Dungeon Module A4 in the Dungeons of the Slave Lords by Lawrence Schick an ADVENTURE for CHARACTER LEVELS 4-7

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Sample file 1 Dungeon Module A4 In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords by Lawrence Schick AN ADVENTURE FOR CHARACTER LEVELS 4-7

Trapped In the du ngeons of the Slave Lords! The hardy adventurers must find a way out, with only their wits and courage to help them . But can they do It before everything is destroyed by the dreaded Earth Dragon?

This module was originally used for the final roundofthe officialADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® Open Tournamentat the GEN CON® XIII Game Convention, and Is the culmination of a series of four related tournament modules from TSR.

This module contains a challenging scenario for experienced players, the tournament scoring system, and nine fully-equipped, playtested tournament characters. Also Included are large-scale referee's maps, playing aids, notes, andbackgroundinfromation. A4 Is a complete adventure in Itself, butcanalso be usedIn conjunction with A 1 (SLA VE PITS OFTHE UNDERCITY), A2 (SECRET OF THE SLAVERS' STOCKADE), and A3 (ASSAULT ON THE AERIE OF THE SLAVE LORDS). Be sure to look for other exciting adventure modules from the Game Wizards at TSR.

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The designation "TM " is used to refer to trademarks owned by TSR Hobb ies, Inc. ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGO NS is a registered tradma rk of TSR Hobbies, Inc. Sample@ 1981 TSR Hobbies, Inc. All Rights Reserved . file

