The Night Dorf Von Sedge's Stronghold Fell

The party wakes up in a jail cell with no equipment adventure. What's going on?

9th Level Fighting Man Dorf Von Sedge finished his stronghold in the town of Witherhelm relatively recently. Since then the peasants have been unhappy. He is eccentric and cruel. Things got worse for the peasants when Von Sedge took ill. He hasn't been seen in months and his doctor has taken over the administration of the Von Sedge's demesne.

One night the peasants revolt.

The party wake up in a dark cell; anyone with infravision is wearing a blind fold. They are groggy and have the impression that some sound awoke them. They are lying on filthy hay. If they look at their arms they are covered in cuts, some old and scarred, some fresh. They have memories of passing in and out of consciousness. 

The cell door is unlocked. They key is in the door. Here is the Map:

I spelled rack wrong (I jutst learned "wrack" is an alternative spelling for the verb only). The map for the top of the keep is on this page too. 

The Stirge Pit

Its a pit filled with  stirges, the plague doctor has a mask that can control the stirges. There is a lid. You can close it.

The Torture Room

That's the room with leech well. the room also has sharp knives that look like they would leave the type wounds that the pcs have up and down their arms (listed as daggers on the map). My players did not fill buckets with leeches and throw them at enemies; I was  disappointed.

The Guard Room

So obviously someone freed the PCs and killed the guard. When the party get here they can start to hear battle sounds. 

The Ground Floor

Everyone on this floor is pretty fighting the peasant uprising and it is easy for the party to sneak around

The Skeleton Archers

... are all shooting at roving bands of armed peasants. They will ignore the party unless attacked.

The Spy on the Wandering Monster Chart

This is the spy that freed the party. She is having a hard time escaping in the chaos. She may be willing to help the party kill either Von Sedge or the Plague Doctor.

Domesday Book and Records

Anyone that take the time to read these books will see that the peasants are oppressed. Anyone magic user that really studies them will notice that a lot of money was spent on black magic and alchemical supplies.

The Semicircular Room at the Bottom of the Map

This is the throne room. It is two stories with a balcony around the top. The Plague Doctor is here with four elite guards. Lucky sneaky parties can kill them from the balcony. If the Plague Doctor is threatened directly he will command the stirges to attack. If the Stirge pit was not sealed, swarms will appear in 1d4 rounds and attack peasants and PCs.

Plague Doctor LV 5

AC 7

HP 16

Mask of control Stirges

Dagger of Bleeding (save vs spell or bleed 1hp each round)

150gp

His hood can pull down to cover his face 

Bird Seed

Empty black bag

key to the lab

Guards LV 2 Fighting Men

AC 4 Chain and Shield

HP 10, 11, 6, 7

Swords

1 Javelin each

The Third Floor

I messed up making this map. I used tracing paper so it would have the same dimensions as the second floor and it made it hard to read.

Bed Baron

This is where Dorf Von Sedge is. He is bed ridden and hooked up to a brass IV poll that supplies him with blood stolen from the PCs. If the IV is disconnected he will die. He has a lot of hit points but can't really fight back.

Lab

So, there is a basilisk in this room. It is one of those rooster Lizard hybrid basilisks. The idea is that the Plague doctor pulls his hood down and uses the bird seed to lure the basilisk into the bag so he can lock it in a cage when he enters the room. My players never entered the lab. 

There is also a blood transfusion spell in the Plague Doctor's spell book that is used to keep people undergoing energy drain alive. I never wrote it out exactly.

The Note about the Tapestry

Hunting w/no shirt on - Dorf Von Sedge takes style cues from Putin.

The Top Floor

There is a wraith magically confined to a room on the top floor. Somehow he is bonded to Von Sedge, giving him the power to create skeletons and other things that were never really worked out. The wraith might bargain for his freedom or he might try to turn pcs into wraiths that are not magically trapped in the room. I still haven't decided if the powers that confine him to the room work on just him or on all undead. During play, he sucked the life out of a brave peasant . The rest of the party escaped.

The Uprising

I created several groups of peasants. During the adventure they broke into the castle and started fighting guards. There were also berserk peasants that would attack anyone. The party never found out what was behind those berserkers. The peasants were armed with items on the angry village chart i made:

Rioters HD 1d8

AC 9

dmg 1d6

Group 1:

hp    weapon

1. 8    club
2. 1    club
3. 2    torch + molotov cocktail
4. 8    torch
5. 3    hook
6. 2    knife
7. 6    pitchfork
8. 4    oar
9. 4    scythe
10. 3    butter churn

There was also a roaming group of zombies and some guards. In order to escape the players also had to find way to avoid the archers shooting from the stronghold. In the end they just ran for it and one of them was killed trying to escape.