Scales of War - [Lvl 3] - Siege of Bordrin's Watch.pdf - Scales of War - Kitraida

SIEGE OF BORDRIN'S WATCH

BORDRIN’S

WATCH

by Robert J. Schwalb

illustrations by William O'Connor and David Griffith ✦ cartography by Mike Schley

How can we forget the suffering of our kin during the Age of Chains? How can we

set aside those ancient grudges when the risk of slavery is now greater than ever?

Fellow warriors, the orcs are upon us, marching once more to the beat of the giants’

drum. It falls to us to stop them—to hold fast no matter their numbers. If we falter,

we give into fear. It’s not just ourselves and our way of life that will suffer; all people

of the Elsir Vale will perish as well. War is upon us. Now is the time for men and

women of courage to stand up and defend those who cannot defend themselves.

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SIEGE OF

SIEGE OF BORDRIN'S WATCH

WHAT’S AN

ADVENTURE PATH?

Scales of War is the fourth Adventure Path to

appear in the pages of Dungeon Magazine . But

what, you ask, is an Adventure Path? Quite simply,

it is a series of related adventures intended to

form a complete D&D campaign that takes your

players from 1st level all the way to, in the case

of Scales of War, 30th level.

Previous Adventure Paths, presented with the

3rd Edition D&D rules, took characters from 1st

to 20th level. But with all three tiers in the new

edition ripe and ready to explore, we’re push-

ing the limit with Scales of War. Each tier takes

roughly six adventures to traverse, which means

we’ll finish off this Adventure Path in about

eighteen issues. Each adventure advances char-

acters from between one and a half to two levels

of experience. We recognize that not everyone

will meet every encounter or complete every

quest, however, so periodically, we’ll point you

to a supplemental Side Trek or short adventure

to keep your PCs on pace. Plus, roughly every few

months, Dragon will feature new support content

for Scales of War.

Finally, this Adventure Path is intended to

function as a complete D&D campaign. That

means we’ll be making some assumptions about

the history of the world as we move along, just

as you would in any campaign you run. We’ll be

borrowing heavily from the D&D mythology of

4th Edition, as well as all the great ideas that have

cropped up in other products over the years—

including the pages of past issues of Dungeon !

Enjoy your stay in Scales of War, and keep an

eye out for next month’s installment.

“Siege of Bordrin’s Watch” is an adventure for five

3rd-level characters. By the end of the adventure,

the characters should be halfway through 4th-level.

You can run this adventure as the sequel to “Rescue

at Rivenroar,” continuing the unfolding story of

the Scales of War campaign, or run it as part of a

campaign of your own design. This adventure

features exploration, roleplaying opportunities, and

combats in dynamic environments, making it a

perfect addition to any campaign.

In this adventure, a new threat looms to the west:

A vast horde of orcs and their despicable kin emerge

from the barren lands bent on plunder and conquest.

While the Elsir Vale and other lands mobilize their

meager forces to respond to the danger, a call has

gone out to those heroes of the Vale to join forces and

help to push back this new evil before it’s too late.

the orcs have emerged, they now have a leader who

can keep them together long enough to win.

The orc leader is an overlarge warrior and chief-

tain named Tusk. Not a true orc, he has the blood of

ogres in his veins, which makes him larger, tougher,

and eminently more dangerous. Having slaughtered

half a dozen orc chieftains, he drew together the

unruly tribes to mount an offensive against Bordrin’s

Watch to lay claim to the soft lands beyond its walls.

Tusk knows the history of the Stonehome Mountains

well, knowing that unless he can find some way to

bypass the fortress in the mountains, it won’t matter

how many warriors he commands since he would fail.

What Tusk needs is a way around the fortress.

