'Well the place is cleared out & all of the horrors are gone never to cause the people of keep anymore trouble.'
'Did you hear that rumbling in here last night?'
'Scary wasn't it'
'Grab the last of the loot will ya?'
'Say that stone door wasn't there before was it?!'
'We'd better go tell the bosses about that'
'Wouldn't want to get ambushed or anything by those demon pig bastards things again!'
'And did you smell those & what was with that weird squealing. And say did you hear that?'
So the PC's have solved the mysteries of B2 The Keep On The Borderlands but lets talk about the fact that a mysterious door may have opened that leads to a massively long tunnel that pops into one of the most dire places imaginable.
Hopefully the PC's have secured both T1 The Village of Hommlet & B2 The Keep On The Borderland otherwise this adventure path isn't going to work. The evil wizard Acererak is a perfect example of the sort of Clark Ashton Smith style demi god wizard in the mold of all powerful sorcerer Maal Dweb. After recently having read Greg Gorgonmilk's CAS collection I've concluded certain things. Acererak has three things going for him as the vile villain who to maintains several of the dungeons of classic era TSR. He has the time, money, & minions to economically deal with these projects as well as see the resurrection of T1-4.
S1 came out in 1975 when it debuted at the 1975 Origins 1 convention & designed specifically to challenge players & their PC's. It could be used under the moons of Saturn to remove any high level interference for this pet project of Acererak. Also the tomb would have to be within eye shot of the Hyperborean capital to maintain it. Hyperborea is perfect for S1 because of its ironic sense of weirdness & terror. Why would Acererak maintain the caves of Chaos & the dungeons under B10 Night's Dark Terror as well direct his newly hatched orcs & goblins? Sheer boredom & as a project to grow the Temple of Elemental Evil's influence. In other words because he can!
"Natanasna:
I mean but this, that you the king have filled
More tombs than I the outlawed necromancer
Have ever emptied, and detest not idly
The raising of dead men. Would you have me summon
For witness here against you the grey shade
Of Famostan your father, in his bath
Slain by the toothed envenomed fish from Taur
Brought privily and installed by you? Or rather
Would you behold your brother Aladad,
Whose huntsmen left him with a splintered spear
At your instruction, to confront the fen-cat
That he had merely pricked? Yet these would be
Only the heralds of that long dark file
Which you have hurried into death."
The Dead Will Cockhold You By
Clark Ashton Smith
So why open the tomb after B10 Night's Dark Terror & the caves of chaos's monster generators have been cleaned out?! Because the party of adventurers are interesting threats & rivals coming up the long ladder. Its another game played by an insane immortal undead wizard & no doubt he's doubling down on the player's PC's greed.
My question becomes who else is going to wake up once the Tomb of Horrors becomes active? There are many wizards who may have survived the events of Ragnarok & the Green Death. These Hyperborean wizards may have had plans of their own set off by fail safes once the Temple of Elemental Evil becomes active again. This might also help explain the presence of the FORGOTTEN FANE of the COILED GODDESS
adventure location.
There was suggestions from a friend of mine to place an alternative set of caverns near the Tomb, he suggested the Classic Blue Cavern Tile sets for Dungeon Crafter from Dragon foot.com as a possible side quest. They are free so use them as you like.
I'm by no means done with using classic modules on Hyperborea but for the moment I'm going to wrap this up. Work has been causing my blog posting schedule to change at the drop of a hat. But I do think that the undead horror known as Acererak is an excellent addition to Hyperborea.
For now keep em rolling!
All artwork used without permission for the purposes of this blog post within the bounds of fair use.
All commentary is mine & North wind publishing nor Dragon's foot.com have any influence upon this blog post. This blog post is for entertainment & educational purposes only.
'Did you hear that rumbling in here last night?'
'Scary wasn't it'
'Grab the last of the loot will ya?'
'Say that stone door wasn't there before was it?!'
'We'd better go tell the bosses about that'
'Wouldn't want to get ambushed or anything by those demon pig bastards things again!'
'And did you smell those & what was with that weird squealing. And say did you hear that?'
So the PC's have solved the mysteries of B2 The Keep On The Borderlands but lets talk about the fact that a mysterious door may have opened that leads to a massively long tunnel that pops into one of the most dire places imaginable.
Hopefully the PC's have secured both T1 The Village of Hommlet & B2 The Keep On The Borderland otherwise this adventure path isn't going to work. The evil wizard Acererak is a perfect example of the sort of Clark Ashton Smith style demi god wizard in the mold of all powerful sorcerer Maal Dweb. After recently having read Greg Gorgonmilk's CAS collection I've concluded certain things. Acererak has three things going for him as the vile villain who to maintains several of the dungeons of classic era TSR. He has the time, money, & minions to economically deal with these projects as well as see the resurrection of T1-4.
S1 came out in 1975 when it debuted at the 1975 Origins 1 convention & designed specifically to challenge players & their PC's. It could be used under the moons of Saturn to remove any high level interference for this pet project of Acererak. Also the tomb would have to be within eye shot of the Hyperborean capital to maintain it. Hyperborea is perfect for S1 because of its ironic sense of weirdness & terror. Why would Acererak maintain the caves of Chaos & the dungeons under B10 Night's Dark Terror as well direct his newly hatched orcs & goblins? Sheer boredom & as a project to grow the Temple of Elemental Evil's influence. In other words because he can!
"Natanasna:
I mean but this, that you the king have filled
More tombs than I the outlawed necromancer
Have ever emptied, and detest not idly
The raising of dead men. Would you have me summon
For witness here against you the grey shade
Of Famostan your father, in his bath
Slain by the toothed envenomed fish from Taur
Brought privily and installed by you? Or rather
Would you behold your brother Aladad,
Whose huntsmen left him with a splintered spear
At your instruction, to confront the fen-cat
That he had merely pricked? Yet these would be
Only the heralds of that long dark file
Which you have hurried into death."
The Dead Will Cockhold You By
Clark Ashton Smith
My question becomes who else is going to wake up once the Tomb of Horrors becomes active? There are many wizards who may have survived the events of Ragnarok & the Green Death. These Hyperborean wizards may have had plans of their own set off by fail safes once the Temple of Elemental Evil becomes active again. This might also help explain the presence of the FORGOTTEN FANE of the COILED GODDESS
adventure location.
There was suggestions from a friend of mine to place an alternative set of caverns near the Tomb, he suggested the Classic Blue Cavern Tile sets for Dungeon Crafter from Dragon foot.com as a possible side quest. They are free so use them as you like.
I'm by no means done with using classic modules on Hyperborea but for the moment I'm going to wrap this up. Work has been causing my blog posting schedule to change at the drop of a hat. But I do think that the undead horror known as Acererak is an excellent addition to Hyperborea.
For now keep em rolling!
All artwork used without permission for the purposes of this blog post within the bounds of fair use.
All commentary is mine & North wind publishing nor Dragon's foot.com have any influence upon this blog post. This blog post is for entertainment & educational purposes only.
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