Averlorn Campaign: The Devils of Zingalis

Recap from 4/8/2011

After resting up in the Cyclops’ lair in the Labyrinth of Zingalis, we set off down the hall past the summoning circle in search of more loot.  The treasure finding potion that Lucias had quaffed during the previous session indicated there was more treasure to be found off in that direction somewhere.  At the end of the hall past the prison cell blocks was an empty room with one angled corner wall and an archway on the right wall that led into another rectangular room with tapestries on two of its walls.  This room, however, was not empty – staring at us with wicked smiles from the other side of the room were four Eryines!  The winged female Devils were somehow strangely attractive and yet had a cruel, alien and wickedly evil look to them at the same time.  They hissed obscenities at us, promising to return our souls to Hades, and then the melee commenced.

We weren’t surprised but unfortunately, they had the initiative and acted first.  Two of them teleported across the room using their Teleport Without Error ability and jumped the dwarven cleric Brummbar in the back left end of the group's line.  One of them managed to land a hit with her evil poisoned dagger but the dwarf made his save against the poison affects of the blade.  One of the others attacked Kaira to little effect with its dagger, as Kalaniekos and Asclepius came to her aid.  The other one stood where it was and used its enchanted Rope of Entanglement to try to ensnare its opponents, and managed to tie up Taleth the Ranger who was stuck and couldn’t move.  She snarled “I’ll turn you into a Lemure once we return to Hades!”

Then the group struck back and managed to kill the one holding Taleth with weapons, arrows and magic missiles and he was free once again.  Lucias came to the aid of Brummbar and between the two of them they managed to slay one of the ones attacking the dwarf.  It was looking like the combat was going well when suddenly things went horribly wrong.  The devil that was fighting Brummbar and Lucias used her rope of entanglement and managed to ensnare the fighter – he was helpless to act from that point on.  To make matters worse, the other one used her Cause Fear spell like ability and a number of the party members fled the room including Brummbar, Cyrcla, Taleth, and Asclepius. 

Things weren’t so easy with our primary fighter and four other characters effectively taken out of the melee and in the next round it only got worse.  The one holding Lucias in the rope also used her fear affect along with the other one and then Kaleneikos and Naas also fled screaming in terror from the room but not before they managed to kill the one in front of them.  This left the one devil holding Lucias in the rope, fighting against Kaira the cleric and Gradwin the Cleric/Mage.  Kaira tried in vain to cut the magical rope to no avail.  Gradwin picked up Brummbar’s magical short sword that had been dropped as he fled, and attacked the she devil doing a small amount of damage.  The lone Erinye tried to summon more of her kind to the fray unsuccessfully as she hissed obscenities at her attackers.  Both of the clerics now focused their full efforts on slaying the evil devil creature.  Before attacking her, Gradwin intoned to his deity “Oh mighty and powerful Hecate, grant me strength against this foul abomination to send her back to the hell from whence she came” and he struck her with a powerful blow (he invoked the d30 for his damage roll – once per session, any character can roll the d30 for a single roll for emergencies such as this).

She reeled and was hurt badly (he rolled 20 points of damage plus other bonuses) and was suddenly not so sure of her victory anymore.  She once again attempted to summon more of her “sisters” from hell but they did not answer her call fortunately (it would have been game over if they had).  Then Kaira managed to land the killing blow with her enchanted spear and the battle was over.  As the magical ropes disappeared and returned to hell, Lucias thanked the two priests for freeing him from the ropes and certain doom.  As the remaining characters in the room took stock of their surroundings, slowly the others started returning to the room as the fear affect wore off.  Fortunately, they didn’t encounter any wandering monsters in the labyrinth as they fled as that could have been disastrous for them.  They slowly filtered back into the room and picked up their discarded weapons littering the floor.  We had to go back to the hallway with the permanent sleep spell cast on it to retrieve the two fourth level characters that had succumbed to the sleep spell in their flight in order to revive them since they were asleep.

Once the group was re-joined, we searched the room and found the Erinyes treasure hoard then decided to open the large bronze double doors in front of us.  These led into a long rectangular room with caryatid columns on either side that was otherwise empty.  At the end of the long hall like chamber it opened into a much larger chamber beyond with three elliptical steps leading down a few feet lower to the floor below.  At the other end of the room was a group of fourteen very odd creatures.  They looked to be yet another example of Zingalis’ crazy experiments.  They were some kind of abominable cross breed between humans or humanoids and devils but they had lobster like claws instead of hands.  The DM referred to them as "infernal mutants" but we had never encountered their like before.

They rushed at the group and we formed a line across the top of the stairs between the columns on either wall so that they couldn’t get into our rear ranks.  Behind the front line stood the spellcasters who hurled magic missiles and fired arrows into the crazy looking lobster devil things.  The front line consisted of Cyrcla on the left side, Lucias and Taleth in the middle and Teth-en-Aire on the right side.  Before they could come to grips with the adventurers, both Cyrcla and Teth-en-Aire cast mirror image so there were suddenly many more images of the elves to conceal their actual locations.  As the others stood in the back and cast spells and fired arrows, Kalaneikos stood behind the front line and attacked them with his spear to bolster the line as needed.  Brummbar and Kaira cast a combination of Prayer, Holy Chant and Bless simultaneously which not only bolstered the group’s offensive capabilities, but also bolstered their defensive capabilities as well with positive energy from their deities.

The characters in the front line slew the beasts as they came at them and suffered very little in the way of damage from their opponents while the characters in the back of the line helped to whittle them down as well.  In this manner, the group managed to slay all fourteen of the abhorrent creatures in a slow grinding battle that diminished their numbers until they were all dispatched.  These beasts were not true devils but were some kind of cross breeds between humans or humanoids and devil kind.  This fact was ascertained by the clerics, because they didn’t wink out and disappear to their home plane when destroyed like devils would have, rather, they bled and died like normal humanoids.  After the last creature was killed, we searched the room thoroughly and found their treasure piled in one corner.  Aside from more of the evil looking demonic caryatids lining the walls and a few other statues, the room had no other exits or hidden features that we could discern.

