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. Here’s the write up from the 22nd session.
Begin here with Session 1 – Alarm in the Dead of Night.
The adventurers push open the adamantine Great Doors. Beyond is the Receptory, a once magnificent chamber damaged by the earthquake, its walls decorated with “stations” of the Illuminated Brotherhood. The party enter, looking round the throne first, then at the mosaic stations.
Bolval approaches the four sphinxes guarding the doors to the east – the statues awaken and recite a cryptic riddle. On the floor in front of them is a 4 x 4 grid filled with arcane symbols which the dwarf realises are numbers. Krivinn strides forward and steps on the wrong tile which causes two of the grimvigil criosphinxes to come to life and attack the party.
The monsters are hard to kill and the characters spend much of the fight bloodied. Bolval strikes with a sucker punch, maxes out on damage and takes 6 points himself! Once the sphinxes are killed, Krivinn steps on another tile, gets it wrong again and is stunned. Plenty of discussion follows and more experimentation until eventually the characters figure out which squares to tread on to open the doors.
The party enter the next room – an antechamber – with five pillars. Realising they are close to the room where they encountered Bartholomeus, the characters look for secret doors in the south wall but don’t find any. They use a mnemonic fob to open the doors and pass into the Chamber of the Old Masters. Bolval puts 50 gp into the golden bowl held aloft in the well of dust in the middle of the room by an arm made of fine grit. This summons a mighty earth elemental who speaks to the party with the authority of the Spirit of the Mountain.
The messenger answers the characters’ questions, saying that the “heartsblood” of the mountain carries much corruption. “A graven image with foulness in its belly stands there, where the sickness has taken form.” They should look for the heartsblood “betwixt blood of earth and liquid air.” After imparting this information, the elemental settles back into the well.
Bolval wanders over to have a look at the inscribed plaques on the wall. As he passes the far side of the podium, five undead constructs, similar in form to Rabscuttle, clamber to their feet and charge forward. These fellforged are strong combatants and it takes several rounds for the characters to defeat them. Bolval casts turn undead twice (very effectively) as Krivinn and Khuma fight in melee. When only two constructs are still standing, one of them throws several golden gears into the bowl in the well, summoning the earth elemental again. This time, the elemental is angry and attacks the characters. The party withdraw, finishing off the two constructs as they retreat.
You can save 40% on Parsantium: City at the Crossroads, Icons of Parsantium, and Whispers of the Dark Daeva in the Christmas in July Sale at Drivethrurpg.
You need to hurry – sale ends 31st July 2024!
Discover more from Richard Green | Game Designer
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Richard Green | Game Designer 