TSR Hob bies, Inc . PRINTED IN U.S.A. POB 756 ISBN 0-935696 -28-8 e l HOTSR Hobb. alnc. LAKE GENEVA, WI 53147 9042 AD&D™Modul e A4: Before commencing play, the OM must read the module tho roughly and become familiar with the scenario. Otherwise the OM IN THE DUNGEONS OF THESLAVE LORDS may give information away accidentally, and may have to spend a lot of ti me during play carefully reading the encounter areas. This disrupts the flow of play, and can cause serious time problems if by Lawrence Schick the tournament scenario is in use . After reading , the OM should decide whether to use this module as part of a regular campaign, or as if in the tournament it was designed for. If the latter course is chosen, special attention should be paid to the TOURNAMENT NOTES section. Background: For several years, organized bands of pirates and slavers have As in the other A-series modules, the information in the key is made a living by raiding the coastal towns on the Sea of Gearnat. usually divided into two sections. The boxed material includes Although these marauders were certainly not welcomed by the the information that will be obvious to the characters upon casual lords and rulers of the lands they raided , they were allowed to inspection of the encounter area. Un like the other modules of this continue their depredations. Feuding among the lords and lack of series, in this module the boxed text is NOT to be read to the funds prevented all but the gradual fortification of towns and an players word-for-word. The OM should convey the information to occasional naval skirmish with the villians. Recently, however, the players in the standard style of description and question-and the slaver's attacks have become more frequent and vicious. answer. The unboxed text is OM information which players may Believing their prey to be weak and helpless, the raiders have or may not uncover, depending on how things go in the encounter burnt entire villages and pulled down the walls of towns, enslav area. ing everyone they captu reo This is an unusual scenario in that the characters start almost The lords of the afflicted states finally determined to take action, totally bereft of equipment and spells. Many players think of their forgetting thei r petty squabbles to unite agai nst the marauders of characters in terms of thei r powers and possessions, rather than the yellow sails. The lords traced the slavers to one of the ports as people. Such players will probably be totally at a loss for the from which they launch their swift attacks on the coast - the first few minutes of play. It is likely that they will be angry at the despoiled city of Highport in the wasted Pomarj. Rather than send OM for putting them in such an " unfair" situation. They will de troops, the lords first cautiously dispatched bands of adventur mand or beg concessions. DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY HELP, even ers. Thei r mission : find the ultimate stronghold of the slavers and if they make you feel sorry for them. Inform the players that they destroy the Slave Lords, thus ending their power. must rely on what they have, not what they used to have, and that this includes their brains and their five senses. Good players will With cleverness and courage, the adventurers followed the route actually welcome the challenge of this scenario. All players will of the Pomarj. After penetrating the outer defenses, they came ultimately enjoy the module much more if they get out on their through to the slavers' mountain fastness in the heart of the own resources, rather than with what hints and clues the OM Drachensgrab, the rocky spine of the mountain wall to see a gives them. town on an island in the middle ofa vast crater lake. This was Suderham - the Aerie of the Slave Lords. The dungeon labyrinth is far from a normal AD&D dungeon. To escape, the player characters will have to make the best of the The adventurers attacked the Slave Lords in their lair beneath opportunities offered by the contents of the various encounter Suderham, but on the verge of victory, the party was defeated by areas. These opportunities may seem meager to the players at an impassable sleeping-gas trap. The sleeping adventurers were fi rst, but this dungeon contains more than enough material for the ignominiously stripped of their belongings and dragged to the players to escape from any of the exits if they have the wits and dungeon cells beneath Drachen Keep, the forbidding tower on a resourcefulness to recognize and utilize it. However, this module plateau above the town. is also a test of the ability of the Dungeon Master! It is a virtual certainty that good players, forced to rely on their own initiative, MODULE BACKGROUND: will attempt to use what they find to do things not covered by the The dungeon portion of this module was used as the final round rules. In these situations, it is entirely up to the OM to handle these of the ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® Open Tourna requests with fairness, Objectivity, and imagination. Some things ment at the GEN CON@XIII gaming convention, 1980 . Instruc the OM can think about ahead of time; for example, how will the tions are given for using this module (along with the other mo party make light, or ropes, or mark their way? Consider such dules of the A series) to reconstruct this tournament. For this th ings, but be prepared also, for the players wi II probably th ink of purpose, the scoring system and the characters used in the things that never occurred to you. AD&D™Open are included. Occasionally, information presented in the dungeon portion will not apply to tournament use , and An essential mechanism of this scenario is the impending earth these instances are clearly marked. The OM should take special quake and volcanic eruption which will destroy the dungeon and note of such instances to prevent confusion. Suderham. The earthquake (and its attendant foreshocks) serves two purposes: it prods the players on to act quickly in the dun Notes for the Dung eon Master geon, and it sets the stage for the island scenario at the end of the • module. A number of tremors precede the earthquake, each of In the Dung eons of the Slave Lords has been designed for six to which should be slightly greater than the last . The first comes as eight characters of moderate levels (4 to 7) . However, the unusual the OM reads the START section to the players. The second nature of the dungeon makes it uniquely suited to adaptation for should come shortly after the players wake up in area 1. (Describe play by characters of almost any level by simply increasing or the walls trembling, sand shifting underfoot, dust and grit falling decreasing the number of hit dice of the monsters. from the ceiling, and a deep growling from within the surrounding rock.) After that, the tremors should be brought back at regular In this module the player's skill, not the character's level, will intervals, w ith a slight increase in magnitude each time. The determineSamplesuccess. However, a party attempti ng to complete th is following schedule is suggested: filestage a tremor after 40 minutes module should contain several fighters and at least one cleric, of play, the next one after 35 more minutes, the next after 30, then one magic-user, and one thief. The characters provided at the end 25, 20, 15, etc., until the tremors are rocking every couple of of the module are ideally suited for the scenario, as certain as minutes, if the players haven't escaped yet. (Be discreet; clever pects of the module were designed with their capabilities in mind. players will notice obvious clock-watching.) This is a chance for