So, after two long grueling combats against the spawn of Hades and Zingalis’ crazy creations, we decided to call it a day and headed back to the Cyclops’ lair for a much needed rest. 

TO BE CONTINUED…

ICE MERP Layout Illustrations from the Lake Town Module

The layouts below were drawn for Iron Crown Enterprise's MERP 2nd Edition module of Laketown.  I drew over 40 illustrations for this module most of which were drawn using AutoCAD.  Most of these were building layouts and were unremarkable aside from the sheer volume of them.  Below is a small selection of some of the more interesting ones.  You will note that most of them are shown with a wood texture type of rendering and also show timber framing members in the walls.  This was per the original writer's rough designs since he wanted to stress the wooden nature of Lake Town which was to be its detriment when Smaug attacked the town in the events detailed in J.R.R. Tolkien's book the Hobbit.

The map for Lake Town is shown below.  It was drawn by hand using ink on vellum.

Map of Lake Town

The Citadel of the Maestas plans below were one of the few buildings in the module that wasn't made of wood and was built on the shore near the town.  The layouts were drawn using AutoCAD and were inspired by my architectural history background with all of the niches, vaults, windows and arches to looks somewhat like a set of European abbey plans.

Citadel of the Maestas First Floor Plan

Citadel of the Maestas Second Floor Plan

The layouts for Vodagar's Tavern below include four floor plans featuring the first floor, a balcony/mezzanine level, a floor for guest accommodations and Vodagar's widow's watch, office and quarters at the top.  It has the potential to provide a great backdrop for all kinds of dockside carousing, wenching, drinking, trouble-making, general role playing and tavern intrigue for a party of adventurers.  These drawings were drawn using AutoCAD and feature the wood structure and wood grain rendering for the furnishings as noted above.

Vodagar's Tavern First Floor Plan

Vodagar's Tavern Second Floor Plan

Vodagar's Tavern 3rd and 4th Floor Plans

The plan for Erranun's Dockside brothel is shown below.  It was drawn using AutoCAD.

Erranun's Brothel

The typical Lake Town merchant ship layout below was drawn by hand using ink on vellum.

Lake Town typical Merchant Vessel

Copyright notice:  All original artwork on this page is displayed for self promotion purposes only and is copyrighted by the original artist, Daniel Cruger.  This artwork may be downloaded and used for personal use only and may not be reproduced for commercial purposes in any way without the express written consent of the owner.

ICE MERP Layouts from the Mirkwood Module

The illustrations below were drawn for ICE's Middle Earth Role Playing Second Edition book of Mirkwood in 1995.  I think this was the third book I did illustrations for and all of the illustrations shown here were drawn with ink on vellum using technical pens.  The black and white map of the southern half of the forest of Mirkwood was used to key locations found in the module.  Towns or villages are shown with three dots, towers are shown as spires and the locations with flags on them are fortresses.  This was the largest scale map I ever did for them.  I'm not sure why but there is no north arrow or graphic scale drawn on this illustration - they were probably added later by the ICE staff as was the rest of the text.

Map of Southern Mirkwood

The next map is the map of the ruins of Dale after it was destroyed by Smaug.  Note the location map in the upper right hand corner showing the Lonely Mountain.  That was drawn by referencing the map in the book "the Hobbit" that shows the Lonely Moutain.  I did another CAD map of Dale in better times when it wasn't a ruin but didn't show it here because it isn't as nice as this one.

Ruins of Dale Showing the Lonely Mountain

The next three drawings are of the Dwarven Halls of Erebor carved within the Lonely Moutain.  These were rendered to look like maps carved in stone in a similar style to the maps I did for Moria.  Note the dwarven runes.  Also note that on the first map, the river runs alongside the entry road as described in the book.

Erebor the Lonely Mountain First Delving

The next level is the Under Delving or Second Level where Smaug resided before and during the events described in the Hobbit.

Erebor the Lonely Mountain Under Delving

The next drawing is just a closeup of the previous one showing where Smaug resides.  It is the rectangular chamber roughly centered on the image below and was labeled as Room #47 in the module.

Erebor the Lonely Mountain Under Delving Chamber of Smaug

The final layout from the Lonely Mountain is the King's Delving of Erebor where the royal apartments of the King of Erebor are located.

Erebor the Lonely Mountain King's Delving

The next layout shows the plans of the tower of Sarn Goriwing.  The great black spire rises out of the center of the waterfall called Goriwing near the headwaters  of the enchanted river (S. Guildin).  Lachglin the Animist resides here.

Tower of Sarn Goriwing - Lachglin's Residence

The next layout is a plan of Rhosgobel, the enchanted home and refuge of Radagast the Brown.  It is located on the western edge of the narrows of Mirkwood and is a celebration of the the abundant forms of Endorian life.

Rhosgobel, the enchanted home of Radagast the Brown

The layout below is a plan layout of the Holy Carrock.  It is a large stone shrine sitting in the middle of the river that was hollowed out of a large natural rock formation.  It is a sacred site to the Beijabar who reside along the western edge of Mirkwood.  The manor house of the high shape changer of the Beijabar is also located nearby.

The Holy Carrock, a Sacred Beijabar Site

The following layout is of the hill fort of Ursh Lana also known as "the Defiant Hill".  It is the westernmost of the Asdraige Easterling outposts.

Ursh Lana or "Defiant Hill" - Easterling Hill Fort

The final layout of this series is of a typical outpost of Gondor, one of many built in the region.  They were primarily built and manned by the kingdom of Gondor in order to keep an eye on their Easterling neighbors.

Typical Outpost of Gondor

Copyright notice:  All original artwork on this page is displayed for self promotion purposes only and is copyrighted by the original artist, Daniel Cruger.  This artwork may be downloaded and used for personal use only and may not be reproduced for commercial purposes in any way without the express written consent of the owner.

