Great suggestions from the MW community- thanks!
Here's the intro I posted on the Facebook event page:
Your party has taken on the task of escorting the dwarven caretaker of an ancient prison into the ruined stronghold to renew a mystical seal. The seal helps keep a terrible beast from emerging- the Tarrasque! The characters must overcome the traps and wards of the stronghold as well as its occupants to make sure the seal will last for another millennium.
1-shot goes like this:
A. Start party at the front gate. Get past orcs that are squatting in the abandoned dwarven halls. Orcs don't know about secret door to 'Hall of the Wardens Eternal', which is the entryway to the room with the Seal. Deep inside the mountain, the Seal prevents the Tarrasque from emerging in this part of the world. It's one of many Seals that are said to help keep the Big T dormant and prevent it from popping up in that region. (A speed-bump encounter with some orcs, a rope bridge, an Umber Hulk, a statue/secret door and a trick staircase)
B. Uthor, the dwarf who's been tasked with renewing the Seal, has outlived most of his clan and needed the help of the PCs to make it to the Seal. But after hundreds of years of studying this Tarrasque, keeping the lore of it for the next generation, the gravity of the Seal...it's too much for ol' Uthor. When he gets to the Seal, he flips- no way can he deny such a powerful force of nature it's place in the universe, and smashes the Seal. And guess what? That sends a vibration that awakens you-know-who. (an few select traps from the many dungeons in Tales from the Yawning Portal).
C. A small clan of Fire giants occupies the other half of this abandoned dwarven stronghold, and the party is forced to exit through their turf. The mountain starts to shake and crack...the fire giants think the party is responsible for all this, and fight the PCs...until the Big T actually emerges and starts to chomp on everything. Fire giants use this mountain as a forge to build the Vaugonaut- something like the Vonindod...50' tall, wicked armored thing resembling a mechanical fire giant), but it's controlled by 4 (or however many PCs there are!) Large creatures that climb inside to operate the head (amplifies spells cast from it), the sword arm and the hammer arm, the chest (fires hot shrapnel) and/or (depending on the number of players) a shoulder-mounted spear-launching mechanism. I need to solidify the mechanics of it all (attack bonus, damage, etc). The efreet engineers/smiths that are helping the FGs build this thing cast Enlarge (maybe twice, to make them Huge, because the Vaugonaut is built for the giants to operate) on the PCs to go in and operate the Vaugonaut and go and fight the Tarrasque that just busted out of the mountain. Why not have the Giants operate the Vaugonaut? Too many of them perished, and the ones that are left weren't the ones being trained for running the Vaugonaut...I dunno...it's a bit contrived, I know...I'm hoping the players are too excited to jump in this thing and battle the Tarrasque to question it too much Once the PCs do X amount of damage to the Tarrasque, it'll go back underground until who knows when. Replacing or repairing the Seal- that's for someone else to worry about!
(PCs have to deal with Fire Giants by negotiation and combat, along with their pet chimera, and make some skill checks and attack rolls to operate the Vaugonaut.)
I picked elements of a few TftYP dungeons, the SKT Ironslag, Critical Role, and a PAX-AI game. I have some encounters I can cut if things are taking too long. I figured that telling the players up front that its the Tarrasque will generate excitement, and giving them a way to fight it I hope is a cool twist at the end.
Here's the intro I posted on the Facebook event page:
Your party has taken on the task of escorting the dwarven caretaker of an ancient prison into the ruined stronghold to renew a mystical seal. The seal helps keep a terrible beast from emerging- the Tarrasque! The characters must overcome the traps and wards of the stronghold as well as its occupants to make sure the seal will last for another millennium.
1-shot goes like this:
A. Start party at the front gate. Get past orcs that are squatting in the abandoned dwarven halls. Orcs don't know about secret door to 'Hall of the Wardens Eternal', which is the entryway to the room with the Seal. Deep inside the mountain, the Seal prevents the Tarrasque from emerging in this part of the world. It's one of many Seals that are said to help keep the Big T dormant and prevent it from popping up in that region. (A speed-bump encounter with some orcs, a rope bridge, an Umber Hulk, a statue/secret door and a trick staircase)
B. Uthor, the dwarf who's been tasked with renewing the Seal, has outlived most of his clan and needed the help of the PCs to make it to the Seal. But after hundreds of years of studying this Tarrasque, keeping the lore of it for the next generation, the gravity of the Seal...it's too much for ol' Uthor. When he gets to the Seal, he flips- no way can he deny such a powerful force of nature it's place in the universe, and smashes the Seal. And guess what? That sends a vibration that awakens you-know-who. (an few select traps from the many dungeons in Tales from the Yawning Portal).
C. A small clan of Fire giants occupies the other half of this abandoned dwarven stronghold, and the party is forced to exit through their turf. The mountain starts to shake and crack...the fire giants think the party is responsible for all this, and fight the PCs...until the Big T actually emerges and starts to chomp on everything. Fire giants use this mountain as a forge to build the Vaugonaut- something like the Vonindod...50' tall, wicked armored thing resembling a mechanical fire giant), but it's controlled by 4 (or however many PCs there are!) Large creatures that climb inside to operate the head (amplifies spells cast from it), the sword arm and the hammer arm, the chest (fires hot shrapnel) and/or (depending on the number of players) a shoulder-mounted spear-launching mechanism. I need to solidify the mechanics of it all (attack bonus, damage, etc). The efreet engineers/smiths that are helping the FGs build this thing cast Enlarge (maybe twice, to make them Huge, because the Vaugonaut is built for the giants to operate) on the PCs to go in and operate the Vaugonaut and go and fight the Tarrasque that just busted out of the mountain. Why not have the Giants operate the Vaugonaut? Too many of them perished, and the ones that are left weren't the ones being trained for running the Vaugonaut...I dunno...it's a bit contrived, I know...I'm hoping the players are too excited to jump in this thing and battle the Tarrasque to question it too much Once the PCs do X amount of damage to the Tarrasque, it'll go back underground until who knows when. Replacing or repairing the Seal- that's for someone else to worry about!
(PCs have to deal with Fire Giants by negotiation and combat, along with their pet chimera, and make some skill checks and attack rolls to operate the Vaugonaut.)
I picked elements of a few TftYP dungeons, the SKT Ironslag, Critical Role, and a PAX-AI game. I have some encounters I can cut if things are taking too long. I figured that telling the players up front that its the Tarrasque will generate excitement, and giving them a way to fight it I hope is a cool twist at the end.