October Online: Camiram, Tegel, Halloween Bonus Map

Okay, we're wrapping up the month of October! I wasn't sure I'd get it done with all the monsters to go through, but it's the 31st and this is all that's left. November won't be nearly as swamped, since the core rules are officially done. But I'll still get started on it ASAP.

Alright, so according to my lengthy Product List file, there are three online files left to go. The first is a Cliffhanger, The Village of Camiram. This is a much longer Cliffhanger than the previous one, with eight installments. And instead of an adventure, this is a complete 'home base' village. That sounds fine to me. I'll incorporate it into Tasiri pretty much as-is, I suppose.

So, Camiram is a small village of about 500 souls, mostly human with the other races represented to varying degrees. Halflings are the most common demihumans, followed by dwarves. The town mayor is a 4th-level halfling 'noble', which I assume should be the aristocrat class from the DMG. This is a farming village, and they've had encounters with barbarians and nearby orc tribes, although negotiations with the barbarians are ongoing.

The village was once abandoned due to raids and invasion, but thirty years ago adventurers cleared the region out, and people moved back in. So the buildings are a combination of old stone construction and newer buildings, giving the village a bit of a different feel.

And wouldn't you know it...I just opened up the map, and guess what? It's the one I used for Highwich. So that's Camiram...well, campaigns have to be flexible, so that will be the end of Highwich since I now have a fully-fleshed town complete with NPCs and more detailed descriptions. I feel neither guilt nor shame for swiping it wholesale. I'll reproduce the map here for reference.

The most noteworthy locations here are 3 (The Great Hall) where the mayor lives, 5 (Sheriff's Office), 10 (home of the village wizard, Skarm), 13 (The Temple of Pelor), 14 (The Inn of the Rose), and 20 (the well). Why the well, you ask? Well, it's because that's where some sort of plot against the village is brewing at night, and that takes us to part 3.

Part 3 reveals the NPCs that live here, or rather the ones that matter (not too many people are going to be interested in the nearly 400 1st-level commoners). There's Elyl Shona, the halfling mayor; Tam Flinder (dwarf Exp9) the blacksmith; the wizard Skarm, a cleric of Pelor, and a barbarian chief (half-orc) who interacts with the villagers. But there's someone else here that no one knows of...

Part 4 talks about the orc tribes threatening the region, and their new ally: a doppleganger named Seligg the Sly, who is in the area to have some fun and pit the various factions of the region against each other. Episode 5 sees the actual adventure begin, where there is a festival of peace going on. The doppleganger steals a dagger from a PC, then lets someone from the party see him near the well, pouring a deadly poison into the water. But he's disguised as the sorceress, Vosta, companion to the barbarian chief. Giving chase the PCs will lose him in the ruined villa (area 6), but they'll find the dead sorceress on the floor, killed with the stolen dagger. That's when the local cops show up...

In Episode 6, the fragile peace between the barbarians and the village is in danger of shattering as the villagers believe the barbarians were trying to poison them, and the barbarians accuse the PCs of murdering their sorcerer. Needless to say, things are tense. The PCs can fight, run or surrender, but unless they escape somehow, they will be found guilty of killing the sorceress. Assuming they do run or escape, Episode 7 covers the wilderness where they can try to find the real killer, only to discover an unexpected face helping them: Vosta the Sorceress...

The final episode reveals that Vosta had disguised a handmaiden as herself after being invited to a secret meeting. However, she was delayed in joining the handmaid, who is the actual murder victim. She reveals that a doppleganger is behind this, and recruits the PCs to help track down the creature. They can capture or kill the doppleganger, and if they can do so without alerting the orcs, they can reforge the alliance with the barbarians and the village. With Vosta's testimony, the party will be cleared of the murder charge, too.

All in all, it's a nice little adventure with enough action to satisfy while still providing intrigue as well as a useful home base. The adventure is for low-level characters, of course.

The next article is another 'Celebrity Game Table', with Philip Athans' The Tegel Campaign described in some detail. Basically, Athans discusses running the Tegel Manor adventure from Judges Guild using the BECMI rules (the Mentzer Basic rules from 1983-1986). So this isn't really a 3e article at all. Oh, well. There's some interesting tidbits in there about some behind-the-scenes WotC stuff anyway.

The final piece of online stuff comes from the Map-a-Week archive: The Halloween Bonus Haunted House, which I reproduce here:

Ooh, isometric! I wish I had the time to stock it properly, but if you look closely at room 20 on the top floor, you will see the zombie children that are mentioned in the map's description on the website. I'm sure there's a fun story there to be told. But for now, this will end our excursion into the D&D products of October 2000, and tomorrow we begin with November. There is a lot of stuff, but no more core rules, so it shouldn't take nearly as long to get it done, which will leave more time for filling out and stocking maps. Until then, Happy Halloween!