Ever resourceful and with numerous contacts and

allies, Tusk turned to his occasional lover and advisor,

a shadar-kai witch named Myrissa. He sent her back

to the Shadowfell to recruit allies to help his cause,

and a short time later she returned with a small army

of dark ones, led by a mysterious and sinister dark

creeper, known as the emissary. This leader offered

to assist Tusk in exchange for an exclusive arrange-

ment in which they would supply Tusk’s armies with

weaponry for whatever price the dark creeper and

his fellows asked, and in exchange, the dark creepers

would find a way through the mountains. Tusk read-

ily agreed and paid the exorbitant price, gaining a

fine arsenal, and also, he hoped, the key to victory.

Not long after, the dark creepers returned and

revealed a number of tunnels burrowed beneath the

mountain. They showed the chieftain the locations of

each, explaining how the passages connected one side

of the mountains to the other. No tunnel was large

enough to accommodate his entire army, so, Tusk

gave his horde their marching orders, sending them

to climb the mountain slopes, while his scouts moved

BACKGROUND

The lands west of the Stonehome Mountains have

been a festering mire of want and suffering. This

parched and barren landscape is suited only for orcs,

goblinoids, and other fell creatures. From time to

time, a warlord gathers a small army and tumbles

out of these badlands to test their strength and arms

against the stalwart dwarf defenders, but never have

they crossed the mountains because straddling its

single pass is an ancient dwarven stronghold named

Bordrin’s Watch. No matter how many orcs muster,

they die upon its walls, painting the sturdy stone

with their black blood. So the rumors of a new host

in these forlorn bogs and dead woods seemed a small

threat—nothing the guardians could not handle. This

army, though, is different. Unlike all the many times

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SIEGE OF BORDRIN'S WATCH

ahead to secure the tunnels and prepare the way

for Tusk and his elite warriors to strike the fortress

from below.

Along the way, the characters encounter a patrol

of orcs, which suggests that the orcs have somehow

crossed the mountains. Armed with this information,

the characters should approach the Council of Elders

to reveal the new threat. With this revelation, the

Council believes they have been compromised and

that the tunnels beneath the mountains breached.

Even though this development poses great danger to

their defenses, the orc horde is still far enough away

that there is time to seal the tunnels and prevent the

orcs from coming through the tunnels. Thus, it falls

to the PCs and two other groups to secure the tunnels

and seal the Nexus to prevent the orcs from breaching

the defenses.

The Council of Elders assigns the task of securing

the tunnels beneath the Monastery of the Sundered

Chain to the PCs, and they dispatch other groups

to the other weak points in their defenses. Once the

characters arrive at the old monastery, it is clear the

other locations might be compromised and the other

adventuring groups might be overmatched. Assuming

the PCs find Kalad (see page 38), the heroes learn the

dwarf paladin already secured the tunnel to Bordrin’s

Watch, but discover the Vents are likely not secure.

So, the characters must travel down to the lower

tunnels, make their way past the orc invaders, and

locate the ancient Nexus to complete their mission

before the orc hordes arrive. Sealing the Nexus, then,

constitutes a major quest worth 750 XP.

THE QUEST

“Siege of Bordrin’s Watch” offers the oppor-

tunity for PCs to earn quest XP in a couple of

places. Provided here is the list of quests, and

their rewards, in the adventure.

ADVENTURE SYNOPSIS

Even though the dwarves have been successful in

containing the orc hordes in the past, this time it’s

different and the dwarves of Overlook are concerned

that the walls of the Bordrin’s Watch might not be

enough to staunch the f lood. All their misgivings

stem from the reports brought back by their own

scouts, who mention endless ranks of orcs, trolls,

and worse marching inexorably to the Stonehome

Mountains. To shore up the thin number of defend-

ers to man the Watch, Overlook dispatched a call to

arms, beseeching able-bodied men and women across

the Elsir Vale to mobilize at Overlook and then join

forces with the defenders in the mountains. With the

memory of the last war that ravaged the Vale, militias

formed up and adventurers from as far away as

Brindol answered the call.

