisseurs of the art of writing, choose every one of their succulent words with the utmost care, polishing and refining each as one would a fine gem destined for a frame of gold.




, now I feel bad for getting mine done already.


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## Rune (Feb 11, 2015)

Eh. Mine's ready--I'm just holding off for phoamslinger to post, so I can include a summary.


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## MortalPlague (Feb 11, 2015)

_You see a figure sitting in a tall-backed chair.  The dark room is lit only by the glow of monitors, offering a brief silhouette of a villainous shape, his metal claw tapping the F5 key to see who his competition will be._


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## Wicht (Feb 13, 2015)

"I have not yet begun to write, " mutters the grizzled veteran as he gives the thread a discreet  bump.


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## Radiating Gnome (Feb 13, 2015)

Wicht said:


> "I have not yet begun to write, " mutters the grizzled veteran as he gives the thread a discreet  bump.




The gnome, whose real name is John P Jones, smiles with fierce approval.


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## phoamslinger (Feb 15, 2015)

alas, my once former position in Information Technology fell apart with the recent recession and I spent most of the past week (40+ hours) hand dipping strawberries for Valentines Day.  entertaining in a way, but not the sort of job you can do while _also_ surfing the internet and keeping up with message boards like I used to.  doesn't pay nearly as well as IT did either, but LOTS less stressful...

looking at the ingredients, *War Game, Demonic Kangaroo, Treasured Junk, Repurposed Temple, Boastful Promise, Absent-minded Golem*, we have Wicht's Battle of the Temple of Seven Gates (BTSG) and Waylander's War Games of Infamy (WGI).


BTSG had a faux battle between samurai armies,  WGI had gladiatorial games.  I'm going to lean towards BTSG on this one because of the pretend nature of the battle.  when I think of a coliseum wargame, I immediately flashback on the first Rome battle from Gladiator which "recreated" the battle before the walls of Carthage.  perhaps this was something that Waylander also had in mind, but the details just weren't there and a gladitorial match, while entertainment at its latin best, wasn't really ever a game for anyone participating.  point to Wicht.


BTSG had a statue of a kangaroo possessed by an oni/demon.  WGI had a tribal totem.  what I was looking for on this one was "why the h... did it need to be a kangaroo?  in neither entry did this come up, but at least BTSG made the front pouch a magical container.  in WGI the totem could have been anything (again with McGuffins and IDM ingredients that can be swapped out interchangeably...).  point to Wicht.


BTSG had a golden boat.  WGI had a piece of overlooked trash.  I always like when someone takes an ingredient and pulls and alternate meaning unlooked for from a word.  a treasured (active verb, past tense; having been gold plated) asian (junk) boat was an interesting double twist on the ingredient.  I will note however that in both entries, this particular ingredient stood alone and didn't really tie well to the other five.  WGI had it as the controlling mechanism for the golem, but that really came across as kind of forced to me.  if the talisman controls the golem, it would be magical and finding it on a trash heap just seems unlikely.  no point to either unless I give it to Wicht for some out of the box thinking...


BTSG had a former monkish temple now being used as the site of the wargames.  
WGI had an ancient temple now being used as the site of the wargames.  

hmm..  oddly congruent there.

but in BTSG, the monkish temple has a bit of history, and ties in weird animal statues and the groundskeeper golem.  WGI just tosses the ingredient in without developing it further.  in the absence of such development, point to Wicht on this one.


BTSG had the statement leading to the wager.  WGI had the guarantee of the good omen of the victory in the games.  both entries used this as the launching point that brings the adventure about, so I will rule it a wash between them.


BTSG had the groundskeeper golem who moves around and interferes with the orderly process of the planned campaign.  WGI doesn't really develop the golem much at all other than that its magic is old and weakened.  was the golem supposed to be infused with the demonic kangaroo power and then be unleashed against the armies of the Imperium?  details, details, details.  too much was left unanswered by WGI on this one as well.  


[sblock]on an item by item level, even giving the benefit of the doubt due to Waylander's real life complications, Wicht carried this one handily.  but as I've said before, just the ingredients themselves are not the sole judging criteria (at least for me).  the main thing that kept bothered me on this match up was usability.  in Wicht's entry, even if it were a western campaign being run, this adventure could be used in almost any sort of situation, with the PC's being hired in from distant lands to take on the leadership of the inferior force. Waylander's entry hooking the players by having them be aboriginal members of the Orakami tribe almost requires the game to be a one shot sort of adventure, maybe taking several play sessions to run through, but of limited use otherwise.  

so this round I'm giving to Wicht.  I was really looking forward to more from Waylander the Slayer, but (especailly since my judgements keep running later than the rest) I really do get RL not playing fair. [/sblock]


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## phoamslinger (Feb 15, 2015)

Wicht said:


> Far be it from me to hurry the judges, who, as true connoisseurs of the art of writing, choose every one of their succulent words with the utmost care, polishing and refining each as one would a fine gem destined for a frame of gold.




_...not that far off really.  I write it out and then go back and re-read and edit two or three times to make sure it comes out the way I want it to._


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## Rune (Feb 15, 2015)

*Round 2, Match 2: Wicht vs. Waylander the Slayer*

Okay. Well, it's obvious that one of these two entries wasn't really finished--much less polished--when it was submitted. The question is, does what _is_ there present enough information to allow the DM to run an adventure that is superior to the finished one, while also also utilizing the ingredients in superior ways? That's a tall order, but it's not impossible. 

I think we'll begin with the ingredients, this time. 

*War Game:* Right out of the gate, Waylander the Slayer's _War Games of Infamy_ (henceforth, _Infamy_) falls short. Where Wicht's _The Battle of the Temple of Seven Gates_ (_Battle_) uses this ingredient to provide a full-scale mock battle that also provides a frame for the whole adventure, _Infamy_ only gives us what amounts to a gladiatorial match. It's significance to the adventure is good, but it doesn't quite fit so well. 

I do wonder, though, what means General Hoshi employs in _Battle_ to make his archers non-lethal. 

*Demonic Kangaroo:* This was a tricky ingredient to use and both entries struggled with the same problem. Frankly, the relevance of the "kangaroo" part of the ingredient is lacking in both. The malicious trickster oni that _Battle_ provides are a great complication that provide a layer of mystery and another layer of battlefield urgency. They add a lot to the adventure. But I can't figure out why the one inhabiting the kangaroo is so special in the context of the adventure. It's the leader, but the adventure doesn't really seem to care if they have a leader. 

In contrast, _Infamy_ presents a demonic kangaroo with far less direct presence in the adventure, but far more impact. It is, after all, a crucial component in winning the tribes' freedom. We are, of course, left to wonder what freedom so bought will bring for the tribe, but that's a good kind of question to be left with. Both entries are pretty close with this ingredient, but I'm going to lean towards _Infamy_.

*Treasured Junk:* I look at General Hoshi's treasured junk in _Battle_ and I see a giant missed opportunity. We are told that any damage to the junk will flip his rage-switch and _really_ turn things lethal. And, we are given some malevolent, murderous, and stealthy mischief-makers that could really take advantage of that. Unfortunately, there is no indication of such inclination, nor a means of making it happen. Disappointing. 

On the other hand, _Infamy_ doesn't give us anything more than "the PCs will have to look for something under some other stuff." That is as weak as it gets, folk. 

*Repurposed Temple:* This is another ingredient that is used in about the same way and about as well in both entries. The main difference is in how important each is to the adventure. _Battle_ provides a temple that provides a home for his oni that are both the cause of the temple's abandonment (and, consequently, the reason it is chosen as the remote location to be repurposed) and a lot of the meat of the adventure, itself. This is all very good. 

_Infamy_ provides a lot less detail, but manages something else. The repurposed temple not only reinforces the entire conflict of the adventure between a conquered indigenous people and it's oppressors, it also provides a means for that people to throw off those chains--and it does it in two parts--first by destroying the morale of the occupying army in the coliseum, and then by following that up with a summoned demon. This is very impressive, especially considering how little is actually written in this adventure. Again, I've got to lean toward _Infamy_ with this ingredient. 

*Boastful Promise:* _Infamy_ uses this ingredient as a goal for the adventure. Proving that boast inaccurate is the key to destroying the morale of the occupying army--a necessary precursor to the havoc that summoning Hiawatha will unleash. This is superior to the approach that _Battle_ takes--providing a premise for the adventure, but nothing further. 

*Absent-minded Golem:* I like the golem's role in _Infamy_. It is an important piece of the adventure that the PCs must interact with and that the DM can use to introduce complications, while also using it to adjust the pacing of that section of the adventure. That's cleverly efficient. 

However, _Battle_ provides something that fills multiple roles as well, and does so with far more personality. The golem is a red herring, a wild-card on the battlefield, a possible tool for the PCs to use, and, perhaps, a very dangerous villain (if, as hinted, the oni can possess it). And, on top of all of that, it really feels more absent-minded than the kangaroo golem, which only loses direction--not focus. Sutondor is clearly the better implementation of this ingredient. 

