Against the Slave Lords is a series of adventures set in the World of Greyhawk. When a DM combines a well-built world with superb adventures, all it takes is some well run and beloved player characters to enter the world and take center stage. World building, adventure questing, and future story telling will all unfold after that.
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Against the Slave Lords is a series of adventures set in the World of Greyhawk. When a DM combines a well-built world with superb adventures, all it takes is some well run and beloved player characters to enter the world and take center stage. World building, adventure questing, and future story telling will all unfold after that.
Several Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks are available as print on demand from DriveThruRPG: Players Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, Monster Manual, and Unearthed Arcana, along with Against the Slave Lords. In addition, there are two digital copies of Dungeon Magazine with adventures that support the series: Dungeon #221 and Dungeon #215. Slavers includes a map of the city of Highport and a few details on the settlement.
Clues in Darkshelf, Nyrond Pointing to Highport, Pomjarj
Clues to follow to Highport in the Pomjarj can be found in Nyrond for player characters who successfully complete the adventure, Danger at Darkshelf Quarry found in Against the Slave Lords. While the adventure does not provide clear indications of the slaving operation unless NPCs are captured and interrogated, a clever DM can include a second option.
The evil elemental clerics operating from beneath the quarry keep records for the slavers. They may have ledgers, likely hidden and trapped and in code, that point to shipments of kidnapped prisoners being transported to Highport in the Pomjarj. They also send payments back to the Temple of the Earth Dragon in Highport. This ledger could be hidden under the bed in the cleric’s chamber number 65. This chest should be locked and trapped.
Overlord Neistor can confirm that Highport is a good place to investigate if the PCs want to stop the slavers’ operations. He checks on rumors out of Highport and will tell the PCs that Mikaro Valasteen, a cleric of Trithereon, has quietly been looking for assistance. Trithereon is a foe of evil and oppression, and he is allied with Pelor as well. Mikaro can be found at the House of Quiet. Anyone inquiring there needs to stay calm and very quiet; Highport crawls with both evil men and monsters of various sorts.
In fact, the House of Quiet is run by a mind flayer nicknamed Quiet. While he keeps slaves, Mikaro meets there because whispering is the norm, and no one would suspect his allegiance to a god of freedom. Mikaro finds the place extremely distressing, but like the rest of the city, he must accept the larger evil that he cannot defeat so he can help overcome the smaller evils he can successfully oppose.
Sea Journey
NPC ship masters discussed on page 33 of the book if the PCs need to hire a ship to sail from Nyron to Highport in the Pomjarj. Waterborne adventures are covered on page 53. Waterborne encounters are found on page 190.
Dungeon 221: Lowdown in Highport
Lowdown in Highport, found in digital Dungeon #221, is a good bridge between Danger in Darkshelf Quarry and Slave Pits of the Undercity. PCs can learn a bit more about the dangers and mysteries of Highport before delving into the undercity. Slavers provides more details and a simple map of the city.
One optional change to the adventure: change the wraith and skeletons in the Burial Vault 26 to a coffer corpse and zombies. The coffer corpse looks like a zombie, but will be an interesting surprise if downed by non-magical weapons and returning to unlife a round later. Level drain is a rough attack, and the PCs would have no warning about the possibility of a wraith: no chance to get holy water, more missile weapons and perhaps silver arrows, et cetera.
Mikaro can point the PCs in the direction of a temple taken over by the Slave Lords, A1: Slave Pits of the Undercity. He tells them he believes that the source of the slaving activity can be found somewhere in the pits under the ruined temple. It is very likely a deadly undead could be hiding there as well, cursed with unlife. Mikaro could either become a regular source of information and aid for the characters, or he could be captured and later found as a prisoner of the slavers.
A1: Slave Pits of the Undercity
This ruined temple with sewers underneath offers the first real opportunity for the PCs to strike at the slavers. For campaign play, the map on page 53 should be used. Doors into courtyard 9 could be added in both rooms 3 and 4. Room 21 in the sewers includes a caravan route the slavers use and leads directly into A2: Secret of the Slavers’ Stockade. The map indicates a route from Highport to an old fort in the middle of the Drachensgrab Hills.
Journey to the Hill Fort
As detailed in A2: Secret of the Slavers’ Stockade, it is 120 miles from Highport to the slavers’ stockade. The PCs will likely want to buy supplies in Highport and rest before setting out. A ranger would be invaluable out in the wilds. Mikaro will offer a place to stay that is hidden and help as he can. He plans to stay and get more prisoners out from this end as the PCs move on and try to cut off the head of the operation.
A DM may want to roll up some random encounters ahead of time, using the Wilderness Encounter Table on page 58 in Against the Slave Lords. This will save a bit of time and might inspire a more in-depth location or two along the route that the PCs might uncover.
Next Steps
A Dungeon Master can continue to develop his or her version of the World of Greyhawk as the player characters continue to pursue the head of the slaving operation. Opportunities to add details to the world can be added in during the wilderness trek and with roleplaying with Mikaro Valasteen, cleric of Trithereon.
Picture credit: Nature Landscape Clouds
