Back to the Marsh Bell

[Corvo]

It was the summer of 2939. They sneaked into the Mewlip's city, to save the dwarf, Balin. They destroyed the bell, but the price was high. Gorm son of Gismund was lost in the Shadow, killed by the monsters during the escape from their nest.
Now it's 2946. The dragon is gone, the people of Esgaroth safe, Dale restored. They were young then, now they are older and wiser and respected. Yet there is something unfulfilled in their hearts.
Gorm. He was a friend, a brother, and gave his life for them. They cannot leave him to rest in the shadow, his bones the playthings of the beasts.
They want to go back to the city in the swamp, settle the score with the beasts and find their friend's bones and sword, to bring them back. Back home.

I got my next adventure cut for me. My players want to go back in the swamp to recover Gorm's mortal remains. Someone got some idea for this adventure?

[Rich H]

I'm putting together an adventure for my gaming group that will take them into the Marsh Bell for the first time...

I'll use bits from the adventure in the LM book but I'm going to develop the sunken city further, along with a creature of Shadow that is the reason for the Marshdwellers' corruption. Also, I'm using it to trial some of the new rules that are going to be published in the Rivendell supplement; but I obviously can't detail those in any way. The idea I have is that Balin wishes to take a company of dwarves to reclaim it as the first step in re-opening the Men-i-Naugrim to trade and travel. The PCs and some men of Dale will be part of this company but the elves will only escort them south, not committing arms to the expedition underground, as they generally think the idea is unwise and that the place should be left alone. The loose idea I have is that it'll have a strong military feel to it so I'll be riffing ideas off various sources including Aliens and such and if successful this will be the reason Balin undertakes the mission to reclaim Moria.

[poosticks7]

What horror resides in the depths of that place Rich?

[Mim]

Corvo, This is a great idea. Yes, you have your work cut out for you, but your players should have an incredible adventure because it's about their friend & companion, Gorm son of Gismund. This is the perfect plot to draw them in, & I'll be curious to see how it goes for you.

Rich, you intrigue me by dropping the hint about Rivendell. I'm looking forward to this release very much, probably more than all of the books published to date (it's my fav region). The plot about eventually opening the Men-i-Naugrim fits nicely with what you did with the Great Eagles, & I hope to use a variant myself.

Speaking of expanding the Marsh Dwellers; I've converted the upper works of the temple in the old classic, T1-T4 Temple of Elemental Evil, as their original stronghold. In addition, we all now have more monsters to challenge heroes that travel through the Long Marshes, thanks to the Lake-town Sourcebook & HoW.

[Rich H]

What horror resides in the depths of that place Rich?

I was thinking some kind of Queen of the Mewlips. Maybe a hag or some such creature of Shadow - perhaps something taking inspiration from the Black Annis of old folk lore. I also think there's an opportunity to add some kind of baleful gem that adds to her power, attracting the Marshdwellers to her in some way and acting to concentrate/focus their attention to the Sunken City making it a blighted place of evil - hence why the elves wish to avoid it. They know something evil dwells their, perhaps even a servant of the Necromancer and rather than provoke it they prefer to leave it be and watch over it.

[Rich H]

Rich, you intrigue me by dropping the hint about Rivendell. I'm looking forward to this release very much, probably more than all of the books published to date (it's my fav region). The plot about eventually opening the Men-i-Naugrim fits nicely with what you did with the Great Eagles, & I hope to use a variant myself.

I do apologise that I can't say more but they are a very elegant subset to the rules as they currently stand and add a very specific element to support Tolkien's story, particularly elements of LotR rather than the Hobbit. I only have a couple of pages of the rules but they very much offer new opportunities within the rules for Loremasters to develop a certain literary theme backed up by a new mechanic. I was really happy when I read it and can't wait to try it out.

Speaking of expanding the Marsh Dwellers; I've converted the upper works of the temple in the old classic, T1-T4 Temple of Elemental Evil, as their original stronghold.

I was thinking of using the old Dragonlance map of Xak Tsaroth as inspiration/influence and developing it from there:



... Obviously not with the extreme drops/depths more the idea of the broken swallowed city.

[Mim]

Wow, this is an awesome idea. Since you're keen on the sunken city (me too), I don't see why you can't do the drop & just tweak it a bit, perhaps reducing the depth.

At any rate, converting Xak Tsaroth captures the feel of the Marsh Bell superbly, IMHO.

[Rapscallion]

The Marsh Bell site almost always makes for a perfect return visit whatever the results of the initial adventure may be. Converting the Dragonlance module above is a great idea, as the site leaves itself open to being a much bigger delve, especially if your players manage to rile the marsh dweller hoards like mine did.

My players lost one of their members to the dwellers, but not before he managed to remove a great number of them. Eventually they overwhelmed the character into unconsciousness, and I provided my players with a narrative cutscene of the dwellers nursing the character back to health, and forcing him to venerate their treasure pile. In essence, he'll become one of the marsh dwellers, but something more unique. The rest of the party was awed enough by the encounter that it's possible they might just leave their companion to his fate. Though I can also see the players returning in a manner not unlike the one described above by Rich. Regardless, the abandoned player character will probably return as a future adversary, a Barding turned dweller champion.

[Corvo]

I was thinking some kind of Queen of the Mewlips. Maybe a hag or some such creature of Shadow - perhaps something taking inspiration from the Black Annis of old folk lore (...) hence why the elves wish to avoid it. They know something evil dwells their, perhaps even a servant of the Necromancer and rather than provoke it they prefer to leave it be and watch over it.

I like this idea.
They know the marsh dwellers, they are expecting them. I need something unexpected.

[Rapscallion]

I do like the idea of introducing something new to surprise your players, but I like the idea of simple greed or dragon-madness being the reason for the dweller's corruption. I might add a new adversary along this vein. This might be a lesser swamp-worm or an entire clutch attracted by the dweller's gold.