Prison of the Firebringer - Dungeon Magazine 101

An epic challenge, Prison of the Firebringer begins with wilderness locations and caravan attacks. It might work better for Ptolus if the wagons and outdoor locations get replaced with pack lizards and caverns. Cultists are behind these attacks as they search for a caster of lawful bent to force into casting the ritual to free the demon.

The story is that an academy of powerful mages summoned and trapped a Slaad Lord before they themselves fell. Slaad are creatures of chaos so it works from that standpoint, but in the adventure it is possible to negotiate with or even try to fool the powerful prisoner. To me, that aspect might rule out a Galchutt. Instead I would consider a powerful demon. Now some cultists and their powerful allies want to break the demon out.

Who are these cultists? Chaos cultists have been done to death so something fresh is needed. As written, one of the leaders is a Durzagon, basically a half-fiend/half-dwarf. That could make the cultists some wacked in the head dwarves. Initially Duergar came to mind, but they're lawful devil worshippers, not chaotic demon worshippers.  Derro? They are chaotic evil, but are not in the 5e Monster Manual. Well, just dwarves that are nuts.

The player characters get dragged into things when they come upon the survivors from an attack who tell them what happened and ask the party to help rescue those that were taken by the Acolytes of the Hidden Flame. 

The caravan could have been going from the surface down to settlements below. Now all that's left are a bunch of fried lizards and the dead delvers that were guarding the caravan. The wizard from the named adventuring group is missing and could easily be someone whose name the PCs recognize. The cloth and wine the lizards were carrying are as toasted as the lizards themselves.

Placing the location of the academy into the dungeons below the city means determining who this cabal of powerful spellcasters were. Let's keep things uniform, they were dwarves, the lawful sort, who in desperation summoned and bound a demon in order to fight off a Drow invasion.

Among the locations of interest in the scenario are an observatory. At first this seemed a bit tough to work with and then I just decided that there's no reason powerful wizards and the like couldn't have an underground observatory. Magic is magic after-all. The observatory is the lair of a Beholder, so things get tough fast and the Beholder is untypical, being able to cast spells.

The Beholder wants someone to get rid of the bonkers dwarves and will point the party to where they can be found if asked politely.

Other locations include another ambush site complete with a dead pack beast, also cooked. A passage with a blood trail from a wounded pack animal. A campsite above the passage from where some cultists and a demon will attack the party. Another camp where some cultists can be talked to and maybe the party will get jumped by a half-fiend Minotaur cleric and another demon.

The cultists are crazy, but not zealots so it is possible to get information those captured.

After all of that the group will reach the dungeon and may face some Fomorian giants at their camp.

Inside the dungeon are some rooms with ghost guards.

In the original module there are numerous Slaad, but I might replace them with various types of demons.

 As things progress one might get the impression that the original occupants were lawful, but just as crazy as the cultists. They used plenty of undead to guard the place.

Turns out the demon prisoner isn't alone, his mount, a fiendish Pyro-Hydra is trapped here as well. It happens to be a Legendary creature.

Bazin-Gorag is a two headed demon, maybe you could make it an aspect of Demogorgon.

In hindsight, it might be best to keep the Slaad instead of demons, but still use the bonkers dwarves as cultists.

Besides defeating this epic opponent, the adventure provides options for other outcomes that have repercussions later.

Critical Threats Homnar Thest - Dungeon Magazine 100

Most of these Critical Threats from Dungeon Magazine, I find rather boring. Not this one. Homnar Thest would fit right in around Ptolus.

Master Thest as some call him is a weretoad, and a nasty one. He runs a smuggling and kidnapping operation with some fellow weretoads. He sells victims into slavery. Sounds like he could be part of any number of groups in the city. He would work well with the Ennin.

There's no adventure attached to the NPC villain, but the personality and nature of this beastly fellow almost writes one for you.

On the surface he comes off as a prosperous merchant. He's very portly, yet agile. He wears expensive cloths, jewelry, etc. He's a glutton and greedy to boot. Oh, and he eats people when he can get away with it.

In Giant Toad form he can swallow targets whole. If he catches a character alone things could go very badly, or result in a kidnapping. Have a player you know will be missing a couple of sessions? This could be a reason their character isn't around, and the ransom might be expensive.

Blind Man's Bluff - Dungeon Magazine 97

This is one of the many Side-Treks mini scenarios Dungeon Magazine was fond of publishing. There's not a lot to change. It can be moved into the dungeons below Ptolus easily enough. 

The short of it is that some Grimlocks are seeking help to rescue a leader of theirs trapped in the cave of an undead (wight) Ettin. They plan to double cross the party once their leader is safe. That's really all there is to it.

You can toss this in while the group are on their way to do something else down below.

Expanding the encounter shouldn't be too difficult since the background given mentions a Mind Flayer causing the Grimlocks to be in the situation to begin with. It ordered them here and then abandoned them when the wight kicked their collective backsides.

