Halls of the Mountain King was the second 4th Edition Open Design project from Kobold Press. I ran the adventure in 2010 as part of the same Parsantium campaign as Wrath of the River King.
Begin here with Session 1 – Alarm in the Dead of Night.
7th Quintilis (contd)
The characters take the battered gearforged to the Splintrock Company’s compound in Zobeck’s Gear District where an airship is being loaded by its dwarven crew. Here, they meet Captain Clovis Stonethrower and learn that the hapless construct is called Rabscuttle and he is very old. The party ask about passage to the Golden Citadel and are offered employment on the Manticore as guards instead for a 5% share in profits (about 4,000 gp).
Bolval shows Clovis the picture of Heinsoo and Khuma asks about a tiefling accompanied by two dwarves – both went to the Citadel on the Drake. Agreeing to return in the morning to help with the loading, the characters go to the Bull’s Horns Inn to get a good night’s sleep.
8th Quintilis
The Manticore sets off for the Ironcrags; Clovis assigns the characters to their watches and introduces them to the rest of the crew.
9th Quintilis
Rabscuttle tries to get the characters to throw their gold overboard, ranting that the ship is too weighed down. Later, Bolval helps the eccentric construct to clean himself up after he has tried to eat. When he does so, he notices the markings that cover the gearforged but is unable to figure out what they mean.
In the evening, the characters meet the owner of Splitrock, Vianna Geldenhoff – Sharden gives her a wink and gets a reaction.
10th Quintilis
While Khuma and Saethus are on watch in the afternoon, the Manticore comes under attack from three fledgling rocs. The characters gang up on the first roc near the sterncastle while a second attacks Boso Hammerfall (the ship’s cook) and a third attacks Khuma who is on the forecastle.
Krivinn is knocked down the stairs by the first roc but the party’s focused fire soon drives the huge bird away, and Sharden finishes off the second with purging flame. The third roc grabs the unconscious Boso and flies off with him. Ella’s arrow causes the bird to drop the dwarf but Khuma is able to send a healing spirit after him and save the cook’s life.
Later, the Drake is spotted, floating adrift. The characters go on board along with their new best friend Boso – Bolval crawls on all fours to get across to the other airship to much hilarity from the crew while Ella and Saethus swing across on ropes.
As the characters explore the Drake, they find dead bodies everywhere. Some have been stabbed, some have been poisoned, and others were obviously suffering from a hideous disease. In the crew quarters, they find two dead dwarves who apparently died fighting each other – one has gold nuggets stuffed in his mouth. More gold ore is under the floorboards along with a +2 righteous warhammer which Bolval claims. In the steerage deck, the characters find the headless and mutilated body of a dwarf. Before they get a chance to investigate a chimera charges the party….
If you’d like to keep up to date with my Halls of the Mountain King campaign and other posts, please do join my mailing list – there’s a sign up form on the home page and subscribers receive a free Parsantium supplement.
If you’ve already signed up and haven’t received a download link, please get in touch.
Main image by Malcolm McClinton
Richard Green | Game Designer 