2 the OM to Inject some drama and suspense into the game. Above Mapping: No mapping is possible by players until characte rs all, never let the players suspect that the ceiling won't really fall on acquire something to map with ! Mappin g requires light and a their heads, and that the whole dungeon will collapse beh ind reliable writing instrument. (Note: a pricked fi nger is too messy them as soon as the y escape! Make them think that they will all be and the blood will keep coagulating.) Charact ers do not know killed if they don't get out in time (which is exactly what happens which way north is (unless they have a Stou tis h halfling with the m in the tournament scenario). who thinks to check for di rect ion); all directions should be given to them in terms of right and left. This will make it difficult for the The re is anothe r purpose which the final earthquake can serve. If players to keep track of where they are and where they've been, the players are totally unable to escape the dungeon, because of but not impossible . If they th ink they' ve been some place befo re, damage, inadequacy, or some fatal error, the earthquake can a) do not confirm or deny it; describe the place and let them dec ide . kill them all and put them out of the ir misery, or b) ope n an escape rou te to the outer wo rld .The OM may choose to award fewer or no Ii', Travelling: This may be difficult wit hout ligh t. Characters witho ut experience points for the labyrinth if the latter expedient proves infravision wi ll have to feel their way through the dark, and the necessary. party will be able to move no faster than %the speed of its slowest member wi th normal vision. Ultravision is of no use here.Jt.the Starting fires : Certain materials have been placed in the labyrinth group travels without lin king hands or using some other method to enable quick-witted players to gather the wherewithal from to keep togethe r, each unlinked character with normal vision has wh ich to construct a fire. It is likely that every group of adventur a 20% chance of making a wro ng turn at an intersection. If the ers will at one time attempt to use these or other materials in a party is accidentally split in this way, it will take 1-2 turns to notice manner not intended or foreseen by the author. In all such cases, the spli t and reform th e party (possibly longer, if the group is the care fully considered judgement of the OM must be the fin al attempting to remain silent). authority. It wo uld be quite impossible to anticipate every given action a party might take and give instructions here on how to Standard Monster Statistics: For the conven ience of the Dungeon hand Ie the situ ation . How ever, a few tips are Iisted below covering Master, monster statis tics are given in the following abbreviated the starti ng of fi res, which is one of th e most crucial and clear-cut for mat: Armor Class (AC), Movement (MV), Hit Dice (HD) or Level problems fac ing the adventurers. and Class (LVL) , hit poi nts (hp), No. of Attacks (#AT), Damage - Sharp blows of flin t aga inst ferrous metal (iron or steel) will (D), Spec ial Attacks (SA), and Special Defenses (SO). For exam produce a spark. For example: the rusty dagger (area 4) and ple : "1 pseudo-dragon (AC 2, MV 6"/24", HD 2, hp 12, #AT 1, 0 flint spearheads (area 6). Flint striking flint, bone, or other rock 1-3, SA poison, SO chameleon powe r, 35% magic resistance) is will not produce sparks. riding on the magistrate's shoulder."

- The wood found in area 5 is too crumbly to be rubbed together to produce a flame. If this is attempted, the wood will TOURNAMENT NOTES merely brea k into smaller fragments. Originally run at GEN CON ® XIII convent ion, this modul e con - The glow-fungi (area 11) and fire beetles (area 15) give off ta ins on ly part of the seven-part ADVAN CED DUN GEONS & light but not heat, in the manner of fi re flies. It is a totalwaste of DRAGONS® Open tournament. The first six parts of the tou rna time tor a party to try to set a fire with these . ment are con tained in modules A1 (Slave Pits of the Undercity), A2 (Secret ofthe Slavers' Stockade), and A3 (Assault on the Aerie The above notes are intended as a supplement to the information of the Slave Lords).In the original tournament, modules A1, A2, provided under the encounters themselves. and part of A3 were used for the fi rst ro unds, the second part of A3 was the semi -final,and the labyrinth par t of this module was the final rou nd. A1 and A2 each contain tw o interlinked scena rios. Therefore there are 5 first rounds, each requ iring nine players, for Climbing: all of the walls in the dungeon caves can be climbed by a tot al of 45 players in the tournament (minimum). Since this thieves at nor mal percentages except where indicated othe rwise. number of players is beyond most groups wishing to try tourna ment play, it is suggested that each of the first 3 mod ules be Fighting in the dark is at -4 "to hit" for cha racters without handled as one entire round instead of two . inf ravision. Cert ain conventions are followed in tournament play of th is mo '\ Infravision will enable characters to note the general outlines of dule to insure that many situations are handled in the same way: cave walls and the presence of creatures, but that's about it. Everything no n-living in the dungeon is about the same tempera 1. The players are prese nted with precreated characters. All ture as everything else . Characters with inf ravision will be able to characteristics have been listed, along with equ ipment, spells, J see fish and other creatures in the water at area 10 and 12. and mag ic items (if any) . Players may not add to or alter this Infravision does not enable a character to read a scroll! Reading list, except through play. This wi ll gua rantee that allplayers I! parchment requires visible light. start with the same cha nces . Playe rs shou ld be allowed the use of the Players Handbook, but not of the Monster Manual nor Footprints and other marks on the floor will be wiped out by the the Dungeon Masters Gu ide , although all magi c item s they shaking of the sand with each earth tremor, and thus will not be possess will be completely known and understood by the reliable "road marks" . owner.

