The Outlands Odyssey Part 2: Behind the Screen

The Outlands encounters left before Ironridge were earth-bergs and a bandit attack. With earth-bergs, a section of the Outlands has broken off into an Outer Plane because its alignment had changed. I picked Pandemonium. It seemed fun, and PCs potentially going mad is always a cool RP experience.

Earth-Berg Rules

A crater, several miles wide, blocks the path. Above it, boulders – some as big as ships and houses – fly through the air randomly. Some fast, some slow, some occasionally going so fast as to leave the area around the crater and fall to earth. Inside and around the crater, the strong winds are loud enough to deafen all characters.

It takes 1 hour to cross the crater. Every 15 minutes, a boulder will fall low enough for its gravity to potentially lift a character off the ground. Roll the following ahead of time:

  • 1d8 – This determines the direction of the boulder in flight, going by rough compass points. Will a victim be thrown forwards or back?
  • 1d4 – This determines speed/acceleration of the boulder. 1: Quickly decelerating; 2: Slowly decelerating; 3: Slowly accelerating; 4: Quickly accelerating. Quickly accelerating boulders are at greatest risk of being ejected and falling to earth. 
  • 1d6 – The flying boulder comes within 1d6x10 feet of the ground. The lower the boulder, the harder it is to resist its gravity.
  • You could also roll a d6 to determine the boulder’s size. If a small boulder lifts a player, it could require an Acrobatics check to land on the stone rather than miss it and continue flying through the air.

When a boulder appears, characters make a Strength saving throw, the DC being 16 minus the first 1d6 explained above. Grant advantage/lower DCs for canny bashers that take precautions.

Damage: falling damage for falling upwards towards a boulder caps out at 3d6. Depending on your rolls on your players’ rolls, there is potential for deadly amounts of falling damage to quickly build up. Roll the damage behind the screen, and consider removing damage rolls for all upward falling.

If characters spend an hour or more in or near the crater without ear protection, they must also make a DC10 Wisdom saving throw or suffer a level of exhaustion, as the incessant winds bellow in their ears.

Bandit Encounter

Late in the day as the heroes travel on a road through some ruins, they’re stopped by a Duergar riding a giant spider (Duergar Kavalrachni, Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes), claiming that passing the narrow road through the ruins requires a steep toll. The toll is so extortionate as to be daylight robbery – which, of course, it is. Should the heroes protest, the Duergar gets threatening, claiming the ruins are full of archers and spellcasters. He’s not bluffing. I used 4 Thugs (MM), giving some of them a shortbow or a cantrip for a bit of variety.

The bandits hide their plunder in the ruins. The hoard is hidden inside the base of a ruined statue. A heavy stone disc (DC 21 STR check to move) covers the base. The loot would be nigh impossible to find if you didn’t know it was there

Ironridge

The resources for Ironridge are quite scattered. The greatest amount of content is in the OG Planescape Campaign Setting Box. The Talismin NPC stuff needs a lot of work to be viable. 

Thief of Charms Tweaks

I’m writing this retrospectively and lost my notes for this crucial detail of the story. Fucks sake.

The rules of magical attraction are inconsistent as hell. Players failing saves are under the effects of a sympathy spell, but this isn’t the case for NPCs like Haac!nss or Tiac Rami No. I say just go with it and hope the players don’t notice.

Two important details of sympathy: an affected creature must use their movement, but can use their action as they please; and an affected creature can repeat the saving throw if the beautified target harms or damages them. Like Jarred Caldwell, I set the Wisdom saving throw DC at 13. I reckon on a range of 60ft with line of sight.

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