[sblock]So, we're actually pretty close with the ingredients. The decision, then, hangs on the quality of the adventures. Both Waylander and Wicht are traditionally excellent in this arena. And, bare-bones as it is, _Infamy_ is fundamentally a good adventure. It's structure is well-conceived and pretty flavorful, as well. I was, at first, a little put off by the apparent need to use it as a one-shot, but, given the kind of questions it's conclusion raises, it could actually work as the start of an adventure arc, or even it's own campaign. I do lament the lack of detail, but I think I have enough to run this adventure and have a lot of fun with it--with some work. 

Against one of Wicht's lesser works, it might even win. But _Battle_ is one of Wicht's best. The adventure is dynamic, multi-faceted, and _loaded_ with things for the PCs to do, all without feeling overly ambitious. The combination of mystery leading up to the battle and chaos on the field promises all kinds of fun. 

I must decide in favor of Wicht. 



...Which makes this another unanimous decision (I'm not sure that's ever happened twice in a tournament). Waylander, you know exactly what went wrong, and it simply couldn't be helped, so I really don't have any advice for you. You have been a champion before and easily could be again without any words of wisdom from me. 

I do want to say that I'm fairly impressed with the depth you managed to pack into your unfinished entry and I'm glad you posted it, where others would have balked and forfeited. Even without much of it's intended detail, the skeleton of the adventure is one that other DMs could learn from and draw inspiration from. 

I expect to see you compete again, so better luck in your next tournament.[/sblock]


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## Wicht (Feb 15, 2015)

MortalPlague said:


> _You see a figure sitting in a tall-backed chair.  The dark room is lit only by the glow of monitors, offering a brief silhouette of a villainous shape, his metal claw tapping the F5 key to see who his competition will be._




_A brief message flickers across the screen, momentarily illuminating the face of the watcher. "The pieces have been chosen, the opening gambit has begun, the game is on."_


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## Wicht (Feb 15, 2015)

A brief sketch of the genesis of the 'Seven Gates.'

The image of the temple, and a golem made me think of "Castle in the Sky," with its robots turned caretakers, and so right from almost the start, I knew I wanted the Golem to be a caretaker of a temple. The temple needed a new purpose, and making it a staging ground for a war game between two forces seemed efficient and evocative.  I knew I did not want a living kangaroo, which meant that a kangaroo statue possessed by a demon of some sort seemed to offer interesting possibilities. I had this cartoon image of a bronze kangaroo which appeared in different places, its eyes glowing red when no one was looking.

I think it was the treasured junk that made me think of doing an oriental flavored adventure. I had originally thought of a pile of junk the golem was guarding, but then thought that was rather uninspired and thought about alternate uses of the word. The boat idea hit me pretty quickly. And my Kaidan work, being Japanesed flavored, inclined me towards samurai. Junk's are actually chinese, not japanese, but I could make the boat an import. 

Going japanese with the flavor meant that the demons should be oni of some sort. Oni goblins capable of animating statues was a thing I had not worked with yet, but I thought it would make an intriguing sort of behind the scenes antagonist. As Kangaroos were not japanese either, the temple would need a reason for having a statue of a kangaroo. Making it a temple devoted to beasts worldwide seemed an easy enough solution.

The impetus for the battle would obviously be the boast, and in thinking about the boast, ten to one odds would make everything rather daunting when it came to the battle. 

From there it was just a matter of writing. Certain things suggested themselves as I went along, like the implication the oni feed exclusively on Mammalian hearts. 

As an addendum, and for what its worth, I have been casting about for a new convention scenario for this year, and as of this moment, I think that The Battle of the Temple of Seven Gates is going to get a full write-up as a one-shot scenario for use at Origins 2015.

*Edit:* One more thing. The dire _____ in the text was meant to read "Dire Bear." I have no idea what happened to the bear, but I know I typed it. Somehow in editing it got erased.  It has bugged me ever since I hit submit and subsequently noticed the missing word.


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## Rune (Feb 15, 2015)

*Championship Round: Wicht and MortalPlague*

[MENTION=221]Wicht[/MENTION] and [MENTION=62721]MortalPlague[/MENTION], you have *48 hours* to post your entries to this thread.  Please limit your entry to 2000 words.  Please include a list of ingredients at the beginning of the entry and please do not edit your post once it is submitted.  Neither the list of ingredients at the beginning of your entry, nor the title, will count against this limit, _but everything else (*including any definitions or descriptions of your ingredients that you may wish to include*) will!_  Please refrain from reading your opponent's entry until after you have posted your own.  You are on your honor to do so.

*Your ingredients are:

Evil Wizard

Low Level Dungeon

Angry Ogre

Pile of Treasure

Help Wanted Sign

Magic Sword*


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## phoamslinger (Feb 16, 2015)

by the way,   [MENTION=221]Wicht[/MENTION] and   [MENTION=62721]MortalPlague[/MENTION], Rune forgot to mention that we're really looking for something *REALLY creative and original* here...


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## Rune (Feb 16, 2015)

I figured that goes without saying. But since phoamslinger said it, let me also add, _don't overthink it, guys!_

But don't under think it either!


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## Wicht (Feb 17, 2015)

*Iron DM 2014 Final Round; Wicht vs. MortalPlague*

*Evil Wizard:*  Archaxk the Cruel; currently dead but he plans on getting better
*Low Level Dungeon:* While the Caves of Carnage and the Temple of the Dark Ravine are both low level dungeons in the classic sense, and while the PCs might turn the tower into a low-level dungeon for the adventurers who arrive, this properly refers to the vaults below The Tower of Cruelty
*Angry Ogre:* Mal the Mauler, he did a job for Archaxk and he would really like to get paid
*Pile of Treasure:* There's this big pile of gold and jewels in the vaults below the Tower of Cruelty, practically unguarded; if only the PCs can keep it
*Help Wanted Sign:* The key to a cunning plan to weaken the forces of the Temple of the Dark Ravine, the key to freeing the demon Jihrgfrolm from his bondage, and sure to be a source of 'amusement' to the the PCs during the course of the adventure 
*Magic Sword:* Varlion the Balancer; a mighty magic sword with a split personality; the stuff legends and headaches are made of

*Easy Come....​*
_A “reverse dungeon” Pathfinder adventure for monstrous characters of 1st or 2nd level._

The evil wizard is dead, his servants have been sacked, his tower is practically empty and there's this huge pile of gold just sitting in the basement, begging to be owned....

*Background*
Near to the Borderlands lies the Forest of Mist, a dark woods, full of monstrous tribes, ancient ruins, and growing evil. Smack dab in the middle of the forest is the Tower of Cruelty, home to the powerful wizard Archaxk. Half a day's walk east of the tower are the Caves of Carnage, ruled over by the Hobgoblin warlord Tromk the Devourer, and half a day's walk west of the tower is the Temple of the Dark Ravine, lorded over by the dark druid Kisxkich, a powerful kobold. Tromk and Kisxkich are old enemies, but the Tower between them prevents overt bloodshed.

Recently, the Forest is full of rumors, all true, that Archaxk the Cruel has sacked all his servants, excepting the powerful Pit Fiend, Jihrgfrolm, who guards the front entrance of the tower. Unknown to the Forest denizens is the fact that Archaxk is ready to take the next step in his journey to lichdom, the drinking of a fatal poison, and he doesn't want any meddling servants messing with his stuff while he is 'dead.' for three days. Archaxk, however, has made some mistakes. Firstly, he is going to forget to turn himself invisible before drinking the poison, which is a minor thing. More importantly, there is a loop-hole in his contract with his demon; a loop-hole which will allow Jihrgfrolm to free himself from the contract. As it is the demon which power most of the tower's defenses, this will leave the tower practically unguarded.  

Meanwhile, Tromk the Devourer has devised what he considers a cunning plan which will hopefully rid himself of some undesirable warriors, and which will, even better, rid the Temple of the Dark Ravine of some of its personnel. He plans to get a group of potential trouble-makers (ie. those who might one-day pose a threat to either the Caves or, more importantly, to Tromk's rule) to plant a “Help Wanted” sign in the wizard's front lawn and then make sure, via rumors, that the kobolds of the temple know of the sign.

*Synopsis*
The PCs are monstrous humanoids native to the Caves of Carnage who, for one reason or another, have  run afoul of Tromk the Devourer and who are selected for a daring mission. Tromk tasks them, upon threat of death, with sneaking up close to the Tower of Cruelty, and, while not being killed by the pit fiend guarding the entrance, hammer a “help wanted” sign into the ground. Its something of a suicide mission, but if it is accomplished and the PCs survive, he promises them promotions, food, and masterwork gear. 

