Chatty Studios

This post originally appeared here. Refer to it for comments.

Part 1 is here.

Introduction.

For nearly 40 years, adventurers have been investigating dungeons, killing their inhabitants and making off with their possessions.  To this day, for many, this remains a respectable life.  Others found that it got old and moved on to other forms of adventuring.

But what about the dungeon denizens?  Some would argue that it doesn’t matter since none of them live long enough to get old.

However, what if a band of monsters, coming from the lowest rung of the dungeon pecking order, survived long enough to do something about it?

Kobold Love (placeholder name) is a D&D 4e compatible Reverse-Dungeon type adventure (i.e. Monsters as PCs) for five level 5 characters.  While it was written for pre-generated characters, it can be adapted to various other PC races found in the appendix of the Core 4e Monster Manual.   As written, this short adventure should take about 4-5 hours to play.

Chatty’s notes: This takes about 150 words, and showcases my ’style’.  By this I mean that I blur the lines between player and adventurers as well as poke gentle fun at playing styles. I then dive right into a super compact Elevator Pitch and conclude with the adventure’s nuts and blots.

Adventure Background (To be re-written in with more flavour and implied setting elements)

Near the human settlement of Hope’s Point, the forests of Heartfang Hills hide a series of caves. The network of caverns has held many names.  The Caves of Doom, the Dungeon of Countless Teeth, and the Caverns of Sorrow are some of the more colorful ones. However, the multiple factions of its monstrous denizens have always had but one name for it: “Home.”

More than thirty years ago, the caves began to be visited by a new breed of surface-dwellers. Called “adventurers”, these foolhardy treasure-seekers entered the caves wielding weapons, lugging carts, and exploring with long poles. They all hoped to strike it rich by ransacking the deeper levels.

Most perished at the hands (and claws) of wandering bands of the dungeon’s inhabitants. Others descended into well-placed secret stairways, never to be seen again.

Still, every so often, a band of crafty men and demi-humans would be blessed by the gods and survive long enough to recover riches, leaving dead bodies and warring factions behind them.

About 20 years ago, adventurers became bolder, if not more competent.  At the same time new dark creatures with sinister plans and complex hidden agendas established lairs in the caves.  The death rate soared on both sides and bards sang epic dirges of heroic victories and tragic demises.

A decade ago, a bunch of horrendous half-kobold infants were found in one of the empty caves of the underground complex.  No one knew where they came from or by what unholy process such half-breeds were created. Shunned by all, they tried to live off fungi and rodents.

Many died but a handful grew sronger, learning the secrets of cunning and underground survival the hard way.  They were eventually taken under the wing of Grak-th’ah, an ancient and much respected female Kobold Seer.  As they grew up, they became the Oracle’s heralds and protectors.

A few years later, something happened that disrupted the equilibrium of the cave complex.  Adventurers of all sorts started coming in droves, killing and looting with hardly any casualties on their part. The caves’ inhabitants were systematically slain, dispersed or captured.

The young misshapen kobolds half-breeds and the oracle managed to survive through each foray by sheer luck and near-prescient strategic retreats in the deeper caves.

This continued for several years.  However, a few days ago, Grak-th’ah had a powerful vision.  A new age had been heralded where champions of the darkness would rise up and stop the killing cycle once and for all.  Like flames to dry leaves, the prophecy spread rapidly over the underground complex.

Unfortunately, who the champions were and how the prophecy was to be achieved was met with violent opposition by many of the dungeon’s more conservative factions…

Chatty’s Notes: I could not resist making the whole adventure’s background into a tribute to D&D’s various editions (as that’s part of what the project is about to me).  I think it works out rather well.

Adventure Summary

A band of young half-kobold champions are charged to seek out and kill a quest-giving stranger residing in Hope Point’s tavern.  They must first battle and negotiate with some of the dungeon’s denizens who are opposed to the PC’s quest.

On the way to the town, the PCs may get tangled up with the latest group of adventurers going to their dungeon.  They must then find a way to sneak into the city without arousing suspicion.   Once at the tavern, they get to face the stranger and many of the region’s “heroes”.

They might find that they got more than they bargained for at the end of their prophetic quest.

Chatty’s Note: So that’s the whole adventure’s plan with some form of foreshadowing for the ending. Given the adventure’s plot twist at the very end, I’m going to add a new section to the Introduction:

Note to the DM:

Much of Kobold Love’s story revolves around the fact that the tavern’s quest giver is actually the Half-kobolds’ creator (See Scene 5, page XX) who sent his ‘kids’ to the dungeon 10 years ago as a test of the strength of his new creations.

He since lost track of them shortly after they were taken under the wing of the old Oracle, who also happens to be the PC’s ‘mother.  Since then he’s been sending adventurers to try to contact them and find his ‘children”.

The adventure will have 2 possible endings.  The more classic one, where the stranger ends up being some sort of mad Wizard trying to recover his greatest creations. However, fearless DMs are invited to go for the alternate ending where the PCs might kill their true father who only wanted to return to his children’s side.

Chatty’s Notes: There we are, no more secrets, the plot is revealed up front and the potential DM has the rest of the adventure to decide what to do.

When I publish this adventure, I will likely add a ‘Sidebar’ or ‘boxed text’ part where I indicate how to adapt the adventure’s plot for other types of PCs or different numbers of players.

Up next: Scene 1 where I must create a very hard, multi-faction encounter, choose/create a Battlemap for it and write a skill challenge to allow PCs to negociate while fighting to even the battle’s odds in thier favour.

As always, your feedback is appreciated.

Credits: Robin Stacey AKA Greywulf (Image)