Averlorn Campaign: Beware the Tarp of Zingalis

Recap from 4/1/2011

Taleth the Ranger managed to successfully follow the werewolf tracks to their den and we gathered up some copper and silver pieces they had stashed in their lair.  Coupled with the loot from the Ketch’s lair it was a reasonable amount of coinage, but overall pretty disappointing since we had to turn back without even reaching the Labyrinth of Zingalis.  When we got back to Medea’s Gate, we dropped off Rena with a doctor and used the loot we had gathered to buy healing potions.  Then we went to the Dominion’s local guild house and traded Shadaar’s traveling spellbook that we found in the Barrow Mound of Gravemoor for some magic items.  It contained three 5^th level and one 6^th level wizard spells (mostly having to do with summoning and binding demons) so it was worth quite a bit of cash.  We never sold it thinking we could use it one day but realized it would be better to sell it to purchase more magic items for the group.  Taleth got a +2 longsword that was +3 against giants (handy for a ranger) and a matching set of +1 Banded Mail with a +3 shield.  This improved his AC quite a bit making him a much better front line fighter and the sword gave him quite a bit more punch in melee as well.  We also acquired a ring of Telekinesis (50 pounds) and gave it to Gradwyn, another magical sword that we gave to Naas the Elven Magic User/Thief and a few other potions that we handed out to the other party members.

Thus re-equipped we provisioned up and got ready to set off for the tower once again.  We asked Brummbar the Dwarven Cleric to accompany us because our other clerics weren’t feeling well.  We had no trouble making it to the tower this time and went back in through the smashed gate and the Cyclops’ old lair behind the secret door.  We went down the hallway past the summoning or transmuting circle on the floor and made a point to stay to the left of it, lest we get turned into goats or worse.  Since we were badly in need of loot at this point, having been to the tower many times before and come out almost empty handed, we decided to focus this expedition on finding the treasure that we knew had to be there.  Lucias had a potion of treasure finding and decided that now was a good a time as any to use it, since we knew that the Horned Devils we had fought on our previous visit had to have a lair and loot in the complex somewhere.  It showed the strongest reading straight ahead of us through one of the doors at the end of the hallway and a couple of other indications of treasure in a few other directions that weren’t as strong.

We opened the door and went in.  The room was empty except for what looked to be a manhole cover sized trap door on the rear of the floor of the room.  It was surrounded by three sets of arrows inscribed on the floor that were all pointing to the hatch and there were also Brimahri runes carved into the floor around it as well.  The spellcasters translated the runes to read “TARP”.  This was odd because their was a similar warning also written in Brimbahri on the floor next to the summoning circle in the hallway but that one said “TRAP”.  So we figured that either the laughing mage had a sense of humor or he was dyslexic and accidentally inscribed the wrong letters on the floor unless it was some sort of trick or even an anagram for trap.  Since the crazy wizard’s ham had given us a pleasant surprise on the last visit, we assumed it was some sort of whacky joke or something.  Taleth used the Chime of Opening to open the trap door and sure enough, there was a tarp inside the hold covering a mound of treasure!

 We gathered up the loot from the lair of the Horned Devils and kept exploring the complex.  We went back into the hallway and opened the next door which was next to the one we had just opened.  In this room was another oubliette in the floor with a grate over it and as we walked up to it to have a look, a giant snake like creature with a dragon’s head slithered out of a gap in the wall above the grate and attacked!  This was obviously one of Zingalis’ crazy abominable creations.  There was a brief combat and the group managed to slay the creature and found more treasure in its hidey hole over the grate.  There was also a statue of Zingalis in another corner of the room.  Upon further investigation, it appeared to have grooves in the floor where it had been previously moved.  Lucias grabbed a hold of it and pulled it sideways and it slid to one side revealing a small hidden compartment under it carved into the floor.  The compartment also held a small amount of treasure.  We gathered up the coinage and continued to search the room.

One of the adventurers found a secret door in one corner which led into a small room.  Inside the room was a chest and three barrels.  Naas started checking out the chest and the rest of the group went back into the other room in case it was trapped to explode or something.  As we were milling about shooting the breeze, we were surprised to hear Naas exclaim, "what the…" and then we heard a loud thud!  When we turned around and looked into the room, he was invoking a spell and cast a magic missile on the chest!  We were surprised by this and it took us a little while to realize that the chest wasn’t a chest at all but was a Mimic, and that one of his hands was stuck to the “chest” while he cast the spell on it with the other one.  The group belatedly came to his aid and attacked the sticky chest shaped monster and eventually, Lucias killed it with a fierce blow from his sword.  Right before it died it said “wait, I’m willing to negotiate” and then its guts were spattered all over the wall behind it in a gooey mess.

We found a little bit more loot in one of the barrels and decided to rest up for the evening and that’s where we called the session.  We started out saying we were going to focus on finding loot and we managed to find a decent amount of it for a change including a magical broadsword that was under the “TARP”.  We still aren’t sure what to make of the laughing mage – his insidious traps killed two of our comrades but so far he does appear to have an odd sense of humor.  Between the baked ham reward for opening the double doors and the beware of “TARP” warning, we were starting to see why he was called the Laughing Mage.

TO BE CONTINUED…

ICE MERP Layout Illustrations from the Moria Module

Several people have requested these illustrations so following are drawings I did for the MERP 2nd Edition module for the Mines of Moria back in 1994.  The first drawings are of the first level of the huge city.  I would have liked to have drawn these with a more realistic and detailed dungeon map type of presentation but that was really impossible due to the huge scale of the city.  Rather, the maps should be looked at as schematic "road maps" for the city with detailed layouts shown elsewhere in the module to augment them and show close up views of particular areas.  The street and tunnel layouts with their many halls, caverns and mines are pretty much the same as those found in the original 1st Edition module of Moria except that ICE wanted to give them a new "stone map" rendered look.  The art directors wanted them to appear to be maps chiseled into the walls of the giant city - sort of a "You Are Here" kind of road map if you will.

