Halls of the Mountain King Session 28 – Victory!

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 final session.

Now that I’ve come to end of these posts, I’ll repost write ups from Courts of the Shadow Fey next, which I suspect a few more people might be running.

Begin here with Session 1 – Alarm in the Dead of Night.

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The gold statue of the Mountain King has split into two separate entities – the Shard, a twisted, elemental giant, and Mammon’s Will, a rough humanoid formed of gold, gems, jewellery and forge tools, which appears right next to Bolval. Saethus conjures a flaming sphere to attack the Shard while Khuma goes to help Bolval. Krivinn boldly steps up to the Shard, hits the elemental once, and then again with a critical, doing 132 points of damage – enough to destroy it! The others gang up on Mammon’s Will who strikes back, embezzling Bolval’s holy symbol when he attacks with flame strike. Despite this, the cleric’s attacks prove deadly as the infernal construct implodes and is dragged back to the Hells! Even Masterstroke admits he is quite impressed with the dwarf’s prowess.

As Mammon vanishes, his voice echoes throughout the forge:
“Do not think that you have seen the last of me, mortals. Steal but one copper, scorn one beggar’s plea, plunder a single tomb for naught but greed, and we shall meet again. My eye is upon you and Mammon does not forget!”

The battle over, the characters search the chamber – Saethus finds a +3 controller’s wand on one of the tieflings but there is little else in here. Heading back into the main corridor running round the Prime Forge, the party find a secret door in the wall opposite the doors Grajava’s statue smashed open. Beyond is a chamber with four carved pillars and the base of a fifth (which the characters reckon used to hold the pillar in Bartholomeus’ room above), as well as the corpse of a dead Illuminated Brother clutching a sprig of acacia and a bunch of keys. Unsure what to make of this, the party continue to explore the rest of the level.

Krivinn persuades them to leave Bragollach’s hoard untouched, they wipe out the goldveined chokers hanging in cages from the ceiling of a smelter, and investigate a library, taking a huge ledger of accounts of the Cult of Mammon which may contain valuable clues. Finally, the characters plunder the lab and living quarters of the vampire countess, defeating her guardian jackal effigies. There is no sign, though, of the vampiress herself.

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Returning up the Great Stair to the halls above, the characters are hailed as heroes for ridding the citadel of Mammon and his cult. Over the coming days, they are showered with gifts and offers of marriage, and their faces are added to the frescoes in Heartsblood Forge once the refugees reclaim the lower halls.

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The dwarves dig themselves out from under the earthquake and free up the entrance. Outside, the cold weather is over and the snow is starting to melt when they open the main doors. A couple of weeks later, dwarven reinforcements arrive from the cantons of St Mischau and Hammerfell. A cleric of Korak is able to restore both Brave Ella and Sharden to full health, as well as removing the ghoul curse on Bolval and Krivinn that has hung over them so long.

Bolval is inducted into the Illuminated Brotherhood, and he and Saethus study with the canton’s mystics and learn new rituals. He is politely asked to return Masterstroke, however.

Before heading back to Parsantium, Bolval goes with Krivinn to visit his family in Juralt where his grandmother, Therhildvin Runewise, and his parents, Norgyth and Duerif Dwomalk urge him to track down Heinsoo and find out why he is stealing religious texts. Sharden elects to return home to Grisal. 

The overland journey to Parsantium takes the characters just over six weeks. The party run into some minor trouble en route – bandits, orcs and the like – but nothing serious, and they are able to get back to the city safely.

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