Spoilers follow for the Tomb of the Restless Knights dungeon, designed by me… you should totally go check it out…
The adventurers spent the next several days in Kalaman, getting up to various shinnanigans, as soldiers do during wartime. Their money soon arrived from Aubrey Drallion and they found themselves awash in more cash than any of them had ever seen. Naturally Asterius and Gringle immediately spent a quarter of their earnings by attempting to procure magic weapons from a disreputable goblin in a seedy dockside tavern. They paid almost sixteen hundred gold pieces as an “incentive” to attempt to secure the goods. A magic crossbow was unable to be located, but a very rare set of plate mail was found for Asterius, which had the curious effect of mysteriously halting his aging while using it. It cost nearly three thousand gold pieces, but the knight bought it.
Additionally, Davgin spent several days practicing and committing to memory the incantations for the spell Chromatic Orb. He knew he could reliably cast it at least once before beginning to drawn on his customary reserves of magical energy.
Fallon research and questioned as many as she could find attempting to gather information on how to remove the curse from the magic sword she had purchased.
After their days of rest, the adventurers traveled to the tomb. They arrived as the last light of dusk faded, entering the tomb. In the first chambers they found a raised area for offerings and four metal statues that seemed greened by rust. Upon examining the statues, they noticed hinges at the joints of the statues. This immediately aroused their suspicions, and they began to examine the chamber to see if they could open the door without triggering the guardians. Eventually they elected to pick the door lock, and while they opened the door, the statues lurched to life. They were able to make short work of them, then descended a curving staircase into the depths of the tomb.
The first room they encountered down the stairs appeared to be a preparatory room for burials. Ancient jars and instruments used in mummification appeared to be left in the chamber from when it was closed. Tapestries, old and decaying, showed images of Solamnic knights. In a side room they found a well that seemed to descend into the darkness. They dropped a small statue that they had found down the well to see how deep it was. It appeared to be thirty or forty feet down into some lower level.
Next they came upon a hidden entrance, where the side of the hill and the tomb seemed to have slide over time, created a hidden opening not far from the main entrance.
They descended another staircase and found a large crypt, filled with alcoves of stacked bones. Asterius warned his friends not to disturb the knights’ rest, but the glint of coin caught Gringle’s eye, and he slipped a coin from one of the alcoves. Moments later, the bones began to animate, coming together as six skeletons, as Asterius berated Gringle for his foolishness.
GM Reflections
I’ve found it much more rewarding lately to create my own adventure content rather than relying on the pre-written adventure. I think there was a period where an adventure provided a set of good training wheels to get the hang of how an adventure should probably flow and the basic pieces, but at the certain point you have the realization that I might have been able to plan this point better than the disconnected writer. I still enjoy published adventures for ideas and particularly for larger pieces that are more interchangeable—namely dungeons right now, but I’m getting better at stealing plot elements and combining them with my own ideas. And more comfortable with non-linear narrative structures.
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