The maps shown below are both the left and right side of a two page spread of the First Level and Deep of the Dwarven Mines and City of Moria.  The "Say friend and enter" secret door is on one side of this level at the rock face of the mountain above.  I'm not sure which side its on but its probably described in more detail inside of the module.  I scanned this level rather than the other levels because the other ones shared the same border which was drawn once on a separate sheet of vellum and pasted onto the sheet for each subsequent level.  In other words, the same stone border was used for all subsequent levels but added to the map by the ICE staff when they did the final page layout, paste up and type setting.  I would have to do some copy and paste Photoshop work and create new image files to merge the seperate stone border with the other maps (or obtain copies of the original final images) in order to post those layouts here as they appeared in the original book.  The first level and deep was drawn with a unique stone border on the original map layout sheet which was not repeated on the other levels which is why its shown here.  Again, these are pre-press layouts so there is no text - this was added later by the ICE page layout staff.

Dwarven Mines and City of Moria First Level/Deep Left Side

Dwarven Mines and City of Moria First Level/Deep Right Side

The next drawing is of the deep mine known as the Mine of Khulakal.  This drawing shows an upper terrace level connected by bridges with a lower excavated area below the higher plateau.  The lower excavated area shows contours and ridges depicting the topography of the stone floor below.  Below this lower excavated area are the deep chasms shown in black that descend even lower into the depths of the earth.  This whole mine area may have originally been part of a natural cavern but was widened, deepened and expanded by the dwarves in their never ending pursuit of precious metals such as mithril, gold and silver and other valuable mineral deposits.

The Mines of Khulakal in the Mines of Moria

The next two drawings are of the Bell Hall and the Whispering Hall.  The bell hall is a means of sending signals and/or music throughout the complex and the whispering hall is an ingenious method of communicating throughout the massive stone city.

Mines of Moria Bell Hall

Mines of Moria Whispering Hall

Copyright notice:  All original artwork on this page is displayed for self promotion purposes only and is copyrighted by the original artist, Daniel Cruger.  This artwork may be downloaded and used for personal use only and may not be reproduced for commercial purposes in any way without the express written consent of the owner.

Averlorn Campaign: The Wild and Woolly Forests of the Anvil

Recap from 3/25/2011

The carousing which took place in the City of Medea’s Gate last session was a celebration of the return of Teth-en-Aire to the land of the living through the use of powerful magic by our friends from the Fraternal Order of the Surgeons of Hecate.  Afterward, we waited for him to fully recover, did some trading, bought provisions and once again set off through the wild and woolly forests of the Anvil to return to the Wizard’s Tower and labyrinth of Zingalis the Laughing Mage.  Taleth the ranger led the way and we eventually made it to the hill region of the forest and found a suitable camp site to bed down for the night.  We set up watches as usual with the spellcasters on the first and last watch so they could learn spells the next day, and with Lucias and Kalaneikos, the fighters, taking up the second watch.

During the second watch, the camp was attacked by six Griffins!  Lucias and Kaleneikos moved to engage the giant bird like creatures and did their best to awaken the others who scrambled to arm themselves and grab their shields and what armor they could.  Aside from the two fighters, most of the group was not fully armored and were very vulnerable.  A fierce combat ensued and things were not looking good for the group due to the grievous wounds inflicted by the large beaks on the giant bird like heads of the creatures and their bird like claws.  Lucias finally managed to slay one of the creatures with his sword and both Cyrcla and Teth-en-Aire managed to cast Web spells and ensnare two of their number in the sticky magical webs produced by the spells.  The group then concentrated their sword strokes, missile fire and magic missiles on the ones that weren’t entangled and managed to dispatch them before the stuck ones could break free, and then focused their attention on those two.  At that point, it was over pretty quickly but the group was pretty badly hurt and the clerics cast what healing spells they could to help the party members recover from their wounds.

The next morning when we arose, the spellcasters learned their spells and the group decided to see if we could find the lair of the Griffins and their treasure which we thought could be nearby.  This was a difficult task for the ranger since Griffins will typically move on land and through the air leaving no tracks for anyone to follow while they are flying.  While he was circling around trying to pick up the lost trail again, we were attacked by a group of three Kech – giant white evil monkey like creatures.  We had encountered these before the first time we traveled through these woods, and they gave us a hard time then as well as this time.  They are highly intelligent and cunning opponents and set snares for the characters in front to try to trap them first when they sprang the ambush and then fell on the rear of the single file column of adventurers.

Kaleneikos and Renna were the last two in the line and were beset by the evil white monkey creatures.  Two of their number attacked Renna, the low level ranger hireling, and before the others could come to her aid, she had fallen with a grievous wound.  Lucias and Taleth quickly moved to the aid of the characters under attack after successfully avoiding the snare traps, and with the help of the rest of the group managed to kill the abhorrent evil creatures.  By the time Kaira got to Renna, she had been savagely mauled and was near death (she rolled poorly on the death and dismemberment table).  The cleric managed to save her life with a tourniquet but she had a debilitating wound that effectively ended her career as an adventurer.

This was bad news for the group indeed because we not only lost a trusted henchman, but had to turn around and return Renna to Medea’s Gate so that she could recover from her wounds.  Before leaving the scene of the gruesome combat though, the Ranger managed to find the tracks of the Kech and he led us back to their lair where we found their treasure.  We gathered up their loot and set out to return to Medea’s Gate afterward.

After some time while traveling through the woods, the ranger noticed that we were being followed by what appeared to be two or more packs of wolves but they were keeping their distance from the group for the most part.  We found a defensible location to make camp for the night but most of the players decided not to sleep because of the obvious threat, so they wouldn’t have to take their armor off.  Eventually, the wolves attacked and the group managed to slay most of their number without any problems.  Then the other group attacked and we discovered to our horror that they were not wolves at all but were actually three werewolves!

Both Teth-en-Aire and Cyrcla cast Mirror Image on themselves and there were suddenly many duplicate magical images of the two elves in the fray.  The demi humans were particularly cautious because instead of contracting lycanthropy they would have just died since only humans can contract the disease.  Subsequently, most of the elves and the dwarf opted to use their bows or magic missile spells rather than engage in hand to hand combat.  The group then engaged the werewolves and killed two of their number in a brief but fierce combat and wounded the third one badly without taking enough wounds to contract lycanthropy (none of the characters lost 50% or more of their hit points).  The third werewolf retreated and to our astonishment, the corpses of the other two slowly turned into the bodies of naked men laying on the ground before our eyes!