The PCs arrive at the tower just as Archaxk, who has drank poison, breathes his last. Jihrgfrolm, the demon, seeing an opportunity to be free, and cause some trouble, calls the PCs to himself and makes a deal. If they pay him a nominal fee, he will not only not kill them, but he will hammer their sign into the ground himself. The demon is true to his word, as the new employment frees him from his contract with the wizard. Once free, the demon tells the PCs that the wizard is dead, the tower defenses will be unpowered as soon as he leaves, and that the wizard's treasure can be found on the lowest level of the dungeons, practically unguarded: theirs for the taking if they dare. Then the demon teleports away, back to his hellish home, and the door of the tower swings invitingly open. 

Entering the tower, the PCs discover that the wizard does appear dead. Illusions of his body, lying in repose, can be seen in several rooms, though the body itself lies in the upper chambers, the doors of which are magically sealed and inaccessible to the PCs. The wizard has a spell upon himself and the tower which allowed him, when alive, to be seen in, and see into, most of the rooms of his tower, from wherever he was; when dead, the spell automatically projects the image of his dead body into these rooms. The PCs also discover a magic sword, Varlion the Balancer, in a glass case in the front room of the tower, free for the taking. Exploring the tower, the PCs must fight a variety of minor monsters the wizard was using for decorations, but there are no magical traps, no powerful guards, and the lower two floors of the tower and the two dungeon levels are all quite open to exploration. True to the word of the demon, the PCs also discover a huge pile of gold and jewels in the now unlocked vaults of the lower dungeon, the only guards being a handful of cursed skeletons and zombies. However, the PCs do not have any good way of transporting such a pile of treasure once they claim it. 

Over the next three days, the PCs are, if they choose, masters of the Tower of Cruelty, a job not without its challenges. There is the ogre, Mal the Mauler, who did a job for Archaxk, and hasn't been paid. There are the monstrous mercenaries who, seeing the “Help Wanted” sign, keep applying for employment. There are the still enchanted objects of the tower, inexplicably turning themselves on at various times: the brooms which sweep the floors and attack intruders (like the PCs), the fireplaces which begin raging uncontrollably (heating the rooms up to uncomfortable levels), the mirror which creates vicious clones of the PCs, the strange vase which burps up a rat every ten minutes (and which if not dealt with creates a rather vicious swarm of rats by the third day). And then there is the group of brave, stalwart adventurers who have read the portents, heard the rumors, and suspect the tower might be ripe for looting. The PCs, if they desire to keep their pile of gold, and their tower, must find a way to deal with each one of these threats. 

On the evening of the third day, just when everything seems to have been dealt with (depending on the PC's success), Archaxk the Cruel arises as a lich, a lord of the undead. He's not going to be too happy about the condition of his tower's defenses, and he's going to be even more unhappy if the PCs have spent any of his treasure. However, as a lich, he is past such paltry emotions as anger, and he is in need of some servants...

*Cast of Characters*
*Tromk the Devourer:* The Hobgoblin warlord who wants the PCs to undertake a suicide mission.
*Archaxk the Cruel:* The evil wizard on the cusp of becoming a lich; he's mostly dead for the three days of the adventure, but he's going to get better and then he'll be asking himself some questions about the PCs: like whether they might be more useful breathing, or if they would work better as zombies. 
*Jihrgfrolm:* A Pit fiend with a sense of humor. If he can get gainful employment after the death of Archaxk, he can defeat the contract he has with the wizard. Thus, he is actually quite willing to do a little job for the PCs, like hammer in their sign; though when he hammers in a sign, it stays hammered.
*The Help Wanted Sign:* Inanimate but with a message to share with the world: the Tower of Cruelty needs new employees. Also, once hammered into the ground by the demon, indestructible and immovable.
*Varlion the Balancer:* An intelligent +2 Couragous Keen Admantine Longsword with a personality disorder. Most of the time, Varlion operates as a noble LG sword, though he is quite willing to partner with a welder of any alignment and never seeks to dominate them while LG. What he does do is constantly counsel, loudly and frequently, his welder to always take the path of virtue and nobility. However, when faced with conflict, there is a 10% cumulative chance per round of Varlion switching to his second personality: that of a CE weapon which seeks to drink in the blood of its foes. This personality will try to dominate its welder until all the killing that can be had is done (Varlion tends not to kill allies, but he will make exceptions if they annoy him). When the killing stops, the sword reverts to its noble self. Varlion is blissfully unaware of its own mood swings and cannot be made to think about them. Varlion is kept in a glass case in the front room for the tower and is quite easy to claim.
*The Skeletons and Zombies:* The remains of those who tried to steal from the wizard, now left to guard his gold as something of a grisly joke. 
*Mal the Mauler:* This ogre killed a family of farmers for the wizard, the patriarch of whom had once stolen from Archaxk. However, the wizard never paid the ogre and Mal would like his money. He is angry and quite willing to kill to get paid. Moreover, if he realizes the wizard's treasure is free for the taking, he is quite willing to kill to take the treasure. Only cunning diplomacy or his own death is going to get him to not kill the PCs.
*The Kobolds: A group from the Temple of the Dark Ravine, this lot are looking for gainful employment, but are not above larceny and murder if they sense profit in so doing.
The Orcs: Another group looking for gainful employment, they are noisome, loud, obnoxious and can sense weakness and fear. Its hard to decide whether they are a bigger problem as enemies or as employees.
The Goblins: A group from the Temple of the Dark Ravine, these rascals have decided to find a job. Their desire to set random things on fire makes them less then ideal employees, but the only way to get rid of them is to kill them. 
The Mirror Images: These mirror-created dopplegangers want to kill the PCs and take their place. Each image, unless attacked only tries to kill the one it is duplicating.
The Adventurers: A group of do-gooders who want to kill the PCs and loot the tower, just for the fun of it. 

Complications:
While the adventure assumes the PCs will make the rational decision of guarding their easily gained loot in the easily defended tower, there is always the chance that they devise a way to transport it and set out away from the tower. If this is the case, the cast of characters become encounters in the woods.*


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## Wicht (Feb 17, 2015)

That was fun.


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## MortalPlague (Feb 17, 2015)

*Evil Wizard* - Mendor
*Low Level Dungeon* - The carved-out chambers below Ratter's Dell is a low level dungeon (both by content and by location)
*Angry Ogre* - Gorthog
*Pile of Treasure* - The pile of treasure
*Help Wanted Sign* - Mendor's brick
*Magic Sword* - Whisperion


*Beneath Ratter's Dell*
_A 5th Edition Adventure for 3rd Level Characters_

*Background*
_"Raise arms, and they'll respect you."_

The words had not been meant for Mendor, the bastard son of Lord Tadros Redding.  But in the boy's mind, they sparked a fire.  Growing up in the shadow of his older half-brother, Mendor had always longed for respect.  And while Jon Redding was groomed to rule, Mendor was pushed aside, alone with his books.  When Mendor vanished one night, there was no real search for him; in a few short years, he was forgotten.

For fifteen years, Mendor toiled beneath the crumbled fort at Ratter's Dell, not six hours from his family's estate.  He plied his craft, infusing simple items with sentience.  If he could not have subjects, he would _make_ subjects.  His talents grew, but his animated vassals were not enough; bitterly, he vowed that he would take his brother's estates and titles for his own.

_"Raise arms, and they'll respect you."_

Taking those words to heart, Mendor began to build an army.  He recruited an ogre named Gorthog as muscle.  He acquired suits of armor, bringing them to life as a small army of his very own.  With ten suits at his disposal, he began to craft weapons as well; swords that would dance through the air and cut down men who stood in his way.

Whisperion was the first, a large blade suitable to strike terror into Mendor's foes.  But the sword was a failure; while it could communicate telepathically, it was unable to rise from the workbench.  Disgusted, he returned to his books, and bid Gorthog to take it away.

But Whisperion was not keen to be discarded. A crafty weapon, it was able to exert control over the weak-minded Gorthog.  It directed him to move about the dungeon, and it subverted Mendor's control over many of his magical subjects.

The betrayal was swift and sudden.  When Mendor came to, he was in a cell, deep within his own dungeon.  While he was angry at Gorthog's betrayal, Mendor was smart enough to suspect Whisperion's involvement.  His spellbook was hidden in his workshop, and the only spell components he had were those for animating objects.  Taking up a brick from the crumbling wall, he scrawled a message on the surface and sent the brick hopping for help.  And then he sent another.  And another.


*Hook*
The PCs are attacked by a mean-spirited brick.  It has writing clearly painted onto one side:

"Help Wanted!  Trapped under the old fort at Ratter's Dell!  Reward!  --Jon Redding"

Jon Redding disappeared two days ago while riding in Mournwood.  If sought out, his father will confirm the story, and will offer a handsome reward for his son's rescue.  Mendor caught and murdered his half-brother when he stumbled onto the crumbled fort; he is simply using his name to draw in somebody to rescue him.