Resting: Cha racters may decide at some poi nt to rest and/ or 2. Except where noted, mo nsters will fight to the best of their sleep, pa rticu larly in order to regai n clerica l spelts. There are ability, and show no merc y or quarter; atte mpts to bargain with several ways to di ssuade them from this. One way is to tell the them will result in failure. Mon sters encountere d in tourna players, "You rest for 40 mi nutes but then there is an earth tremor, ment play need never check morale and wiII not retreat or flee slig htly large r than the last. Your rest is spo iled ." The best way to un less it is so noted in the tex t. Monsters wil l be fully aware of deal with thisSamplein a time-important sit uation such as a tournament the capabilities of thei r weafilepons, magic items and spells and is to have the characters' rest time equal real time. To do this, the will use these to the ir advantage. OM simply leans back and does not hi ng, responding to hurry-up exho rtations with, "You're still resti ng." Mos t parties wi ll catch on 3. A scoring system has been provided at the end of the module within a min ute or two and give up on this particular ploy. to hel p standardize the scoring for the tou rnament session s. 3 4. To standardize time spent in the labyri nth from team to team , KEY TO THE LABYRINTH the DM should describe the turns and dis tances of each tunnel section traversed by th e party. Th is should be done in a mea 1. ENTRANCE TO FEAR sured, steady voice . Description should be something like the following:"You leave the chamber and go roughly straigh t fo r Th e party awakens in a place where there is no light about 30 feet, turn left approximately 90 deg rees and go 20 and no sou nds bu t their ow n. Characters with infravi feet , turn right abou t 75 degrees and go 25 feet, go left around a sion can ascertain th at al l party members are present 30-foot curve and then go straight for 30 feet, turn left about 90 ed. Th e place the y are in looks and feels like a natural 0 degrees and go 40 feet, and now cha racters with infr avision cave , about 30 feet in diamete r. There are four 10' high can see another chamber ahead of yo u." Doing this fo r all of exi t tunnels some what evenl y spaced around the pe the tunnels the party passes th ro ugh can become tedious for rime ter. Characters with infravis ion ca nno t see a ceil- both DM and players, but it is necessary to ensu re that all . ing; app arently it istoo high. Thefloor is covered with parties spend about the same amount of time when cov ering sand . the same amount of ground. If several DMs are running this tournament round, they should practice together a little bit None of the par ty have any poss essions save a dirty beforehand to ensure that th ey are all descr ibing at the same cotton loincloth. They have no weapons, no food, speed . nothing : onl y their wits, and a small closed cloth tube which rests on th e floor in th e center of the room . It is a START foot-and-a-ha lf long, about the size of a wand or scro ll tube . The cha racte rs have been kept in sepa rate ce lls in a dungeon for an unknown period of time . The only clue as to the duration of If the players look down the exi t tunnels , they wi ll see their imprisonment is the fact that all of their wounds have healed. nothing do wn three of them, but they will see a dis Spell-casters' spell s are all long gone from thei r memories,cast in tant, dim light down th e fourth (northernmost) tunnel. desperate and clever attempts to escape from the dungeon. Un This light occasionally flickers and moves slightly. fortunately, all attempts were failures, though they succeeded in giving the jailers a very hard time. It is 110 feet to the ceil ing of this room, whe re a heavy stone block plugs th e hole the characters were lowered through . Th e Clerics have received spec ial treatment: the jaile rs, knowing tha t wa lls are cr umbl y and will not su pport a cl imb er's wei ght clerics can regain their spe lls by pray er afte r suffic ient rest, have above a heig ht of 15' even if th e c limber is usi ng a spider climb not allowed the