A wight by itself is a pretty tough fight for a lower level party. An Ettin that's a wight should be a bit tougher. Since in 5e humanoids killed by wights rise as zombies, you could up the difficulty by having the 4 slain Grimlocks already zombified.

The lair could also be a place to put a plot hook for later down the line, among the treasure.

Lord of the Scarlet Tide - Dungeon Magazine 85

In Dungeon Magazine issue #85 is an adventure titled Lord of the Scarlet Tide. Written for 3rd edition it is simple enough to convert for 5e. While the adventure as written is somewhat bland, the core elements can slide into a Ptolus campaign with little adjustment.

The premise revolves around a trapped powerful aberration being partially freed. I'm changing things so that someone took a magical tablet (one of five) that holds the necessary information for keeping it imprisoned. The creature causes a fungal disease to spread from its prison far below the city. Getting the tablet back where it belongs and performing the ritual to recapture the creature or defeating the monster is the goal.

The ideas and some encounters lend themselves easily to Ptolus. The big bad could easily be Galchutt. There’s also a non-typical mind flayer using what can pass perfectly as chaositech. Infected townsfolk, a behir, kuo toa (who originally imprisoned the thing), and ghosts are encounters to be had.

I originally intended to use this in my first Ptolus campaign for one of my two groups. Never got around to it before the campaign came to a halt.

I planned to have Castle Shard send the characters to a high end auction being secretly held. They would be told as cover to bid on whatever they chose (limited budget of 2,000 gold) while remembering everything being auctioned and report back. That is where they would learn about the tablet and its connection to the disease, or similar info that helps put the clues together.

Coffee? Don't Mind if I do!

 Time for more shameless self promotion. The blog's Zazzle store has these mugs and some other things for sale. Follow this link to see what's available. If you like something order it. Thanks!

http://www.zazzle.com/tdaalmerch*     <----- Link

Below are the designs on three other mugs. Pardon the duplication of images. The banner design mug image copied fine, but the rest came out, well, not as mugs.

There are cards with these images, you can send to folks for whatever reason or to invite them to a special game session. 

Also there are a banner pin and a banner magnet available.

Magic Item - Dagger of Mourning

The blade sank deep into the goblin's chest and it dropped lifeless to the cavern floor. Without any obvious explanation Narmen dropped to his knees and began weeping and wailing about what he had done to the poor goblin. 

"Get it together , man. We're in a fight! What's wrong with you?!" Embuk stepped close to his grieving friend just in time to shove his rapier through the eye of a charging goblin.

Dagger of Mourning (cursed)

This ornately decorated Adamantine dagger +2 is an enemy of both goblins and golems, doing an extra 1d4 of damage on any strike against these foes, but it comes with a dangerous curse. The dagger influences the carrier to choose it over other melee weapons in a fight. (DC15 Wisdom saving throw to resist). If the dagger scores the killing blow against any opponent the wielder must succeed on a DC15 Wisdom saving throw or be instantly overcome with intense grief at the killing or destruction of the victim. The user will cease all activity and begin loudly crying and lamenting the enemy's death. The saving through may be repeated at the end of each turn.

Item Availability: Rare. User 5th level or higher. Cost 501 - 5,000 gold pieces.

Dungeon of the Fire Opal - Dungeon Magazine 84 (part 8: areas 39 through 41)

The final segment of restocking the dungeon. We cover areas 39 though 41.

Unless otherwise stated, all areas are unlit.

Unless otherwise stated ceiling height is 10 feet. 

All secret doors require a DC14 or better perception to spot.

All areas other than 0, 1, and 3 are grey stone.

Should you decide to have random encounters in the southern part of the dungeon, the following are suggested: 2 Toruk Rul, 1 Sorn Ulth, both, the sound of clicking in the distance, a sudden breeze that stops just as suddenly. 

Toruk Rul and Sorn Ulth are in the 5e update of the Ptolus core book pages 598 & 599.

Area 39: At the bottom of the flights of stairs a wooden door has been propped open. (you can determine where the open door leads) Coming up the stairs are 2 Toruk Rul. If combat breaks out at either areas 39 or 40 the other group rushes to join the fight. These Toruk Rul carry a total of 37 silver pieces.

Area 40: Note: Replace the secret door between areas 38 and 40 with a Blue Steel door. The cost to pass through is to forsake the respect of another. After the initial cost, the password that character becomes the name of the one who has lost respect for the character.

Pausing here before tackling the Blue Steel door is a group of 4 Toruk Rul and 1 Sorn Ulth. If combat breaks out in either areas 39 or 40 the other group will rush to join the fight. These Toruk Rul carry 161 Gold, 250 silver, and 19 copper pieces. The Sorn Ulth (Durgg) carries 2 gems worth 250 gold pieces each.

Area 41: Completely shrouded in magical darkness, this cavern chamber is cold and damp. At each of the cardinal points stand upraised sarcophagi, draped in calcium accretions. The lids are open. In the center of the room is a stone plinth atop of which is a sheathed dagger. (see blog post Magic Item - Dagger of Mourning)

Encounter: 4 Shadows. 5e Monster Manual page 269.