This adventure assumes the characters are among

those who go to aid the dwarves. Being seasoned

adventurers and with some notoriety for their success

in Rivenroar, it should be clear from the locals and

any NPC allies the characters might have made that

joining the dwarves is the right thing to do. Of course,

if the PCs need a bit more prompting, you might

convince them to head in this direction by throwing

a few orcs at their current residence to drive home the

severity of the threat. Alternatively, Overlook is a city

of some size, and it makes an ideal place for the

characters to spend their hard-earned gold.

Major Quest—Sealing the Nexus

The PCs must travel down to the lower tun-

nels, make their way past the orc invaders, and

locate the ancient Nexus to complete their

mission before the orc hordes arrive.

Reward: 750 XP (and 1,000 gp

[four parcels]).

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SIEGE OF BORDRIN'S WATCH

PREPARING FOR

ADVENTURE

ENCOUNTER LEVEL

Each tactical encounter assumes a group of five player

characters. An encounter of average difficulty is one

where the encounter level is equal to the level of the

party. Encounters that are 1 or 2 levels lower than the

party are easy encounters, while encounters that are

2 or more levels higher than the party are difficult

encounters.

For overcoming an encounter, a group earns the

XP value listed beside the encounter level. This

amount should be divided by the number of group

members, and an equal amount should be awarded

to each character.

MONSTER STATISTICS

Encounters include stat blocks for each monster type

present in the encounter. If more than one monster

of a particular kind is present, the stat block indicates

how many creatures can be found.

“Siege of Bordrin’s Watch” takes the characters into

a deadly environment and pits them against the

advance troops of a deadly orc horde. As such, the

characters venture into enormous chambers and

use their talents against terrifying foes, all the while

racing to reach the Nexus before the horde arrives.

Obviously, a good reading of the adventure can only

help, but if you’re under the gun, you can skip over

the introductory materials and go straight to the

adventure. You should, at the very least, review the

encounters, while paying attention to the creatures,

their powers, and the settings in which the characters

face them.

TACTICS

This entry describes special actions the monsters take

to defeat the adventurers. Sometimes this means the

monsters take advantage of special features of the

area or make use of special powers or equipment.

MAP

Each encounter includes a map keyed with the initial

locations of each monster. The map also indicates the

location of any special features of the area.

SETUP

This section of a tactical encounter provides you

with the basic parameters of the encounter. First, it

provides context or background information for the

encounter. Next, it provides a key to the monsters in

the encounter so you can locate them on the tactical

map. The map of each encounter area indicates where

the monsters are located when the encounter begins.

The setup section also describes what monsters are

doing and how they react when the PCs arrive.

WHAT YOU NEED TO PLAY

This adventure includes the encounters the PCs face

as they explore and adventure in the area. It also pro-

vides tactical maps and more for the adventure. If you

and your players haven’t read through the Dungeons

& Dragons 4th Edition rules yet, that is your first best

step so that you make certain you understand the

rules. Also as mentioned above, read through at least

the first few encounters described in this adventure

before starting. This review enables you to become

familiar with the material and the style of presenta-

tion. You might also want to take a look at the sections

below regarding the adventure format.

FEATURES OF THE AREA

This section describes special features noted on the

map. If the location has items or areas of interest with

which the characters can interact, those features are

described here. Look here to see if a door is out of the

ordinary, if an altar has a secret compartment, or if

the area includes treasure.

READ-ALOUD TEXT

Read aloud text provides information about what the

characters can see and are aware of. You do not have

to read it word for word; feel free to paraphrase and

use your own words when describing this informa-

tion. Use read aloud text wisely; they are written for

the most common approach to a particular situation

and what your player characters do might require you

to alter the information in any number of ways.