We surmised that the wolves and werewolves had followed the group because of Renna's recent wounds - they probably smelled the blood and were looking for an easy kill.  The ranger had no problem finding their tracks and we resolved to find their lair the next day (probably a wolves den) to see what treasure they may have been hoarding.  That’s where we ended the session.

TO BE CONTINUED…

ICE MERP Illustrations from the Kin Strife Module

I drew a group of illustrations for ICE's Middle Earth Role Playing module for the Kin Strife back in 1995.  The Kin-strife presents the people, politics, and armies of Gondor under the repressive rule of Castamir the Usurper during the civil war of the Kin-strife in 1437 of the Third Age. The six largest cities of the South-kingdom - Pelargir, Umbar, Lond Ernil, Osgiliath, Minas Anor, and Minas Ithil - are described along with their administrative structures, military organization, and legal systems.

Map of the City of Osgiliath near Minas Tirith

The map of Osgiliath shown above was hand drawn on 11x17 vellum paper with technical pens and again, has no text because it is the pre-press version without the final page layout.  It was photographically shot down to fit on a single page for the module.  I was given a previous rendition of the map as a starting point that only had the lower half of the city shown and traced this to draw half of the map, including parts of the bridges.  I think that the map that half of this drawing was traced from was a color original and I created the other half in a similar style but in black and white.  This was fun because I got to design half of the city and some of its features like the street layout, the canals and some of the additional fortified manor houses.  The dotted lines in the river represent the chains used to keep enemy ships from entering the river that runs through the city.  This map also represents the city before it was later ruined in the civil war and conflicts with Sauron's forces even later.

Unfortunately, the original 11x17 drawing was lost when ICE closed its doors.  They gave me all of my original artwork at the time and I assumed it was in the package but when I went to look later all I found was an 11x17 copy and some 8 1/2 x 11 reductions which is what this scan was made from.  I may be able to track down a better quality scan but I have no idea who ended up with the original or if it even survives to this day.  It is my favorite of all of the city maps I did for them and I really wanted to frame the the original drawing but its gone at this point.  This scan is not that great of a quality because it is a scan of a photocopy reduction and is missing some of the fine lines of the river but is otherwise not too bad.  If I can obtain a better quality scan from some of the old crew or if the 11x17 copy I have is of better quality I may re-scan it and post a better quality image later.

The Tower Dome of Osgiliath Great Hall First Floor Plan

The Tower Dome of Osgiliath also known as the Dome of Stars was built on the bridge of Osgiliath after Gondor was founded in the year 3320 of the Second Age.  It was built to house one of the larger Palantir which was placed in the domed chamber of the stars at the top of the tower.  During the fighting of the Kin Strife when Osgiliath was captured by the rebel leader Castamir, the Dome of Stars was destroyed and the Stone of Osgiliath was lost in the waters of the Anduin river.  The front view of the tower can also be seen on the cover of the module (painted by another artist) right before it is about to fall into the river.

The layout above was drawn using AutoCAD and represents the lower great hall level below the tower itself.  The tower is situated above the throne room between the two square towers at the south end of the great hall and is accessed from the second floor and the stairway leading up to the door from the terrace level below.  You can see the complex on the large scale map of Osgiliath drawn on the bridge on the upper middle right hand side of the map.

The next two maps were drawn in a similar manner to the Osgiliath Map above but I used the original color maps for both cities from previous modules (which were both complete) to trace the black and white images onto the translucent vellum.  The first city is the city of Umbar, also known as the Gray Haven and Home of the Corsairs.

City of Umbar Map

The next map is of the City of Minas Ithil with its spiraling plan layout not unlike the layout of Minas Tirith.

City of Minas Ithil Map

The next layout shows the small shanty town that was built up outside of one of the gates as often happened in fortified medieval towns after their was no real estate left within the walls to build on.

Minas Ithil Shanty Town

The next layout is of the Sea Lord's Tower which is in the middle of the City of Pelargir.  This was drawn with AutoCAD as well.

The Sea Lord's Tower in the City of Pelargir

The final layout in this series of illustrations is a plan layout of Margalad's manor house in one of the cities in the module.  I'll post a better description when I have had a chance to take a look in the module.  My assumption is that Margalad is one of the nobles embroiled in the intrigue and struggle of the Kin Strife civil war.

First and Second Floor Plans for Margalad's manor house

These more formal building plans gave me a chance to draw upon my architectural design and history background for inspiration and I came up with all of the vaults, niches and cool plan features shown outside of the basic layout of the building provided to me by the writers.

For a brief background and introduction on my time working for ICE as a freelancer go here:
Game Art and ICE Illustration Background


Copyright notice:  All original artwork on this page is displayed for self promotion purposes only and is copyrighted by the original artist, Daniel Cruger.  This artwork may be downloaded and used for personal use only and may not be reproduced for commercial purposes in any way without the express written consent of the owner.

Averlorn Campaign: Of Baked Ham, Horned Devils and Chimeras

Recap from 3/11/2011

The next day after the encounter with the Otyughs, we decided to explore the labyrinth further and try to find out if any of the rooms we had been to previously contained traps.  As we opened the door from the Cyclops’ room to the hallway with the summoning circle, an odd spectacle awaited us.  There was a sheep walking down the hallway away from us past the summoning circle!  We thought this was very odd indeed for such a place but then Gradwyn had an “aha” moment.  He speculated that the summoning circle may actually polymorph its victims into sheep or other creatures and that the proximity of the rat tunnels to the circle could serve as a “monster generator” for the complex (or a sheep generator for food)!  He surmised this because we had learned that Zingalis was actually a transmuter of great renown.

Since the summoning circle had the word “TRAP” spelled out on the floor in one of the magical languages, we decided it would be prudent to search for traps in the hallway and some of the rooms we had visited before that were suspicious.  Kaira cast the cleric spell Detect Traps and looked down the hallway.  The summoning circle was clearly illuminated in a magical blue light by her godess Athena indicating that it was an obvious trap.  The section of floor to the left of the circle, however, was not trapped meaning it might be possible to walk around the trap.