*The Dungeon*
Ratter's Dell is a low place at a crossroads in Mournwood.  The roads have long fallen into disrepair, and the fort built to watch over them has crumbled.  Fifteen years ago, Mendor took shelter in the cellars, and noticed that one of the walls had broken away, revealing a network of caves beneath the ruin.  He created servants to help dig out the tunnels, and began to carve a lair for himself.

Whisperion has subverted Mendor's control over most of the animated objects in the dungeon.  The animated armor proved resilient to the sword's persuasion, a problem which the sword is dealing with currently.  Gorthog, furious at being used by Whisperion to lock up Mendor, is trying to break Whisperion in his chambers.

With all of Whisperion's focus on controlling the ogre and protecting itself, the dungeon is uncontrolled.  Animated objects are everywhere, ready to attack if disturbed.  Several rugs have wrapped up animated armor, while one portly armoire has barricaded a door against other suits.  In Mendor's workshop, his treasure has taken humanoid shape and is playing the role of master.

There are three chief points of interest in the dungeon, which the PCs may encounter in any order, depending which path they choose.


*The Workshop*
As proof against thieves, the wizard animated his treasure.  With both Mendor and Whisperion out of the picture, the pile of treasure has decided to become its own master; it has formed up into humanoid shape, a mass of clinking coins who rattle out a metallic voice to issue commands to the other animated objects.  The other animated objects mostly ignore the treasure.  It is carrying Mendor's spellbook and wand, and fancies itself a magic user, bustling about the workshop doing 'wizard things'.

As the PCs enter the workshop, the treasure will challenge them, demanding to know their business.  It will belittle and taunt the PCs, considering itself invincible.  It is receptive to flattery, and can be bargained with for information.  It will happily tell the characters that Mendor is in the cells.  It has no idea who Jon Redding is.  It will also tell the PCs that Gorthog and Whisperion are in the ogre's quarters and insist they go kill Gorthog; It is terrified of the ogre, who it considers its greatest foe.

Should the PCs get into a fight with the treasure, it will fight like a swarm.  Waves of sharp coins will slice them.  A pearl necklace will strangle any PC it can seize, while a jewelled mace will smack whoever it can.  It will throw the wand and spellbook.  The wand is a non-magical focus, but the spellbook is a thick, leatherbound tome which hits for 1d6 bludgeoning damage.  It will also mimic its master by commanding the armor to "Seize Jon!", oblivious to the specific context of the command.  But the armor only obeys Mendor's commands.

Items of interest in the workshop include several potions and mixtures.  Sitting on a table, covered in dust is a painting of Jon Redding and Mendor as teenagers, with their father standing behind them.  On a different table, in a stack of papers are plans for a telepathic, flying sword: Whisperion.  Scrawled at the bottom is 'Useless, doesn't fly'.  Additionally, there is a map of the complex sitting on a table (see Handout).  The map will try to ineffectively smother whoever picks it up (whichever player picks up the handout first).


*The Ogre And Whisperion*
Gorthog is in his quarters, trying to break Whisperion.  The ogre is in a terrible rage, and is having a one-sided argument with the sword (Whisperion's replies are telepathic).

The PCs will hear Gorthog a good distance away.  Should they try diplomacy, Whisperion will force Gorthog into attacking.  It should be clear that the sword is not quite swinging the way Gorthog wants it to, which only increases the ogre's rage.  While Gorthog cannot willingly let go of the sword, he could be disarmed, which would free him of the sword's compulsion.  The ogre could then be convinced to surrender, especially by offering him a shot at the treasure pile (which he desperately covets).  If the PCs are more interested in killing him, Gorthog will happily try to kill them right back.

When he imprisoned Mendor, Gorthog took the wizard's keys.  They are sitting on a table in his chambers (and could be snatched by a stealthy character).  There is a pile of gnawed bones in a corner, and a pile of bloody clothing next to it.  Jon Redding's bones and house tabard can be found here. Observant PCs may notice that Gorthog's hands are nicked with dozens of fresh bruises and cuts; he tried to grab some coins and was attacked by the treasure the other day.


*The Captive Wizard*
Mendor is locked in his cells.  He has used most of his spell components to craft his bricks.  One brick is currently hopping up to smash against the lock repeatedly.  His plan is to play the part of Jon Redding; they share enough of a resemblance for it to work, so long as the PCs aren't suspicious.  If they have been elsewhere in the dungeon first, they could piece together that this is a ruse.

His chief goal is to get free.  The wizard will say or promise anything to be freed.  He knows that Whisperion has control of most of his subjects, but he retains control of his animated armor. If he comes into contact with any of them, he can command them to attend him.  If the PCs see through the Jon Redding disguise, he will beg to be freed, admitting that Gothrog must have eaten the poor lordling.  He will gladly villify Gothrog and Whisperion to make himself seem less sinister.

If released, Mendor sticks with the PCs until he has gathered two suits of animated armor; bidding them to attack, he will try to escape to his workshop, where he can collect his wand and spellbook (which the treasure will relinquish).  He will then set about gathering his animated armor to attack Gorthog and Whisperion.

Killing the PCs is high on his list of priorities, since they know that Jon Redding is dead, and who killed him.  He knows the time for action is now, and he needs to strike the Redding Estate by force with his animated armor as soon as possible.  If the PCs escape to warn the Reddings, Mendor's plans will be ruined.


*A Reactive Dungeon*
Constructs don't detect things the way normal creatures do.  Most of them have blindsight, which can be effectively blocked by a good barrier; an animated object won't 'hear' what's happening in the next room.  Clever PCs may exploit such senses to rest up and recover between fights.  While this is a clever approach, it is not without its risks.

The chief risk is Gorthog.  He won't be smashing Whisperion around forever.  Sooner or later, the ogre will venture forth and roam the complex, magic sword in hand.  The chances of this increase, the longer the characters tarry.  The treasure pile may also make a foray into the wider dungeon, though the chances of this are lower.  Furthermore, it is possible that Mendor's brick manages to finally smash the lock, and the wizard himself begins to move against the party.

Additionally, there is always a chance that something nasty has wandered along the underground river.


*The Handout*
This is a map of the complex that Mendor drew so he could plan where to place his 'Animated Soldiers'.  Every rug pictured on the map has wrapped up the nearest suit of animated armor, and is keeping it held (without dealing damage; Whisperion wants to convert them later).  This will not stop them from attacking, chiefly by swinging the rug against adventurers.  Enough damage will free the armor.  Gorthog's quarters are on the upper level, while the workshop and cells are both on the lower level.  The underground river that cuts through the center of the dungeon is slow-moving and easily swam.  The chasm in the upper level is directly above it; keep in mind that PCs can see the beaches below and the various entrances to the lower level.


*Conclusion*
The authorities will pay a bounty for Mendor's capture, especially if the murder of Jon Redding is revealed.  Tadros Redding will share a small reward for delivering the bad news, but he is not glad to hear it and will treat the characters with icy politeness only so far as civility demands.  As for Whisperion, there are many mages or academics who would pay a good price for such a unique blade.  But they must be sought out, and the challenges of handling a sword who can take over one who wields it should not be underestimated!


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## MortalPlague (Feb 17, 2015)

Wicht said:


> That was fun.




You said it!  I had a blast with these elements.


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## MortalPlague (Feb 17, 2015)

[sblock]Wicht, I salute you.  That's a top notch entry if ever I saw one.  I really want to play in that little monstrous campaign of yours.

I love the vase that burps up rats.  

Very inspired work.[/sblock]


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## Wicht (Feb 17, 2015)

[sblock]







MortalPlague said:


> Wicht, I salute you.  That's a top notch entry if ever I saw one.  I really want to play in that little monstrous campaign of yours.




Thanks. There are few better compliments than to hear another want to play in something one wrote. 

[/sblock]


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## phoamslinger (Feb 19, 2015)

in the final round, a matchup between Wicht's _Easy Come_ (EC), vs MortalPlague's _Beneath Ratter's Dell_ (BRD), here comes my thoughts on the matter...

