An Evening in Blöten

by Lady Gumdrop

Recommended for games set during the 'Reign of the Dragon Overlords' time period.

If you need a break from your regular Dragonlance campaign, here's your opportunity! Allow the players to create half-ogre characters, discuss how the characters know each other, then put them directly into the thick of things! As with any adventure hook, Dungeon Masters and Narrators will need to spend some time fleshing out "An Evening in Blöten" to suit their liking.

Introduction

The heroes of the adventure reside in Blöten, a city of ogres. This evening is a particularly festive night for the city, though nobody seems to know why. The heroes themselves are wandering through the Courts of Victory, where the party is at its loudest, when the hook sinks in. Enterprising Dungeon Masters can use the map of Blöten in Rise of the Titans if they so desire. Describe the Courts of Victory as a complex of open pavilions and towers.

The Hook

The heroes bump into an elderly blind ogre shaman, who is sputtering and foaming with wrath. It appears that someone has given the old shaman too much alcohol. As the shaman grumbles about the terrible doings of evil blue beings and elf blood, another ogre sinks a dagger into the shaman's back and takes off. The heroes have several options: Get the shaman to a healer (or heal him themselves), chase the one who attacked him, or ignore it.

The Insidious Plot (for the Dungeon Master's eyes only)

In actuality, the shaman – named Mornag -- isn't drunk. Someone tried to poison him, and he barely survived the experience. After leaving his tower to seek aid from his fellow ogres (who hold him in esteem), the would-be assassin followed the shaman, hoping for an opportunity to move in for the kill. Unfortunately, she chose a bad time to do it!

Even deeper than this, though, is the fact that the inept female ogre assassin, named Graan, was sent by the ogre titans to kill Mornag. (Ogre titans are former ogres who changed into towering, blue-skinned beings due to a magical transformation.) The shaman hates the titans, and while he lives, the citizens of Blöten will not give the titans the respect the titans feel they deserve. Since the titans have need of the city and its population to assist them in their evil plans, they need to get Mornag out of the way.

Even worse, Mornag recently learned the weakness of the ogre titans: If they do not take a monthly dose of a magical elixir, they degenerate into terrible beings. Mornag has already mentioned this information within the hearing of a few ogre titan supporters, and now Anangon, a recently transformed ogre titan, fears that the shaman's big mouth could lead even more ogres to resist the titan rule!

Finally, if the heroes want to discover why there's a big party in Blöten that evening, allow them to track down the chieftain's stand-in in the manor house and ask him. The heroes find out that the party started simply because a large shipment of food, ale, and spirits arrived in Blöten for no apparent reason. That's all it takes to cause a celebration in the land of the ogres!

The End Game

If the heroes discover the vile plot, they have a choice in front of them: Do they kill the assassin, do they let her go, or do they help her finish the job? All of these can lead into more adventures for the half-ogre heroes!

This item has been published here with permission from the author(s) and may not be reproduced without permission. This is a fan submission and its contents are completely unofficial. Some characters, places, likenesses and other names may be copyright Wizards of the Coast.