While the spell was still running we returned to the area of the Labyrinth where the oubliette was located and Athena’s power showed us that the lever on the wall over the oubliette on the right side of the room was a trap.  We also had a feeling that we were once again being watched and Taleth the Ranger noticed that there was another one of the rotating eye surveillance devices cleverly hidden in one of the upper corners of the ceiling which was moving around and following our movements as we walked through the room.  While the spell was still running we returned to the room where we fought the Otyugh’s and she didn’t see any traps in there, so we went to the room with the locked doors and the hallway with the mosaics on the floor.  She didn’t see any traps at either location but Gradwyn cast detect magic on the doors and they detected as magical.

Since the hallway wasn’t trapped, we walked to the end of the hall and found a doorway with a circular room beyond that was empty.  The circular room had a few doors in it but we returned to the previous room with the locked double doors that detected as magical.  Asclepius cast knock on the doors and the magic detection abated and we smelled a familiar smell – it was the smell of a finely cooked meal of baked ham!  That was really strange but the doors opened from the Knock spell and low and behold there was a small dining chamber within with a round table, four chairs, silverware, four full wine glasses (two with red wine and two with white), and four plates with cooked carrots and freshly cooked and savory baked ham sitting on them that was still warm as if from the oven!  The group thought that this was surely a trap or the food and wine was poisoned but Gradwyn thought that maybe it was a reward for the students of the Laughing Mage for figuring out that in order to open the locked doors, the young wizards would have to cast a knock spell on them.  Everyone else was suspicious that it was trapped or poisoned though Kaira’s spell didn’t indicate a trap was present. 

Since Gradwyn was a dwarf and was highly resistant to poison he tried it out.  He choked as if he was stricken and said this is obviously poisoned and greedily ate a few mouthfuls of ham and carrots and washed it down with the red wine.  Teth-en-Aire sat down next to him and started eating as well and then the rest of the group devoured the rest.  Somewhwere the laughing mage was cackling with delight!  We had heard he had a sinister sense of humor but this was funny in a good way which was more than a bit odd.

So we decided to return to the Shrine outside and see if we could learn some of the opening spells that were inscribed within on the walls since it would obviously make it easier to navigate the wizard’s gauntlet if we were armed with the right tools.  As we went through the oubliette room, we smelled the smell of fire and brimstone and were confronted by three Horned Devils!  Two charged us to attack and one stayed in the back by the exit and summoned forth a wall of fire right across both Lucias and Taleth!  Both were burned by the devilish sheet of flames but Lucias wasn’t burned as bad because he was wearing a ring of fire resistance.

The archers and the elf managed to kill the one that had summoned the wall of fire in the back with magic missiles and arrows from the archers that had magical arrows.  The others without spells or magic weapons couldn’t do very much but Kaira cast prayer to aid her allies.  The two combatants managed to kill one of the two remaining devils they were facing until Taleth was forced to withdraw due to his injuries but Lucias fought on despite his burns and wounds.  The last remaining devil teleported himself to the rear of the room right next to Taleth and Asclepius.  Asclepius withdrew because he had no magical weapons and Taleth fought on despite being wounded.  Lucias moved to engage the last devil and Gradwyn cast a cure light wounds spell on him which helped him recover somewhat from his wounds.  The remaining devil tried twice to summon another one of his number from Hades but was unsuccessful and the group finally managed to slay the evil creature.

After this encounter we returned to the Cyclops’ room and the clerics cast healing spells on both Taleth and Lucias.  We decided to rest up for the night rather than risk finding the lair of the Horned Devils to find their loot, since we were pretty badly chewed up at that point and needed to recover spells.  The next day, Gradwyn wanted to explore the shrine with its hidden secrets that he had heard so much about, so we left the labyrinth and returned to the shrine to deal with the Chimeras that had taken up residence there.  We formulated a bold plan – Lucias and Teth-en-Aire would get their attention at the shrine doors while Asclepius cast slow on the creatures, and we would try our skirmisher tactic once again to pelt them with arrows, magic missiles, and other ranged spells while the two at front fell back as necessary.

It seemed like a good plan at the time but immediately started to unravel as is often the case with plans – no good plan survives first contact with the enemy!  We thought there was one or possibly two Chimera in there but there turned out to be three, and only one of them was slowed by the spell since the other two made their saves.  To make matters worse, one of the ones that wasn’t slowed went after Teth-en-Aire, while the slowed one and another one went after Lucias.  Teth-en-Aire tried to withdraw but the creature followed sensing desperation and the dragon’s head breathed fire on the stricken elf.  Since he didn’t have his Frost Brand drawn at the time (I’m not sure why – it was part of why he was up there in the first place) he took full damage from the fiery breath weapon.

Meanwhile, Lucias managed to slay the non-slowed Chimera with the aid of the arrows and spells of the rest of the group but he got burned a bit when he was breathed on by the dragon head’s breath but was otherwise holding his own.  Teth-en-Aire wasn’t so lucky – as he tried to withdraw again, it again followed him and attacked with its five attacks (three bites and two claws).  He was hurt badly at this point and getting desperate.  Gradwyn wanted to cast lightning bolt on the evil creature but would have killed the elf so he and the others continued pelting it with magic missiles and arrows but it got another round of five attacks on the hapless elf and he went down before the group finally managed to kill it.  Lucias finally overcame the one he was fighting as well and was hurt but not too badly.

Teth-en-Aire was mortally wounded at this point however, but took a long time to die (50 minutes per the death and dismemberment table).  He said, “I… feel… so… c-c-cold” and then said “I see a light up ahead” and we told him to “walk away from the light”.  He then got delirious and passed out for a while.  Then he awoke again and kept saying "I... have... plans".  First, he told Lucias to take his spell book and sell it and have the Surgeon’s Guild raise him from the dead and if that wasn’t enough money he told him to sell his Frost Brand Sword for the transaction.  Later he said “I… c-c-can’t… feel… my… legs” and then he died.  It was overly dramatic as is usually the case with our young and aloof Elven ally but he went out in style and his comments were hilariously funny for such a sad moment.  We decided that the shrine could wait and that we had to return him to Medea’s Gate to have Raised before we ran out of time for the spell to work.  Asclepius cast Wizard Lock on the Shrine doors after we determined that the Chimera had no treasure, since they had only recently taken up residence there.

