[June, 17th 2009] Module 2 (beta): In search of Karda

Greetings fellow gamers !

I decided to scrap the old blog and pick up some gems from days past. They should serve as examples or inspiration for adventures you wish to create.
Enjoy!



In search of Karda (Low to mid Heroic, Level 3)
Back-story:
Karda it is said to be a powerful artifact, created eons ago, in Drakonia, by a forgotten god from the Far Realm. His powers, aberrations to this world are said to be able to rip apart the reality itself, bending minds and bodies alike.
All is good in Hell and Heavens, but this artifact has lost many of his powers either due to divine intervention, multiple users and also attempts to suppress or destroy it. Still, Karda is a potent artifact. Thus, it has been decided by some elder powers, to split the artifact in three: The Visage of Karda (Head), The Cane of Karda(Staff) and The Chain of Karda (Waist). Each of these pieces holds a small portion of the remnants of the artifact’s power, but reunited, they can shape the destiny of the world!
Player hooks:

1. City of Oro’Karda (The Vanquishing of Karda, primordial dialect), hosts an annual festival to honor and celebrate the banishment of this ancient god and invites all heroes of the realm to join in a fair contest of whim and wits. After the contest, they find out that, in fact, this festival has the purpose of scouting for able adventurers, that would go in search of one of the pieces of the artifact.
2. The High Docadearch of Oro’Karda, enters a madness spree, kills all the neophytes of the temple and then shuts himself down within the recesses of the temple for an unknown purpose. Rumors say that one of the pieces of a lost artifact made by Karda has re-emerged in the world.
3. The High City of Oro’Karda, is under siege, when the heroes arrive after a previous adventure. More than a half of the citizens of the city, went mad after a strange storm that struck the city one week ago. Now, the sane citizens, raised barricades and stockades, to keep the mad ones at bay. Sightings of strange aberrations and rumors of monstrosities within the city reach  sow fear among the people and military alike. Because the KS-9 and the Royal Army are at least three weeks away, the people fear that the city will be overrun by then.

Encounters:

1. Emperor’s Road refugees (3^rd hook)

While on road to the city of Oro’Karda, the players meet a caravan of refugees, that prepares to camp. They are starved and tired as they mostly ran off the city reaches. The caravan leader, a halfling named Wenner Longstrider, a cleric of Sehanine, tends to almost everyone, when the players arrive.
Players find out from Wenner, that the city is under siege by mad citizens and some say aberrations. If they ask around the camp, a Streetwise DC 15 will reveal that before they left, the Royal Army was two weeks away from the city.
If the players act friendly towards the refugees and hep them with food and drinks and offer some first aid (Heal DC 15), the refugees will be friendly towards the players. Also this will yield a small story about the strange storm that struck the city before all went amok. An Arcana DC 14, will tell the players that this might be accomplished by a ritual and at DC 20 they find that the ritual is Control Weather.

1. The Golden Tusk Inn (2^nd hook)

The adventurers rest for a while in the inn, when an errand boy from the temple runs the streets of the city shouting that the Docadearch has gone mad, and shut himself in the temple. The players must find another way to enter in the temple so a Streetwise DC 15, will reveal that a hunter of undead, named Sevellim, might know of a way inside the temple, but for a price.
A skill check will initiate with Sevellim:
Type: 1 (4 S vs 2 F)
Skill: Insight, Diplomacy, Religion, Intimidate
If this challenge is succesful, the ranger will lead the players through the catacombs to the temple’s second entrance. If the skill challenge ends in a failure, the ranger tells them that through the catacombs is a way but nothing of the traps and hazards there.

1. Festival of Banishment (1^st hook)

Players are invited by the High Lord Mayor of Oro’Karda, to attend a contest of whim and witts, to honor an ancient battle against a lost god. The contest is broke in challenges that accrue all major disciplines: Martial, Arcane, Divine and Primal. Players attend at what the know best and if they win, the High Lord Mayor, named Erik Goldblood, offers them the prize and also invites them to a small talk in his castle.
At the castle, the Lord Mayor, tells them about an artifact of great power beneath the city recesses, that he needs retrieved, for a hefty sum of gold. The sum cannot be negociated.
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