TREASURE PREPARATION

As with the first installment of the Scales of War cam-

paign, “Siege of Bordrin’s Watch” makes use of the

parcel system of treasure rewards as described in the

Dungeon Master’s Guide. The characters should accu-

mulate 15 parcels by the end of the adventure. Of

these, they should gain the reward for completing the

mission (four parcels for 1,000 gp), and then what-

ever treasures they find along the way (the remaining

eleven). You can supply these treasures in whatever

way you wish, but the following sidebar presents the

USING TACTICAL ENCOUNTERS

Each encounter includes several common elements,

as described below.

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SIEGE OF BORDRIN'S WATCH

most likely rooms to bear treasure. During your prep-

aration, assign parcels from those that follow to the

rooms in the spaces provided. Use the players’ wish

lists to come up with magic items for the first

six parcels.

Treasure Parcels

Parcel A: _______________________, M-2.

Parcel B: _______________________, M-4.

Parcel C: _______________________, M-4.

Parcel D: _______________________, M-5.

Parcel E: _______________________, M-5.

Parcel F: _______________________, M-5.

Parcel G: _______________________, V-3.

Parcel H: _______________________, V-3.

Parcel I: ________________________, V-4.

Parcel J: ________________________, V-4.

Parcel K: _______________________, V-4.

Parcel 9: 80 gp, 300 sp

Parcel 10: One potion of healing, 90 gp

Parcel 11: 50 gp, 400 sp

adapting the adventure: “Siege at Bordrin’s Watch”

is designed with five players in mind. This said, you can

adapt the adventure for larger groups easily by adding

more treasure and inserting a few extra monsters us-

ing the guidelines presented in the Dungeon Master’s

Guide. When adapting the adventure for larger groups,

keep it simple. Where possible, just add one monster

whose level equals the encounter level for each ad-

ditional PC. Otherwise, look for appropriate monsters

from this adventure and the Monster Manual to help

stiffen up the resistance.

This adventure is also designed for 3rd-level char-

acters. As written, a group of 2nd-level characters can

play through the adventure, as could a slightly larger

party of 1st-level characters, but be sure to give the

characters plenty of chances to take extended rests so

that they can have a fair shot at surviving the expedi-

tion. For higher-level groups, adapting the adventure

takes a bit more work. You’ll need to add monsters

and increase the treasure rewards to amounts appro-

priate for the characters. In all, adjusting the adventure

is not too arduous, and with a little work, you can run

this scenario for groups of three to eight players, and

for characters of 1st through 5th level.

STARTING THE

ADVENTURE

You can kick off the adventure in two ways: quick

and slow. Use the quick-start method if you want to

move straight to the action. The slow start emphasizes

roleplaying and stretches out the opening sequence to

build the tension leading up to the major quest.

Based on the guidelines in the Dungeon Master’s

Guide, the following parcels can go in the lines

above. Rely on the wish lists your players gave you

for the first four parcels.

QUICK START

When using this method, read aloud the following

text and proceed to the skill challenge described

under the Monastery of the Sundered Chain on

page 27.

Parcel 1: Magic item, level 7

Parcel 2: Magic item, level 7

Parcel 3: Magic item, level 6

Parcel 4: Magic item, level 5

Parcel 5: Magic item, level 5

Parcel 6: Magic item, level 4

Parcel 7: Two potions of healing, two gems worth

100 gp, 80gp

Parcel 8: One potion of healing, 250 gp art object,

40 gp

War approaches. A week ago, a call to arms sounded

throughout the Elsir Valley, summoning warriors to help

defend Bordrin’s Watch in the Stonehome Mountains far to

the west. Word of an army of orcs on the march had spread

through the Vale for months, but now, it appeared the

rumors were true.

You, along with militia groups and other adventurers

from all over the Vale, marched west until you came to

the city of Overlook, a large fortified community raised

by dwarves centuries ago. Once there, you and two other

groups were invited to attend the Council of Elders, where

you learned the Bordrin’s Watch had already been compro-

mised—advanced parties of orcs had uncovered the tunnels

beneath the mountains and were already coming through

August 2008 | Dungeon 157

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