We returned to Medea’s Gate and contacted the Surgeon’s Guild and Marut once again came to see us.  He said that they could raise him for a price and that we would owe them another favor as well in return, unless Teth-en-Aire would join the guild.  Since we weren’t sure if he wanted to do this, Gradwyn cast Speak With Dead and asked him.  When he asked Teth-en-Aire’s spirit if he wanted to do this, he said in a ghostly voice “NO”.  Since Teth-en-Aire had been a reliable and faithful ally since we had been adventuring, we decided to use the loot we found form the orcs on the way to the tower to pay to have him raised. 

He was returned to life by the Surgeon’s of Hechate with no problem and very happy to be alive.  We celebrated by doing some carousing in Medea’s Gate while we were waiting for him to recover.  Nothing too bad happened as a result but Taleth got involved with some local woman who wanted him to marry her right away but he successfully rebuffed her entreaties.  Renna ended up getting in over her head with some gambling debts and Kaira had to help her out with her debts.  Everyone else who took part in the carousing did so without any mishaps from the carousing table.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Averlorn Campaign: Cities and Towns of Thebos

The country of Thebos is home to numerous cities and towns varying in size from large urban centers like Grand Oryx, Ptoleph and Medea's Gate down to the the many smaller cities and towns and even smaller hamlets.  The cities and towns described below are primarily located in the anvil but a few are on the outer fringes of the region.

Chapoi – This is a town south of Ptoleph on the main trade road which is near the Forger’s Runnel River.  To the west of Chapoi, a two days hike, the Wild Moon tribe of goblins hold sway.

Demeteros – A small village south of Ptoleph on the main trade road. Demeteros is one day to the north of Medea’s Gate.  It is also where one of the most powerful known wizards in all of the Anvil resides in his wizard’s tower outside of town – Ornaskar the Intrepid.

Herarii – This small town between Medea’s Gate and Limus Town is where one of the Oracles to the Theban gods is located.  It is near the pass at Hell’s Peak and the giant statue of Hephaestus is visible off in the distance from the town.  Hera is the patron goddess of Herarii and an ornate tower at the top of a hill at the edge of town is the location of the venerated Oracle of Herarii and is a site which is regularly visited by pilgrims seeking the wisdom of the Oracle. The Feral Daughter is the local Inn which is noted for its wild game dishes.  People regularly make the trip to Herarii in order to consult the Oracle and dine at this fine establishment.

Grand Oryx – Soot darkened Grand Oryx, the City of the Gods is the Capital of the City State of Thebos and the largest city to be found on the volcanic plateau.  Its inhabitants live under the dour countenance of its colossal image of Hephaestus, the smith god and patron of this the most advanced city in all the lands of Averlorn.  This is the Victorian London of the setting. She has public transport, indoor plumbing (especially baths), and several districts of town that have a local flair related to the race that dwells there. As grand as it sounds, it's actually a nasty place with filthy air, massive poverty, and other dystopian elements. A nice place to visit as they say and an even nicer place to have your purse lifted. You will never find a place more inundated with "scum and villainy." The senate is working hard though to clean the place up.

There are ten guilds in Grand Oryx which have over the years, proven themselves to be committed to the betterment of the Theban way of life and the common good. Thus, they have been given charters granting them considerable political power. They are very competitive with one another and vie for control over the eight boroughs of the great city. Since no guild may control more than one borough and there are only eight available, two guilds are left without a territory and will typically form a loose alliance.  The Oryxian guilds have over the years constructed massive sprawling fortified complexes containing their guild halls and living quarters within each borough under their control. Most of the Guild boroughs in Grand Oryx are well run, safe and very accommodating.

The City of Grand Oryx takes pride in its military prowess and has managed to conquer the surrounding regions and bring them into the fold of the kindom of Thebos.  The true military power of Grand Oryx arose with the invention of the Dragonship.  This technological development meant that they could deploy and supply an expeditionary force that could by dint of numbers, crumble the mighty hoplite formations of Thebos and even subjugate the far away lesser kingdoms of the trench, the Pangaeus and other realms within their empire. 

The Theban military makes good use of the condemned supplied to them by the Surgeons of Hecate.  These plate-wearing monsters are automatons of superior construction and are powerful, remorseless combatants.  They are used in the Grand Oryx navy as foot soldiers and as elite shock troops.  Most of the Oryxian Dragonships also have a pair of them and a handler, to work around the cooker in heat that would kill most mortals.  The cavalry of Grand Oryx is reputed to be the best in the land, drawing upon the horsemen and superb riding skills of the plainsmen of the Pangaus for the bulk of their numbers. They are not truly knights in the European sense though and are more akin to light cavalry armed with spears, shields, and their excellent short composite bows.

The Long Walk: Most criminals in Thebos receive the unthinkably cruel punishment of eternal servitude to the empire via the institution of The Reborn, a specialized sort of undead created by the Surgeons of Hecate. In the distant past, before the practice was perfected by the Guild, criminals would be gathered in Medea's Gate and there they would have a cross chained across their shoulders. Forced to make The Long Walk to Grand Oryx, those who collapsed beside the road where crucified where they fell. Today, the cross is much lighter, ceremonial even and there is far less whipping involved. The criminals are even given a degree of celebration and ceremony along The Grand Oryx Way as it is seen as a way of ensuring the favor of the Gods for their families and loved ones. Even so it is a powerful deterrent and crime is mostly well-controlled except in the more lawless regions such as the Gorgon's Trench and elsewhere.

