My players hit level 3 as they finished The Frozen Sick and, although I gave them a few hooks to lead them back to the mainland, they decided Foren seemed too cool to walk away from. I love the idea of continuing the adventure in Eiselcross, but since all the other Foren hooks are mid- to high-level, I found myself a little torn about what to have them do that wouldn't just scale down the difficulty of the hooks included in the EGtW. I came up with the following hooks and wanted to share them since I've seen a few other DMs in a similar situation. Hope these are helpful to someone!
Shortly after the party returned to Syrinlya a vicious storm began to tear through Foren. The storm made travel outside of the settlement deadly for a few weeks. During this time you had the chance to rest, study, research, and hone your skills. During the downtime, you have had the opportunity to research any history of the area that may have been interesting to you and chat around to gather gossip or pick up leads on future jobs or opportunities. - I include the short time jump both to give time for the gossip to happen and because I like having a little in-game explanation for how some of the level three power jumps happen (our fighter found a battle master at camp to train with, the bard found a rep from the College of Glamour, etc...)
Studying/Research:
Anyone who wanted to research gods and what the man in the lab may have been talking about would learn that the people of Aeor went to war with the gods after their magic and technology became too powerful. In a rare alliance, the prime dieties and the betrayer gods came together to destroy Aeor before its arcane masters could perfect a god killing machine. Looking back on his rantings you would put together that he thought the war was still coming and seems to have no idea what has happened outside of his lab in the last 1000 years. - Included this because my party booked out of Salsvault without getting much of the lore or exploring most of the rooms. I kind of want to hook them with lore and lead them back there for more answers and encounters.
Gossip/Leads:
1.) A group of explorers came back to camp licking their wounds just as the storm was beginning. Upon investigation, players find that the explorers had been jumped by Dwendalian artifact hunters who stole their haul of treasures and kidnapped one of their friends - a Drow explorer named Tia. The explorers think their friend may have been taken to Balenpost and offer a reward if the party can bring her home safely.
Possible encounters: Bandits, Bandit Captain, Guards
2.) The Buyer is impressed with the work of the party and is interested in seeing what else may be hiding in the rest of Salsvault. He offers to help the party sell any treasures they find there for a small portion of the take.
Possible Encounters: Anything left unexplored from Salsvault (EGtW)
3.) The settlement's explorers have been excited about the potential that the end of the storm may help uncover new treasures and artifact sites because of all the powerful wind. It would be an opportune time to set out and look for artifacts to uncover. That said, there are also concerns that new storms sometimes stir up monsters that had been dormant. Explorers should be extra careful.
Possible encounters: Scouts, Polar bear, White Dragon Wyrmling
Visions/Dreams During the Storm:
One of the party members (a druid in my case) has visions throughout the storm of a battle between light and darkness. The character's god/patron/or whatever works for your case speaks to them in the vision and tells them there is a powerful item they need to claim before dark forces reach it. The vision also gives them a general idea of where to seek out an ancient shrine that the storm has uncovered. This hook is how I give the party either a Vestige of Divergence, an Arms of the Betrayers weapon, or maybe both. This leads to a long-running arc of the characters trying to keep the item(s) away from the other forces that want them. - This is a spin on an idea from an earlier thread about adventures in Eiselcross that I really liked.
This is great! I just finished running the Frozen Sick and I was looking for some good paths forward. I have a Drow from the Kryn army in the party so the kidnapped Drow hook is perfect. In my campaign, on the way back from Saulsvault after fighting off a Aeorian Absorber they found a dead mage with a Dunamancy potion. Our Drow was pissed "The Cereberus Assembly is stealing our technology!". I can now connect the dots and say that is was Tia's potion they stole.
In the bigger picture - If they successfully rescue Tia she will explain that she has knowledge about a ship leaving Balenpost for Icehaven that is full of stolen Kryn technology she will attempt to persuade the adverturers to help her recover those items and return them to the Bright Queen.
Another other idea I would add if you have a Drow in your party: Dwendalian guards attempt to arrest him in Syrinlya accusing him a crime he didn't commit and are intent on bring him to Balenpost for trial. Professor Gulrtim, Morgo come to his defense after Orvo vouches for his innocence (he was with him the whole trip to Saulsvault) A battle with guards ensue.
What they don't know yet. The Aeorians have captured the Drow people to experiment on and use then as weapons against the gods. They managed to nearly kill Araushnee, later to become Lolth. They trapped most of her good essence in the beacons (which they had developed to capture gods) and the remaining divine essence became Lolth the evil or at least frustrated and very much powerless god of the few Drow left. The PCs will get the chance to find out about that and by freeing the good part of Araushnee (which would be Eilistrae the only good godess in the Drow pantheon) they can combine the two essences of Araushnee anf make her whole again.
The Kryn are the prisoners of war that managed to flee from the prisons of Aeor and still believe that the beacons are their god (in truth the benevolent essence of Lolth - Eilistrae is trapped inside).
The beacons have benn used to hinder the souls of followers of the gods to get back to them, capturing their souls in the beacon before they can join their gods in the afterlife.
So on their way back to the village they will be attacked by "experiments" of Aeor, mutated drow, I am using simic hybrids for that... I hope they will pick on it...
I am really looking forward to that crazy story and hope my PCs will persue it.
I have one question for you guys: How did you deal with the travelling distance mentioned in the adventure? It says they travel 200 miles to Salsvault but the scale of the map suggests that that would be nearly all of Eiselcross if you look at the the map scale.
In my head Salsvault is not further north than the first mountainrange to the north. If they really travelled that far they would have passed the ruins of Aoer and probably Mutalos which I didn't like.