...before I jump in with the judgement stuff... when there is an ingredient with two or more words to it, I parse both words and ask myself, did it *have to be* this word used in the ingredient?  for example, with the Athletic Airships, did the ingredient have to be an "airship" to make the story work and then did it have to be "athletic"?  Gradine's Airship competition worked well with the ingredient with a floating city made possible by the discovery of the airships, and then an old school competition of the ships being propelled by muscle and sweat to make them go.  that's one of the things that I look for when I'm judging a match.  several times during this Iron DM, the topic of McGuffins has come up, where one or both parts of an ingredient could be swapped out with almost anything else and it would not have had a major impact on the overall scenario.  the best ingredient usage is when, if the ingredient is not precisely as named, the entire adventure fails.  a long time back there was an ingredient of "brass buttons", which popped off his waistcoat when the NPC escaped through a narrow crevice.  if not for that detail, the true culprit would not have been identifiable.  that's the sort of solid usage I like to see and read about.
*
Evil Wizard* - in EC we had Archaxk, a wannabe lich whose lair becomes the locale of the adventure while in BRD we had Mendor, the revenge driven animator of the inanimate.  both wizards were evil (one a lich and the other a fratricide) and but did both need to be a wizard?  In BRD Mendor is using Animate Object, or some variation of same, which strikes me as a very wizardly way to build an army.  but in EC, Archaxk could have been an evil priest going the lich route or some other spellcasting class, and would it have impacted the story at all?  not so much.  so I thought MortalPlague did a better job with this one.

btw, this particular list of ingredients was all mine, and the challenge was to see what people would come up with that wasn't (help wanted sign in the tavern, enter low level dungeon and recover magic sword from evil wizard with angry ogre guard.  reward is pile of treasure.)

 with the *Low Level Dungeon* - I wanted to see what people would do given a set of blatantly obvious ingredients.  EC had the lair and vault of the evil wizard beneath his tower, while BRD had a network of caves beneath a ruin.  in both cases, a lair close to the surface with relatively low level challenges, intended for a low level group of adventurers.  neither entry really broke the mold on this one, but both were still valid uses.  _a classic usage of "dungeon" is prison.  low and level could have referred to a ceiling height and an absence of stairs?  a halfling prison in a single story building?  just some different ways to approach it._

with the *Angry Ogre*, why was he ANGRY?  Mal the Mauler hasn't been paid.  Gorthog is being Dominated by a sword.  both are very angry.  but why are they Ogres (and not Trolls, Orcs, or something else?)  both adventures have a "negotiate or face a tough fight" situation with the ogre, appropriate for the adventurer level in a way that a troll would not have been, while an Orc just wouldn't have been as intimidating.  both valid uses again.

...another thing that I like to look for is out of the box thinking.  with the *Pile of Treasure*, both entries came up with something different that you wouldn't normally find in an average game.  in EC, this is the wizard's hoard that is so large it cannot be easily moved and, once it's found, it becomes the focus for the party trying to stay in control of a situation filled with complications.  in BRD, the pile of treasure becomes a major encounter of its own, with its own motivations and reactions to the actions of the party.  

in EC, the *Help Wanted Sign* pulls complications into the tale as various monsters come looking for job auditions.  nice in a sort of reverse situation where the party becomes the hirer instead of the hired.  the device to get rid of the door guard on the tower wasn't as strong, since it's mostly a plan by an NPC to dupe the players who have no understanding of what or why it's happening.  (I was reminded of the paragraph in the 5th ed DMG about "false action" which this barely avoids.) but in BRD, the animated bricks being used as a help wanted sign / adventure hook mechanism, I thought was really out of the box. show me an adventuring party that's going to ignore a hopping brick as an adventure hook...

*Magic Sword*... interesting that both used an intelligent weapon to interact with the party as an NPC...

as I've said before, the ingredients by themselves aren't the only criteria I try to look at.  in this case, the judgment came down to 

[sblock]the last thing that I try to look for, and in some ways, what I believe to be the most important aspect of an Iron DM:  

_*How do the items interconnect with each other?*_

in _Easy Come_, the wizard doesn't really interact with the party at all, except as an add on at the end when he wakes up.  it's Archaxk's dungeon, and his pile of treasure, but the ogre and the sword both felt like, "ok here's the adventure. and oh, there's an ogre there too.  and oh, there's a sword there too.  both Mal the Mauler and Varlion the Balancer felt like add ons without really having a relationship with any of the other ingredients.  the Help Wanted Sign, while used well to bring complications into the dungeon later on, the whole sub plot with the pit fiend seemed too much like a gimme, where the DM just hands the solution to the players without them needing to sweat a bit first.  a challenge where the pit fiend wants the deal, but can't directly explain what how or why to the players would have been a lot more interesting to read (and to play).

so really, only the dungeon and the treasure tied together that well, with the wizard and the sign coming in peripherally at best.

in Beneath Ratter's Dell, the ogre and the sword are in contention against each other.  the wizard and the pile of treasure, the ogre and the sword all have motivations and different reasons to oppose the PCs.  the wizard created the sword, the animated help wanted signs, the pile of treasure.  the ogre wants the treasure.  the wizard wants it all.  the dungeon, while not really all that big is the site of everything going on. 

while I was reading BRD, it seemed like there was a whole cat's cradle of connections.  because of that and because of doing a bit better on a couple of the individual ingredients by themselves, I'm going to call this one in *MortalPlague's* favor.

congrats and good luck with the other two judges.[/sblock]


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## Radiating Gnome (Feb 19, 2015)

Okay, Phoamy has beaten me to the pole position on this one, so I’m going to get this review finished so I can read what he had to say. 

This final round, a true battle of Kaiju-scaled titans, obviously tossed in banal ingredients as a twist to let real creativity show through — and I don’t think either entry disappoints. So, this should be a tricky evaluation. We have Easy Come (EC) and Beneath Ratter’s Dell (BRD). 

*Ingredients*.  Ah, yes, the sweetest vanilla ingredients. 

*Evil Wizard* - In EC, the evil wizard is Archaxk, the photo-lich. He’s certainly evil, and a wizard, and he’s the keystone of the adventure. What’s fun with him is that he’s very much the hapless victim of a lot of what’s going on — helpless for three days while the PCs have the run of his tower. 

In BRD, the evil wizard is also solid. It’s Mendor, evil wizard but again more victim than BBEG, trapped by animated servants that have turned against him. 

Ultimately, these ingredients are doing a great job, and playing with the same idea — an ironic turn that leaves the evil wizard on the ropes needing the help of the PCs.  I don’t see much room for advantage between the two. 

*Low Level Dungeon* - In BRD, the Low Level Dungeon is literally that.  In EC, there’s also an effective low level dungeon, in much the same way. So, not much differentiating here, either.

*Angry Ogre* - In EC, this is Mal the Mauler, a servant of Archaxk who was not paid and is a problem for the PCs. In  BRD, it’s Gorthog, Mendor’s muscle, subverted by the magic sword Whisperion, etc.  

Finally we have a slight difference that might be fruitful: in BRD, Gorthog is a fairly important part of the adventure — he’s the weak-minded muscle that Whisperion needs to subvert the rest of Mendor’s animated servants. He’s a critical part of the story, although much of his part in the story lives in backstory, rather than being something the PCs will see.  

At the same time, in EC, Mal isn’t a critical part of the story. His irate orgeness could be replaced by just about any other complication — a drunk pirate who comes across the tower. He’s not critical to the overall story beyond being an example of the big layoff that precipitated a lot of the adventure. 

So, while Gorthog is more integral to the story, in playing through the adventure I feel like Mal will be more interesting, and give the players a bit more to play with.  I don’t know.  I think this one may be a wash, too, damn it. 

*Pile of Treasure* - In BRD, the animated pile of treasure is a lot more fun than the EC application, which is just a mostly-unguarded pile of treasure the PCs will end up guarding.  So, advantage to BRD there.  

*Help Wanted Sign* - in EC, there’s a literal help wanted sign used to help the pit fiend break his contract with the wizard. In BRD, it’s the help message written on the side of an animated brick.  

Both might be fine, but I think I’m going to have to favor the application in EC this time.  

*Magic Sword *Whispering (BRD) vs. Varlion.  Both are good.  Both are intelligent swords that cause a whole lot of trouble. So, not much advantage here. 

So, basically, I don’t find much help in the ingredients.  

*Beyond the ingredients.* we have some issues of creativity and playability.  

In EC, we have an adventure that takes the banal, obvious ingredients and turns the whole concept on it’s head. The PCs are monstrous humanoids, sent to try to loot the tower and subvert the wizard, and in the process they wind up becoming the monstrous defenders of the tower, facing — among other things — heroic NPC adventurers who want to loot the place. 

In BRD, the adventure - while still subverting many tropes and turning the ingredients on their head, is not quite as subversive. The adventure is still a fairly typical rescue the damsel mission, even if the damsel is a fratricidal human wizard. Because the PCs don’t know they’re rescuing Mendor instead of his brother, the rescue mission feels like a very typical adventure right up to the end — at which point PCs are quite used to the “surprising” twist at the end.

But while on the larger scale EC is stronger, there are some really wonderful reversals in BRD.  The walking, spell casting, humanoid pile of treasure is great fun, for example. 

In the end, I find judging this match really difficult.  The entries are very different, but they're both examples of the finest ideals of IRON DM.  But I have to pick one, so...

[sblock]

…I will cast my lot with *Easy Come* and Wicht.  I find that as a whole I prefer EC to BRD for the lengths it goes to as it subverts the lame ingredients.  BRD was really strong, and that pile of treasure especially gives me heartburn over the choice, but as a whole I think the unusual player experience in the adventure — defending a dungeon rather than attacking it, etc — is enough of a creative advantage to win my vote.  

[/sblock]

One more judge to go…...


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## MortalPlague (Feb 19, 2015)

[sblock]Oh man, the anticipation is killing me!  [/sblock]


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## Rune (Feb 19, 2015)

*Championship Round: Wicht vs. MortalPlague*

Well, these both look like lots of fun. 