clerics to sleep more than th ree hou rs in succes spell to adh ere to the walls. sion , and have given them even smaller rati on s of food and water than the other characters have received. Despite th is treatme nt , The scrol l tube is made of cl oth , with a light wooden ring at the clerics' faith has enabled them to persevere, and th e jai lers each end to gi ve it its shap e. (It can be used to ho ld on e breath have occasionally sl ipp ed up in thei r rout ine abus e. Th is has of air, or tw o if covered with pitch - see area 10). Th e tube allowed the clerics to quickly pray for (and receive) spells usefu l contains th ree scrolls, on e with spells fo r illusionists and two to their cu rrent condition: cure light wounds, purify food and for magic-us ers. There is also a short note. All of the spells drink, resist cold, create water. listed are at the seventh level of ab ility . (Note : C means castin g time, R =range, DR =duration, S =segm ents, r =rounds, t = Something finally occurs to break th e monotony of imprison turns.) men t: the ston e shudders and the earth growls as a large tr emor rock s the island . Dust filters down fr om the ceilings of the cells , Scroll A: and the adven turers can hear much sho uti ng and co mmotion Audible glamer (C 5s, R 13", DR 21r) among their captors. Afte r a sho rt period , the doors to th e dun Dancing Lights (C 1s. R 11" , DR 14r) geon clang op en , and in wal ks the stronghold's evil High Priest, Wall of fog (C 1s, R 3" , DR 2-8 + 7r) su rrounded by guardsmen. "T he Earth Dragon has spo ken!" he Invisibility (C 2s, R touch, DR speci al) announces. " He is hung ry , and the time has come to feed yo u to him, as is our sac red custom. 0 miscreants, now you shall pay for the havoc you have wrought. Guards, subdue them with the Scroll B: Smoke of the Little Death. " Spider climb (C 1s, R tou ch , DR 8r ) Feign death (C 1s, R tou ch, DR 13r) He turns and leaves, and the guards go with him . Sho rtly, howev Dig (C 4s, R 3", DR 7r, 5' cube can be dug each round) er, the re is a click as a sma ll aperture is op ened in th e dungeon door. Th ro ugh it comes the end of a tube, wh ich spews out the Scroll C: green sleep smoke the cha ract ers remember so well. ... Affect normal fires (C 1s, R 3W', DR 7r) Light (C 1s, R 6" , DR 7t) Standard Dungeon Features Jump (C 1s, R to uc h, DR spec ial, 3 leaps possib le, see PHB) Read magic (C 1r, R 0, DR 14r) Thi s spell is perm anentl y The cei lings of all dungeon tunnels and chambers are app ro xi w ritt en in a common mag ic-use r's scr ipt (as in a spell book), mately 10 feet high, except where otherw ise noted. The tunnels and will not disappear once read , unl ike the oth er spe lls on th e vary from 6 to 12 feet in width. averaging about 9 feet wide. All scrolls. tunnels and chambers are of fine sandstone, except in wet and drippy areas , where the walls are limestone. (This is strange Of course, it is impossible to read no rma lly with infravision, so geology fo r a volcanic island. Perhaps it can be explained by the these scrolls must remain a mystery to the party until they can legend that the Earth Dragon wanted a pleasan t isle for his crate r find a lig ht sou rce. The special read magic spell wi ll enable lake , so he carried away an entire trop ical island and dropped it mag ic-users to read the scrolls . (An ill usion ist doe s not need a here. But perh aps not. ) Except where noted, it is not poss ibl e to read magic to read illusion ist wri tings.) ch ip roc k pieces out of the wall to get weapons or slingstones. The limestoneSampleis too hard , and the sandstone is too crumbly. The The tube also inclu des a nofilete, wh ic h reads :"T his is the best I floo rs of the tunnels and chambers are covered with fine sand to a could do to help . May your gods be wit h you. If you escape, depth of one foot. The floo rs in the limestone areas are gene rally yo ur equipment is being held on the Slave Lords' private boat, smooth. Stalactites and stalagmites are too thick to break off the Wate r Dragon, at the Sude rham docks. Signed , your Friend except as noted. from the Gate ."