==== V3 Session Twenty-Nine -- 03 September 2010 -- "The Lost Mines of Karak (part 1)" ====

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=== Story ===

== June, 1120 ==

Geld Seekingstone, the Dwarven Loremaster in Hammerfast, summons the party to 
discuss the state of things.

He has been trying to keep a tight lid on the details of the conflict with "The 
Puppetmaster" -- but when [[v2session28|major supernatural activity]] occurs 
inside the city walls, it's hard to stop people from asking questions. As a 
result, he is going to have to reveal some of what has been going on to the Town 
Council -- and wanted to give the party a heads up.

In addition, he tells them that he's been pursuing a separate line of 
investigation over the past few weeks.  An organization such as Azêllay's 
requires significant resources to operate.  Threats and evil magic alone are not 
enough -- he would need a significant amount of cash.  And while Azêllay, as a 
major businessman in Idus, clearly has lots of cash, Geld believes that it is 
not enough.  There must be another source of treasure funding this operation.

So, Geld has been trying to "follow the money" and has recently uncovered a 
possible source that would explain it all: An abandoned mine out in the desert 
may have been reopened.  It is called "Karak" and was abandoned some 250 years 
ago because of an encounter with some great evil.  Unfortunately, the location 
of the mine is not precisely known -- however a nearby Dwarven output //is// 
known.

The party prepares for an overland trek and heads out east toward the desert...

After a few days of travel, they arrive at the location of the original Dwarven 
outpost.  There they discover a human settlement called "Dunesend".  More 
importantly, they stumble into a fight when they find a group of Gnolls 
threatening the villagers.

After ridding the village of the Gnolls (and their pet Behir), the villagers 
tell them that somebody called "Queen Shephatiah" now resides at the "Karak" 
mines.  Only by killing her will the village truly be safe.

After a night's rest, the party heads south into the desert, following the 
(fairly vague) directions that the villagers are able to provide.  On the way, 
they are ambushed by a group of Razorclaw Shifters and a Howling Hag.

Surprisingly, after defeating the Hag and Shifters, the party discovers they 
were carrying the following loot:
  * 1 Level 10 Magic Item: Boots of the Mighty Charge ([[Ibiza]])
  * 2,300 gp (most of which in the form of freshly mined platinum)

=== Game ===

[[http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/duadp/20081022|This adventure]] 
was included in Dungeon Magazine issue #159 (pages 56-93) and is part of the 
"Scales of War" adventure path.  Here, I used it as a standalone adventure by 
excising the sub-plot with Bram Ironfell's ulterior motive.  In this version, 
clan Ironfell is included only as background color.  Because of this edit, I 
skipped the first encounter with a rival group of Dwarves.

As published, this adventure was designed for a group of five sixth-level 
characters. Since the party consists of six seventh-level characters, each 
encounter was (and will be) augmented by roughly 50%.  (DMG p.57: A 6th level 
encounter for 5 PCs is 1,250 XP; A 7th level encounter for 6 PCs is 1,800 XP).

== Encounter 1: The Warden ==

Since I had quite recently used Satyrs (at [[v2session26|"Glimmer Lake"]]), I 
removed the 3 Satyr Rakes (Skirmisher/7, 300 XP) in this encounter and replaced 
them with 5 Gnoll Gorgers (Brute/7, 300 XP) -- changing this from 1,750 total XP 
to 2,350 XP.

The party started in the brambles just off the edge of the map and tried to 
sneak into the village by crawling and using stealth.  This worked for awhile, 
but a few rounds in, they were spotted.  The Behir and three of the Gnoll 
Gorgers moved to engage -- while the Warden remained behind and tried to cow the 
party by threatening the villagers.

== Encounter 2: Desert Patrol ==

The second encounter was augmented by adding two additional Razorclaw Stalkers. 
Even with this addition, though, the encounter turned out to be underpowered and 
the party tore through the enemies in six quick rounds.

==== ====
^ # ^ Challenge  ^  Type  ^  XP  ^
|  1  | The Warden, Gnoll Demonic Scourge  |  Brute (Leader)/8  |  350  |
|  1  | Juvenile Behir Thunderlance  |  Artillery/10  |  500  |
|  5  | Gnoll Gorger  |  Brute/7  |  300  |
|  1  | Howling Hag  |  Controller/7  |  300  |
|  5  | Razorclaw Stalkers  |  Skirmisher/7  |  300  |
|  1  | Borrowing from the future  |    |  546  |
^  Total XP ^^^  4,696  ^
^  (6 PCs) ^^^  783  ^

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