Wicht's _Easy Come..._ (henceforth _Easy_) sets up a scenario that would probably work best as a one-shot. But, man, what a setup! Playing monstrous PCs is something many groups dabble with occasionally. Having those PCs stock and defend a dungeon is a great twist to the trope and promises a memorable game. 

MortalPlague's _Beneath Ratter's Dell_ (_Dell_) is a little less complex, but still has a lot going on and also promises fond memories. 

Let's examine the ingredients. 

*Evil Wizard:* _Easy_ provides us with an evil wizard whose presence is mostly felt through its absence, until the end, when it becomes a final complication. Nice, but in a one-shot, at that point it is probably just denouement. Additionally, the evilness of the wizard is merely assumed. He has bound a demon to serve him, he's turning lich, he didn't pay his ogre and his surname is "the Cruel." But these things don't show us that he's evil, they merely suggest it. 

In contrast, the evil wizard in _Dell_ doesn't give us such indicators. Instead, he simply does evil things and schemes evil schemes. Consistently. This is a superior use of the ingredient. 

*Low Level Dungeon:* _Dell_ provides a nice little dungeon complex (with a map!) that is specifically underground in a lowland area. 

_Easy_ provides us with a few possible interpretations--some pretty incidental. Despite claims to the contrary within the piece, the strongest of these uses is the dungeon that the PCs are expected to stock with low-level monsters. While the multiple interpretations presented bother me a bit, that one is strong enough to edge out the fairly generic one that _Dell_ presents. 

*Angry Ogre:* _Easy_ has a justifiably angry ogre in it. But the ogre itself is just one of many complications to the adventure. Sure, he could also be an ally, but that's true of most of the complications. Individually, the ogre isn't very important to the adventure. 

_Dell_ uses the ogre in almost the same way, but manages to make it a constant threat, even when it isn't on the rampage. Additionally, the varied anticipated approaches to interacting with the ogre help solidify it as the better ingredient. 

*Pile of Treasure:* I'm of two minds with this one. On the one hand, _Dell_ uses an animated (humanoid) pile of treasure that is interesting and interactive. on the other hand, _Easy_ uses what is essentially a MacGuffin, but in a way that somehow doesn't feel like it. It focuses the adventure and holds it together. It has presence without personality. I'll call this one a wash. 

*Help Wanted Sign:* _Easy_ provides a hook that also serves to further complicate the adventure. At least somewhat--surely the rumors Tromk intends to spread (and I have to ask, _how?_) will do a far better job of bringing in recruits than the sign itself. 

_Dell_ uses the ingredient primarily as a hook, but what a hook! Getting attacked by an animated brick with a misleading message for help scrawled on it is sure to work, sure to fit almost any situation, sure to mislead, sure to be memorable, and may also provide a hint that the author of the note is a spellcaster (not necessarily so--although, in this case, yes). This is by far the best use of any of these ingredients (which were chosen to be deliberately generic and cliched). And that's in both entries.  A great hook can go a long way. 

*Magic Sword:* the magic swords in both of these pieces are strikingly similar (maybe that's not so surprising). I do wonder how the one in _Dell_ is controlling all of those constructs, but, in this case, "it's magic!" is actually a _good_ answer!

The main difference between the two uses of this ingredient is that, in _Easy_, it is merely another complication along the way and, in _Dell_, it is actually an important part of the adventure (and a great secondary villain working against the primary villain--who may succeed in tricking the PCs into thinking the sword and its attached ogre is the only villain). This, also, is excellent. 

[sblock]We can see the main differences in the structure of the adventures reflected in the way the ingredients were used. Basically, _Easy_ has a great scenario set up and a bunch of complications thrown in, but this leads to the feeling that the adventure is a sum of its parts. 

Added to this, it raises a lot of the wrong kind of questions. Like, how does Tromk spread rumors about help wanted at the tower so quickly (surely the sign won't be enough)? Wouldn't a devil be a better fit than a demon for the contract-wriggling? How was he powering the defenses? And, crucially, what happens if the PCs decide not to engage with Jihrgfrolm at all? Surely low-level PCs will go out of their way to avoid being noticed by the scary demon guarding the door. What if they sneak around back, plant the sign, and go home? No adventure?

Contrast this with the extraordinarily tight structure of _Dell_. It is a rare adventure in which I can't really find anything to critique, but this is one such adventure. An excellent hook leading to a focused, fun little delve with a healthy dose of intrigue thrown in gives the PCs plenty to do and plenty to figure out along the way. 

MortalPlague has given us an entry worthy of an IRON DM. 



...and, at last we have a decision that was not unanimous (not surprising, as both entries were excellent)! Which means that, with a 2 to 1 decision, MortalPlague becomes the IRON DM 2014!

Congratulations! We've a spiffy badge for you, pending Morrus' approval and granting thereof. [/sblock]


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## Rune (Feb 19, 2015)

[MENTION=221]Wicht[/MENTION] and [MENTION=62721]MortalPlague[/MENTION], now that your match has been decided, say some stuff about some stuff.


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## Wicht (Feb 19, 2015)

Noooooooo! 

um, arhum... I mean, Congratulations MortalPlague. 
Heavy lies the crown upon your brow this year...

Some thoughts...

After reading both entries, I told my kids (who are somewhat biased) that I thought Mortal Plague had the slight edge on ingredients. Specifically, I thought my help wanted sign was better (my bias, admittedly, but as a recurring sort of gag it had real legs) but that his wizard and ogre were superior uses.  My prediction, based on my experience and read of what the judges liked, was that Radiating Gnome would break for me, mildly preferring the flavor, Rune would break against me, preferring the flavor and ingredient use of Mortal Plague's and Phoamslinger would be the deciding vote. So, when Phoamslinger voted against me right off, I kinda suspected the outcome.  

This was definitely an entry I wrote as a tongue-in-cheek fun sorta romp. I didn't worry too much, thus, about the various plot-holes that would be imperfections in a more serious sorta campaign. I do disagree somewhat that it works best as a one-shot; I actually was thinking it was a cool little intro adventure to a group of monsters employed by a lich campaign.

I mentioned somewhere, in the other thread I think, that the ingredients put me in the mood for SnarfQuest, and that inspiration stayed with me as I put them together. The whole set-up, with its comical undertones, was a riff off the ideas that monstrous humanoids have their own particular set of memes and expectations, one being the expectation of being the underdog at the mercy of powerful forces who must be obeyed (the demon, the warlord, the wizard at the end) and what might happen when things seem to break the underdog's way, even for a moment. 

Once I had my inspiration, and had settled on a reverse dungeon sort of theme, it was certain that the evil wizard had to be someone not to be trifled with, but who might also himself be inable to stop the PCs from doing whatever they were doing, at least for a moment. The magic sword also had to be a personality, one that would be both a major advantage to the PCs and a major pain. The split personality seemed apropos. I settled fairly early on with the treasure being just that, a huge pile of treasure free for the taking, but one which would not be able to be kept. Having it belong to the wizard seemed right, and that led to the idea of him being out of commission for a few days. The ogre and the dungeon were both weaknesses I knew in the entry, but at the same time they both fit the flavor of what I wanted the adventure to be and so I went with them anyway as was. 

The sign, as I said, I personally thought was the best part, and would be, in play, the thing that would stick with everyone, especially as monster after monster showed up expecting a job. The characters trying to get rid of the sign would be a source, I thought, of much amusement. 

Anyway, again MortalPlague, congratulations!


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## Wicht (Feb 19, 2015)

Also, judges, for what it is worth, that was a particularly nasty set of final ingredients.  

Well played.


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## Radiating Gnome (Feb 19, 2015)

Wicht said:


> After reading both entries, I told my kids (who are somewhat biased) that I thought Mortal Plague had the slight edge on ingredients. Specifically, I thought my help wanted sign was better (my bias, admittedly, but as a recurring sort of gag it had real legs) but that his wizard and ogre were superior uses.  My prediction, based on my experience and read of what the judges liked, was that Radiating Gnome would break for me, mildly preferring the flavor, Rune would break against me, preferring the flavor and ingredient use of Mortal Plague's and Phoamslinger would be the deciding vote. So, when Phoamslinger voted against me right off, I kinda suspected the outcome.




DAMN I hate being predictable. Next year I plan to secretly decide who wins based on wordcount alone.  Winning entries must have a wordcount that is a prime number. Nothing else will matter.


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## Gradine (Feb 19, 2015)

Congratulations, MortalPlague! Well played and well deserved!

I was perplexed a bit, at first, when I read the ingredients. It took a moment before it dawned on me how truly insidious they were. Props to both contestants for taking such generic ingredients and making something memorable with them.


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## Wicht (Feb 19, 2015)

Radiating Gnome said:


> DAMN I hate being predictable. Next year I plan to secretly decide who wins based on wordcount alone.  Winning entries must have a wordcount that is a prime number. Nothing else will matter.