My players hit level 3 as they finished The Frozen Sick and, although I gave them a few hooks to lead them back to the mainland, they decided Foren seemed too cool to walk away from. I love the idea of continuing the adventure in Eiselcross, but since all the other Foren hooks are mid- to high-level, I found myself a little torn about what to have them do that wouldn't just scale down the difficulty of the hooks included in the EGtW. I came up with the following hooks and wanted to share them since I've seen a few other DMs in a similar situation. Hope these are helpful to someone!
Shortly after the party returned to Syrinlya a vicious storm began to tear through Foren. The storm made travel outside of the settlement deadly for a few weeks. During this time you had the chance to rest, study, research, and hone your skills. During the downtime, you have had the opportunity to research any history of the area that may have been interesting to you and chat around to gather gossip or pick up leads on future jobs or opportunities. - I include the short time jump both to give time for the gossip to happen and because I like having a little in-game explanation for how some of the level three power jumps happen (our fighter found a battle master at camp to train with, the bard found a rep from the College of Glamour, etc...)
Studying/Research:
Anyone who wanted to research gods and what the man in the lab may have been talking about would learn that the people of Aeor went to war with the gods after their magic and technology became too powerful. In a rare alliance, the prime dieties and the betrayer gods came together to destroy Aeor before its arcane masters could perfect a god killing machine. Looking back on his rantings you would put together that he thought the war was still coming and seems to have no idea what has happened outside of his lab in the last 1000 years. - Included this because my party booked out of Salsvault without getting much of the lore or exploring most of the rooms. I kind of want to hook them with lore and lead them back there for more answers and encounters.
Gossip/Leads:
1.) A group of explorers came back to camp licking their wounds just as the storm was beginning. Upon investigation, players find that the explorers had been jumped by Dwendalian artifact hunters who stole their haul of treasures and kidnapped one of their friends - a Drow explorer named Tia. The explorers think their friend may have been taken to Balenpost and offer a reward if the party can bring her home safely.
Possible encounters: Bandits, Bandit Captain, Guards
2.) The Buyer is impressed with the work of the party and is interested in seeing what else may be hiding in the rest of Salsvault. He offers to help the party sell any treasures they find there for a small portion of the take.
Possible Encounters: Anything left unexplored from Salsvault (EGtW)
3.) The settlement's explorers have been excited about the potential that the end of the storm may help uncover new treasures and artifact sites because of all the powerful wind. It would be an opportune time to set out and look for artifacts to uncover. That said, there are also concerns that new storms sometimes stir up monsters that had been dormant. Explorers should be extra careful.
Possible encounters: Scouts, Polar bear, White Dragon Wyrmling
Visions/Dreams During the Storm:
One of the party members (a druid in my case) has visions throughout the storm of a battle between light and darkness. The character's god/patron/or whatever works for your case speaks to them in the vision and tells them there is a powerful item they need to claim before dark forces reach it. The vision also gives them a general idea of where to seek out an ancient shrine that the storm has uncovered. This hook is how I give the party either a Vestige of Divergence, an Arms of the Betrayers weapon, or maybe both. This leads to a long-running arc of the characters trying to keep the item(s) away from the other forces that want them. - This is a spin on an idea from an earlier thread about adventures in Eiselcross that I really liked.
Possible Encounters: Cultists, Cult Fanatic
This is great! I just finished running the Frozen Sick and I was looking for some good paths forward. I have a Drow from the Kryn army in the party so the kidnapped Drow hook is perfect. In my campaign, on the way back from Saulsvault after fighting off a Aeorian Absorber they found a dead mage with a Dunamancy potion. Our Drow was pissed "The Cereberus Assembly is stealing our technology!". I can now connect the dots and say that is was Tia's potion they stole.
In the bigger picture - If they successfully rescue Tia she will explain that she has knowledge about a ship leaving Balenpost for Icehaven that is full of stolen Kryn technology she will attempt to persuade the adverturers to help her recover those items and return them to the Bright Queen.
Another other idea I would add if you have a Drow in your party: Dwendalian guards attempt to arrest him in Syrinlya accusing him a crime he didn't commit and are intent on bring him to Balenpost for trial. Professor Gulrtim, Morgo come to his defense after Orvo vouches for his innocence (he was with him the whole trip to Saulsvault) A battle with guards ensue.
hi. I totally changed the lore for my group here.
What they don't know yet. The Aeorians have captured the Drow people to experiment on and use then as weapons against the gods. They managed to nearly kill Araushnee, later to become Lolth. They trapped most of her good essence in the beacons (which they had developed to capture gods) and the remaining divine essence became Lolth the evil or at least frustrated and very much powerless god of the few Drow left.
The PCs will get the chance to find out about that and by freeing the good part of Araushnee (which would be Eilistrae the only good godess in the Drow pantheon) they can combine the two essences of Araushnee anf make her whole again.
The Kryn are the prisoners of war that managed to flee from the prisons of Aeor and still believe that the beacons are their god (in truth the benevolent essence of Lolth - Eilistrae is trapped inside).
The beacons have benn used to hinder the souls of followers of the gods to get back to them, capturing their souls in the beacon before they can join their gods in the afterlife.
So on their way back to the village they will be attacked by "experiments" of Aeor, mutated drow, I am using simic hybrids for that... I hope they will pick on it...
I am really looking forward to that crazy story and hope my PCs will persue it.
I have one question for you guys: How did you deal with the travelling distance mentioned in the adventure? It says they travel 200 miles to Salsvault but the scale of the map suggests that that would be nearly all of Eiselcross if you look at the the map scale.
In my head Salsvault is not further north than the first mountainrange to the north. If they really travelled that far they would have passed the ruins of Aoer and probably Mutalos which I didn't like.