D&D Campaign Notes:

Adventure Outline:
 Party stolen from their home by (interplanar?) slavers
 Slavers are ORCS
 Party deceived by ‘The Catcher’
o A shape-changing Slaad (pg 277 in monster manual)

o
 Acts:
o 1) The slave ship
o 2) The slave pens
o 3) The gladiatorial ring
o 4) The incubation chambers
o 5) Meeting with The Catcher
o 6)
o 7) Escape – Portal in the heart of the Aztec pyramid
o 8) Start of next adventure – back in DECIDE ON LOCATION

Notes:
- Too linear
o Currently the players have very little say in where the story goes.
o Once they are released from the tables they should be free to escape the way they
please
Session 1:

1) The Slave Ship

 Opening text:
o You awake from a deep slumber, nauseated and disoriented. The putrid stench of
decay hits you like a slap in face. It’s clear you’re no longer in the Black Lion inn.
o The floor rocks back and forth and as your eyes acclimatise you make out the details
of a rusting block of cells, within which you are held prisoner. Damp drips from the
soaked rafters above you and the walls creak and whine.
o In a nearby cell lies a portly, well-fed fellow with a thick mop of curly, mouse-brown
hair. At no more than 3 feet tall, his plump face holds a distraught expression of
dread and fear. He extends a podgy hand through the bars of his cell and feebly asks,
‘Friend or foe?’
 Party awakes in the jail area of a ship
o Ship
 Old junk – orcish design (if passed check!) – picture included
 Wooden
o Gear has been taken – all clothed in soiled rags
 Everyone is chained up in their own cell
 Halfling man (NPC) – ‘Jameson Wildroot’
o From the ‘Western Dales’
 Has an apple orchard and keeps prizewinning pigs with ‘Gramps’
 ‘West Dale Hoggery’
o What he knows
 He was at the pub, blacked out – drink spiked?
 He remembers seeing you there
 Doesn’t remember anyone suspicious
 Party given a while to try to break out
 Allow party to just get to the deck of the ship
o On the coast of a dense jungle island
o Sea replaced with rippling, shimmering waves of ether that extend indefinitely
 After a while the ship stops moving
o Regardless of how far the party get, they are darted and awake in the slave pens
 If the party see the orc(s) – on the pier as the party runs for the treeline
o A tall, muscular, humanoid figure with long, matted hair clambers down from the
ships rigging.. Her green skin is smothered with brutal tattoos interlaced with thick
scars. From a sheath on her back she draws a pipe of about 4 ft and crouches down
on one knee.
o A series of sharp breaths are followed by the heavy thuds of bodies hitting the
boardwalk. One-by-one you feel the sharp sting of a barbed dart pierce your neck.
Darkness overcomes you and your consciousness fades to black.
 Environment
o Hot, humid, sweaty, tropical climate
o Ship moves but hear no waves
o
2) The Slave Pens

 Player wake in a group cell

o Chained to each other by the neck
 Walls of the cell are boarded – can’t see out
o Streaks of blood and embedded fingernails
o Can hear the screams of other people
 Screams in many different languages – the voices of other slaves from
different worlds/regions
 On the wall are enough weapons for one each minus one (force to fight with hands!)
o Melee
 Stone club (stained with blood and hair)
 Damage: 1d4 bludgeoning
 Sickle (Blunt and dented)
 Damage: 1d4 slashing
 Staff (a simple stick)
 Damage: 1d6 bludgeoning
o Ranged
 Sling (A rough piece of rope that looks to be made of a tough, sinewy vine)
 Damage: 1d4 bludgeoning
 For this form of un-equipped combat
o Penalty to AC of -5
 The end of the boarded cell swings open and reveals the ring of combat

3) The Gladiatorial Ring

 Text:
o With a sudden jerk and clang, the end wall of your cell swings sharply open and
slams against its hinges. Blinding light startles you for a brief moment before you are
met with the deafening roar of what sounds like hundreds of onlookers. Heat
radiates off the hot sand outside the opened door. A booming voice thunders out:
‘Step into the pit and seal your fate!’. The crowd roars once more.
 Encounter:
o Assuming 5 players at level 1
o Hard difficulty – 75 exp per player = 375exp total
o Group 1 (75 exp)
 3 bandits (pg344)
o Group 2 (300 exp)
 3 thugs
o Group 3 (50 exp)
 2 commoners (1 dead already – heart attack?)
 Upon winning:
o Great gates at the far end of the pit swing open and troops of heavily armed orcs
march in and surround you. You are heavily outnumbered. The booming voice of the
announcer blasts out once more: ‘We have our champions! Your strength will be
rewarded with the most honourable fate!’. The crowd burst into horrific laughter.
o The hulking figures surrounding you yank away your basic weapons and you are
dragged by your neck-chains into the dark entrance from which the orcs came.
4) The Incubation Chamber
 You are dragged through the tunnel into a large chamber with numerous stone pedestals to
which you are chained. The orc troop leave and the room falls silent.
 Carved into the walls are ancient-looking symbols and inhuman text.
 As you lie faced-up on the cold slabs you hear footsteps.

Still to write out:

i) The entrance of the main villain
ii) Revealing the slaad
iii) Impregnation of James Wildroot
iv) Boss fight
v) Escape

Need to make the adventure less linear – there is very little choice given to the players!
They need to be given multiple options. Maybe there could be different paths to follow.

Once the characters defeat the slaad impregnator they have choices in their escape.

Need to draw out the area and possible routes of escape.

(Draw out dungeons on squared pages)