Heh.


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## Wicht (Feb 19, 2015)

Gradine said:


> I was perplexed a bit, at first, when I read the ingredients. It took a moment before it dawned on me how truly insidious they were.




They were indeed.




Gradine said:


> Props to both contestants for taking such generic ingredients and making something memorable with them.




I am happy to have played some small part in entertaining you with my offering...


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## Rune (Feb 19, 2015)

Wicht said:
			
		

> This was definitely an entry I wrote as a tongue-in-cheek fun sorta romp. I didn't worry too much, thus, about the various plot-holes that would be imperfections in a more serious sorta campaign. I do disagree somewhat that it works best as a one-shot; I actually was thinking it was a cool little intro adventure to a group of monsters employed by a lich campaign.




But, if you expected a campaign to emerge, those plot-holes would be more glaring. Maybe. If it wasn't episodic.

I mean, they didn't take away from the light-hearted tone, but neither did they emphasize the tone. Compared with an adventure lacking such plot-holes, I had to side with the other one. 



> The sign, as I said, I personally thought was the best part, and would be, in play, the thing that would stick with everyone, especially as monster after monster showed up expecting a job. The characters trying to get rid of the sign would be a source, I thought, of much amusement.




Yeah, it was good. If you had emphasized and explained how it acted as a beacon it would have been better.



Radiating Gnome said:


> DAMN I hate being predictable. Next year I plan to secretly decide who wins based on wordcount alone.  Winning entries must have a wordcount that is a prime number. Nothing else will matter.




I don't mind being so predictable; it implies consistency. 

(And by the way, it's not a secret if you tell everybody. Or, at least, not a very good one.)


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## MortalPlague (Feb 20, 2015)

Thank you for all the kind words about my little adventure.  I'm very proud of what I wrote, and I was just as amazed to read what [MENTION=221]Wicht[/MENTION] came up with.  That list of fiendish, ingenious ingredients was a real challenge to work with, but I think it brought out the best in both of us.

I did see this earlier, but I didn't have a chance to comment; I was actually running my adventure as a one-shot (we had some people for my Thursday game who couldn't make it).

[sblock=Game Synopsis]The PCs entered the dungeon, crossed the bridge and met Gorthog.  One of them disarmed him and took Whisperion (who tried to ask her to go downstairs to 'finish things up', which she agreed to do).  They convinced Gorthog to tag along, but he was killed by a randomly-rolled giant fish in the river.  The party refused to cross the river, so Whisperion demanded to be thrown across, to where a rug was waiting to take it.  The sword was scooped up by the rug and carried off into the dungeon while the PCs took a short rest to heal up.  They found the treasure pile much as it was before, but they got to Mendor and found him dead in his cell, and Whisperion missing, off to build an army.[/sblock]

I have to say, when I read the competition, I knew this would be a tough fight.  I thought Wicht's low-level dungeon was a far better usage of the element than mine, though I thought my sword was more integral.  Across the rest of the board, it felt pretty even to me.  The fact that the judges went both ways tells the story; this was a close match.

As for how I got here?  The earliest drafts of _Beneath Ratter's Dell_ featured an evil wizard who animated objects, and a sword he built turned against him, led a revolt of his animated things, and locked him in his own dungeon.  He sent 'Help Wanted' signs (not bricks) to look for people to rescue him.  The angry ogre was still wielding the sword, and he was still angry because the sword was magical.  So... not much changed.

There were two big changes.  Early on, Jon Redding was just some noble who got kidnapped and murdered.  Mendor was going to convince people to free him so he could lead them to Jon, who was obviously dead.  But when I shifted his approach to pretend to be Jon, I realized they had to look somewhat alike.  Making them half-brothers made the murder deliberate, and gave Mendor the necessary teeth to be a genuine evil wizard (rather than some hapless, bumbling artificer run afoul of his own creations).  The second change was to move the pile of treasure.  It was always going to be animated, but I had it in a treasure vault rather than the workshop, and it was just going to jump up and attack PCs when they tried to claim it.  It was pointed out to me that nobody would be surprised about that after going through a dungeon full of animated furniture, and so I made it a third entity in the dungeon.  Making it mimic its master was one of my favorite touches.

Also, I added the animated armor late, since I wanted Mendor to have something he was building up to do.  Up till then, he was just some odd wizard who lived in a hole with animated objects (who had killed his half-brother).  Now he had a plan and the means to execute it.

It was important throughout the process that the actual dungeon was nonlinear.  It's something I had some complaints about for previous rounds, and I wanted to show a design that had multiple avenues of approach (both geographically, and from a roleplay standpoint).  The map as a handout stemmed from that; PCs are best able to plan with some information in their hands, even if it is incomplete (not showing the encounters on it, for instance).  _Vault of the Dracolich_ had a great map handout, which really complemented the adventure, an effect I was going for here.

I'm thrilled that everyone enjoyed the adventure.  The final result is an adventure I am very pleased with, and I'm honored that you found it worthy of the Iron DM title.  I'll bear this achievement with pride, and I can't wait for the chance to defend this title next time.

Judges, thanks again for all your hard work.  It can't be easy to pick over entries and weigh them, especially being objective and fair.  Your efforts are very much appreciated.

Wicht, it's been an honor and a privilege.  Until next time.


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## Wicht (Feb 21, 2015)

MortalPlague said:


> Wicht, it's been an honor and a privilege.  Until next time.




I will be honored when next we meet on the plains of ENWorld.


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## Wicht (Feb 21, 2015)

Now that the competition is over, I have to wonder how many have read and enjoyed the submissions. I know that myself, and I suspect other participants, even the judges, have to wonder the same. So, any lurkers want to chime in and let us know what you liked the most, what you might want to see changed in future competitions, or anything else of the sort?


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## PnPgamer (Feb 23, 2015)

I congratulate wicht for winning the tourney that i had to sadly drop from.


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## MortalPlague (Feb 23, 2015)

PnPgamer said:


> I congratulate wicht for winning the tourney that i had to sadly drop from.




Actually, I believe I took your spot.  So for that, I thank you very much.  Because I managed to beat Wicht in the final (a challenging feat).  

On the topic Wicht mentioned, I think a lot of people stop paying attention once they get knocked out.  Maybe we should hold a bronze medal match as well as a final?  Or maybe knocked-out DMs could contribute elements to the later rounds?  Maybe they could add wildcard elements?  They could do a mad-libs style "suggest an adjective and a noun" then you scramble it and come up with some bonus elements (optional to include, but worth additional points).

How about it, [MENTION=67]Rune[/MENTION]?


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## PnPgamer (Feb 23, 2015)

Uuh... Did i understand something wrong? Didnt whicht win? Or mortal plague?

Besides thanking me for an open spot is sort of reluctant. Its like thanking a mosquito for draining the blood of your enemy. I was in the wrong timezone and it just occurred to me that i was hampering the tourney because of my unavailability.


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## Wicht (Feb 23, 2015)

PnPgamer said:


> Uuh... Did i understand something wrong? Didnt whicht win? Or mortal plague?




MortalPlague won


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## PnPgamer (Feb 23, 2015)

Wicht said:


> MortalPlague won




oh umm... Congratulations for MortalPlague for winning and Wicht for being a good runner up then!


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## Rune (Feb 23, 2015)

PnPgamer said:
			
		

> Uuh... Did i understand something wrong? Didnt whicht win? Or mortal plague?




Maybe you only saw RG's judgement? Each match from Rounds 2 and 3 had all three judges weighing in. 



> I was in the wrong timezone and it just occurred to me that i was hampering the tourney because of my unavailability.




The timezone issue complicated things, but we could have worked around that (and will in future tournaments, if you sign up). The weekends-only stipulation with an unavailable weekend was the real culprit. Hopefully next time, things won't be so hectic for you.


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## Rune (Feb 23, 2015)

MortalPlague said:


> On the topic Wicht mentioned, I think a lot of people stop paying attention once they get knocked out.  Maybe we should hold a bronze medal match as well as a final?  Or maybe knocked-out DMs could contribute elements to the later rounds?  Maybe they could add wildcard elements?  They could do a mad-libs style "suggest an adjective and a noun" then you scramble it and come up with some bonus elements (optional to include, but worth additional points).
> 
> How about it, [MENTION=67]Rune[/MENTION]?




We've done third place matches before (I think the first one was during the Summer 2003 Tournament that I judged). Sometimes it works out great. Sometimes the contestants suddenly find that they don't have time for what is, essentially, an exhibition match.


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## Gradine (Feb 23, 2015)

For what it's worth I stayed through to the end, but then I always used to lurk in these threads when I'd inevitably miss the signups. I like to think I'm not the only one who's silently spectated these events.

I'd have also totally been down for a third place match. Are you kidding? Another opportunity to gain experience writing an adventure for an audience, with a deadline, word limit, and specifications? And get critical feedback on it? As someone looking to make a hobby out of this (and maybe make some spending money out of it) I'd be a fool to pass that up. But then, I can also understand why someone who would get much less out the experience would pass on it.