Limus Town – A medium sized river mining town located to the south of Zademis and to the east of Herrari and Medea’s Gate on the outskirts of civilization.  The city sits astride the Kuoros River and the old trade road that runs east to west.    The largest corbitumite mines in all of Thebos are located near the Lykaedian backwater towns of Limus Town and Zedemis along with other vast deposits of other mineral wealth. As a result, Limus Town and Zedemis are becoming subtle nests of devious plots and espionage though only to those who go looking for it.

Poseidon is the Patron Deity of Limus Town due to its location on the Kuoros River and there is a temple to the deity in the temple district.  One can charter a boat from Media’s Gate to Limus Town on the river and Dormant Lady Lake due to the abundance of river traffic resulting from all of the commerce generated by the mining operations. The area across the river is called “The Hill” and is reputed to be the home of two powerful witches and a tribe of Hobgoblins.  It is about a two day hike from the town once across the river.  The old trade road continues to the east of Limus town accross the river into the lands of the Gorgon’s Trench but was built in better times and has long since been abandoned.

The worst part of town is the Tanner’s District which has a cemetery of the poor near it.  There are six competing groups of organized criminals in this bustling river mining town full of wickedness and sin.  As a result its a favorite location for carousing and revelry of all types having somewhat of a wild party atmosphere (think Mardi Gras).  The Lion’s Den is a prominent local tavern that is a favorite with travelers, adventurers and locals alike.  Mosaics is a club in Limus Town were one can find strong drink, escorts and even musical entertainment.  Bards and musical troupes often perform here.

Medea’s Gate – This is a city in the hill region south of Ptoleph on the main trade road and is one of the two largest cities in Thebos.  It is a large lakeside town with the Dormant Lady lake on the east side (the Dock District) and the Market District on the north side of town where the open ground and horse stables are located.  The city of Medea’s Gate is a low lying, sprawling affair where the buildings are typically not as tall as the temples.  It is a little larger than Ptoleph but has no major guild presence aside from a few local guilds and representatives of the larger guild houses of Grand Oryx.  

The Oryxian guilds here tend to keep a low profile due to competition from the local guilds and there are no guild house fortresses in evidence like the ones found in Ptoleph and Grand Oryx.  Instead, the guilds here have small shops instead of the sprawling fortified complexes found elsewhere.  There are also numerous monuments in the city’s squares dedicated to its heroes and noble families including the one dedicated to the Hero Landishar Demiri of the noteworthy Demeri Family, a once prominent but fallen family of nobles.

The Chessman Inn provides free room and board to anyone who can beat the proprietor in chess and is a reputable establishment.  The Scepter and the Rose is the finest eating establishment in Medea’s Gate.  Medea’s Gate had a royal charter once long ago and this establishment is a remnant of those better times for the city.

There are many elements of organized crime in the city which control different areas of town.  The Ophidian Hand is a thieves' guild that controls the Market District and there is another one that controls the dock district.  The Iron Urn Inn appears to be a nice establishment at a glance and is also a gambling hall as well as an inn and a tavern.  This place is notorious for its card sharks and con artists that prey on patrons that gamble here that aren’t among the “in” crowd.  It is frequented by people who are involved in the seedy underbelly of organized crime in Medea’s Gate and is rumored to be a front for one of the local thieves’ guilds.

Ptoleph – The City of Ptoleph is nestled among a rough stretch of hills in the northernmost portion of the Kurous Valley. The Kurous river flows through the city in a southeasterly direction to the lower lands below. The city sits astride the intersection of the great river and the Grand Oryx Way making it a prominent center of trade and commerce.  Grand Oryx lies to the north, about 150 miles through the hills and to the south of the great city is an area of dense woodlands. Traveling to Grand Oryx by dragon ship is a far easier affair and takes little more than a day and a half with good winds.

Most of the major Oryxian Guilds have a presence in Ptoleph due to its proximity to Grand Oryx and have constructed guild halls and quarters within elaborate sprawling fortified complexes, similar to those found in Grand Oryx but on a smaller scale.  Five of the great guild houses are actually fortified and crenelated.  The Emporium is an Inn in Ptoleph run by the retired adventurer Argus Norviadras.  He displays trophies from his adventuring days here, some of which are for sale.  The Stone Mason’s Inn is another fine local establishment located in Ptoleph.

Spirythol – A small town that is the capital of the Kingdom of Cephasos in the Gorgon’s trench.  This is the location of the dreaded Gravemoor swamp and can be reached by traveling overland from the old abandoned trade road across the river from Limus Town.  The area recently suffered a devastating civil war and the population has been thinned out considerably.  The Surgeon’s of Hechate have a small presence here and have local interests.  The Fallen Star Inn is a tavern run by the Surgeons of Hecate’s representative in Spirythol.

New Artemia – This is the village where the tomb of the burning priest is located.  It is located south of Ptoleph on the main trade road and east of Old Artemia which is now abandoned after it was determined that the temple and tomb below were haunted.

Silverton – This is a small hamlet beyond Shepoi where three silver mines are located.

The korbidimite was mined out here years ago but there is still silver to be found in the mines.  Hurin Oralease was a great warlord who held sway here three generations ago.  He was reputed to have been poisoned by the guilds on his stance over the reborn.  The ruins of his castle are located south of Silverton.

Slagford – A small Hamlet which sits in the shadow of the giant statue of Hephaestus on the Limus Town side of Hell’s Peak pass.  It is only a few hours hike to the ruins below the giant statue.  The Deer’s Perch Inn is the only Inn in this small farming community.

Winterholm – This small town is west of Medea’s gate and nestled in the Mountains. The town is the location of the venerated Oracle of Winterholm which is regularly visited by pilgrims seeking the wisdom of the Oracle.  There is also a ruin of some kind that is rumored to be located nearby.

Zedemis – This is a large mining town along the Kouros river.  It is larger than nearby Limus Town and is a large trading center due to its location at the confluence of the Forger’s Runnel and Kouros Rivers.  The largest corbitumite mines in all of Thebos are located near the Lykaedian backwater towns of Limus Town and Zedemis along with vast deposits of other mineral wealth. As a result, Limus Town and Zedemis are becoming subtle nests of devious plots and espionage though only to those who go looking for it.