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## Imhotepthewise (Feb 24, 2015)

Congrats to the winnah and new champeen! The streets have definitely run red. It was a great tournament with great entries. I hope it inspires those who read them!


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## Wicht (Mar 11, 2015)

So I am working on writing up _"Easy Come"_ to run at Origins this year... I have the PCs done and thought you guys might like to see their brief bios. Because of the nature of the adventure, I chose to actually roll the stats instead of using point-buy. Also, I'm including the images I chose to put on the character sheets (using Hero Lab)





*Corlk: The Chef*
CN Orc Barbarian 1/Rogue 1      
Str 20; Dex 8; Con 17; Int 9; Wis 13; Cha 8

_"That looks interesting... I wonder what it would taste like with some mushrooms and scallions?"_
Corlk and his twin brother Torlg were, like many in the Caves of Carnage, taken in at a young age when the rest of their tribe was killed by adventurers. While Corlk had the strength of an orc hero, he has never quite developed the personality of the same. Rather, from a young age he was always interested more in eating. And cooking. And feeding his cooking to others. He's not necessarily a bad cook, but he might have made a mistake when he cooked one of Tromk the Devourer's favorite dire-cats last month; certainly Tromk seemed unnaturally gleeful when picking Corlk as one of the ones to be sent on an important mission to the Tower of Cruelty.  






*Torlg: The Pessimist*
N Orc Barbarian 1/Fighter 1
Str 19; Dex 13; Con 16; Int 14; Wis 11; Cha 7

_"Think it will rain?  I think its going to rain. I hate rain."_
Torlg, along with his twin brother Corlk was left an orphan when his tribe was wiped out by human adventurers. Subsequently the two were taken in by the denizens of the Caves of Chaos, who hoped the brothers would become mighty orc warriors. However, while Torlg certainly has superior mental and physical abilities, he lacks the personality to ever be a great leader. Gloomy, pessimestic and perpetually dour, Torlg has the tendency to see the downside in every situation. By sending Torlg along on the mission to the Tower of Cruelty, Tromk the Devourer made the Caves of Carnage a much more cheerful place. 







*Daun: The Meditative Soul*
LN Taurian Cleric 1/Monk 1
Str 19; Dex 10, Con 14; Int 11; Wis 16; Cha 11

_"Healthy mind and a healthy body.  Would you like to join me in exercise and meditation?"_
The citizens of the Caves of Carnage were elated when a young taurian was left on their door step. They were slightly less thrilled when young Daun looted the body of a monk devotee of Irori and found his calling. Pouring over the religious material the evangelistic but deceased monk had been carrying on him, the taurian almost immediatelly devoted himself to his new diety, who, to everyone's surprise reciprocated the attention, granting Daun spells. Instead of a blood-thirsty axe welding maniac, the citizens of the caves found that their taurian was a rather calm, collected soul who advocated, often, good diet, lots of exercise and plenty of meditation. When Tromk the Devourer was trying to think of who to send on his special mission to the Tower of Cruelty, Daun was one of the first that came to mind. 








*Krolmchok: The Egomaniac*
LE Kobold Wizard 2
Str 9; Dex 11; Con 11; Int 17; Wis 15; Cha 14

_"Soon, sooon!  All will kneel before Krolmchok!"_
Krolmchok was born with golden scales and many amongst his tribe, residents on the outskirts of the Caves of Carnage, have always assumed he would do great things. Though he never developed sorcerous powers, he still felt drawn to magic and his tribe arranged for him to study the wizardly arts.  Krolmchok has long assumed that leadership was his by right, and while non-kobolds have always taken him less than seriously, he has never been shy about anouncing his coming ascendancy. Which might be why Tromk the Devourer decided that Krolmchok should assist with the expedition to the Tower of Cruelty. 








*Takiko: The Pure-heart*
LG Kobold Paladin 2
Str 11; Dex 18; Con 11; Int 11; Wis 16; Cha 16

_"Now then, that wasn't very nice. Surely we can all behave better than that."_
Once one gets past the novelty of a kobold choosing the path of the paladin, one might wonder how such a kobold would ever survive in the savage Whispering Woods.  Truthfully, nobody in the Caves of Carnage ever know just what to make of Takiko, though everyone agrees that trying to kill him just never seems to work. And he just seems so likable all the time. Takiko does not see it as his mission to kill his evil kith and kin, he desires rather to protect and convert them. He is convinced they only live the way they do because they just don't know any better. And if humans, elves and dwarves would just stop barging in and killing everyone the whole world would be a better place. The confusion Takiko engenders might be why Tromk the Devourer tried so hard to convince Takiko that those making the dangerous trek to the Tower of Cruelty would really enjoy his company.








*Shelgot: The Competitor*
CE Orc Fighter 2
Str 17; Dex 15; Con 16; Int 11; Wis 9; Cha 11

_"Are you saying you are better than me?  Is that what you are trying to imply?"_
Though the Caves of Carnage are more open than some places than others about allowing females to advance as fighters, some women warriors still feel compelled to constantly prove their worth. Of these, Shelgot is the most notorious. Hardly a day goes by without her challenging some warrior or other in the caves to combat because she feels they have slighted her in some way, such as by existing. Sometimes she doesn't even wait to issue the challenge before wailing away at her foe with her huge flail. Tromk the Devourer has long urged her to learn how to work with others better and perhaps that is why he chose to send her on this expedition to the Tower of Cruelty. If so, Shelgot is bound and determined to be the most helpful, the most daring, the most cunning and the most skillful of the whole team. And she'll violently beat anyone who says she's not.








*Ninta Tromkneice: The Confident Condescender*
LE Hobgoblin Fighter 2
Str 13; Dex 12; Con 13;Int 17; Wis 13; Cha 8

_"I'm not sure you know what you are doing. Maybe you had better let me handle this situation."_
Ninta was born highly intelligent and she knows it. She is much less sure of the intelligence of those around her, and is not above telling them so. The fact that she is the neice of Tromk the Devourer, overlord of the Caves of Carnage, has allowed her to get away with this for years. Ninta is sure that it is her uncle's supreme confidence in her abilities which has caused him to put her amongst those chosen to undertake a very important mission to the Tower of Cruelty.








* Rida of the Red Hood: The Covetous*
CE Goblin Ranger 2
Str 16; Dex 20; Con 12; Int 18; Wis 3; Cha 15

_"I have a cunning plan...  Ooo look - shiny!"_
Rida was born at a conjunction of a lunar eclipse, a meteor shower and an earthquake. Incredibly gifted for a goblin with brains, charisma, strength and quick hands, she was also born with almost no impulse control. She is easily distracted, especially by money, and is avaricious beyond all measure. Her tendency to simply take anything shiny and hide it under her bed is well known in the Caves of Carnage. Tromk the devourer likely would have let this tendency slide if she hadn't recently borrowed his favorite hunting knife. However, now that she has come fully to his attention, he realized that she would be perfect to send on his urgent mission to the Tower of Cruelty. 
_note: I straight up rolled in front of 2 witnesses the following stats for this character 18, 18, 17, 16, 12, 3. We were all rather impressed. _





And now my favorite....



*Night Rat: The Dark Hero*
LN Goblin Rogue 2
Str 12; Dex 22; Con 16; Int 15; Wis 13; Cha 11

_"I am the Rat that squeaks in the Night!
Bugbears, horses, and dogs take flight!"_
Night Rat has always been quicker than all the other goblins, and just a little tougher and smarter as well. While some goblin's would have used their inborn talents to lord it over everyone else, Night Rat was born with a decidedly ungoblin sense of justice. He has worked to stealthily bring his version of justice to the Caves of Carnage, righting wrongs, burning down the bunks of bullies and generally making a nuisance of himself. Its no wonder that Tromk the Devourer thought that Night Rat might be just the goblin to send on an "urgent" mission to the Tower of Cruelty.

_Among his other gear Night Rat has 2 boomerangs, silk rope, grappling hook, tangle foot bag, and smokestick._


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## GoblinKid (Mar 17, 2015)

Wicht said:


> Now that the competition is over, I have to wonder how many have read and enjoyed the submissions. I know that myself, and I suspect other participants, even the judges, have to wonder the same. So, any lurkers want to chime in and let us know what you liked the most, what you might want to see changed in future competitions, or anything else of the sort?




I read all the adventures, as they were submitted, the first round and the last were in my opinion the best ones, though I enjoyed all of them.


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## Wicht (Apr 1, 2015)

I ran Easy Come last night and it was quite a bit of fun - the oddball pregenerated PCs made it especially memorable. I introduced it as "Episode 1," and finished with "And thus we come to the end of "Episode 1 of the Chronicles of the Whispering Woods," and immediately one player commented he really wanted to play Episode 2. I'll be running it at Origins, so we'll see how that goes.


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