GARGATH
1. Main Gate – This is the main gate to Gargath. This is inside the walls of the city and has many holes in the ceiling for the guards above to attack through. The guards here will ask what you are doing here. You may leave, attack, or claim to be tradesmen. If you leave, you will return to the overland map. If you claim to be tradesmen, the leader of the guards will ask what you trade. To be successful with this ploy, you must then bluff your way past with a high charisma character. If the character is not successful in the bluff attempt, then you will have to fight your way in. If you get in without a fight, then you’ll have to fight the guards on the way out, unless you haven’t engaged in any combat in the town (unlikely).
Killing the guards is recommended, as you will have to fight them eventually. The guards consist of four evil fighters, four ogres, and two elvish rogues. The rogues are by far the most dangerous (they are spell casters and will use their Charm Person spells on your party) and should be dispatched first. Don’t forget that even the highest level fighter can be downed with a single Hold Person spell if he fails to save.
2. Resistance (Quest) – You are met here by the leader of the Gargath resistance. He explains that he has heard from Sir Karl and has information for you. If you refuse to follow him, you will have much more trouble completing this portion of the adventure, so you should go with him. He will lead you into an adjacent building and give you information regarding the capture of Gargath Keep by draconians. He will offer you hoods to wear that will disguise you to look like draconian troops. He will then direct you to #3 where you will gain additional information. You should take the hoods from him and do as he says-he is on your side.
3. Tavern – This is the tavern. You can drink and overhear information here. Pay special attention to the first Tavern Tale you hear.
4. Barracks – This room is a soldiers’ barracks. You can attack, leave, or parlay once you enter. If you parlay the soldiers will offer to allow you to leave if you give them half of your money. If you refuse or attack, you will have to fight seven elvish killers and four evil fighters led by two thaumaturgists. This is a difficult fight as the thaumaturgists will be throwing Lightning Bolts at your party. Eliminate them as quickly as possible using ranged weapons (arrows) or spells (Magic Missiles are good for this). Don’t forget that an enemy spell caster may not cast a spell in a round after being injured.
5. Inn – You will meet the innkeeper here. He will direct you to rooms where you can rest. You maybe interrupted in the inn, but your chances of resting undisturbed are good.
6. Safe Harbor – If you followed the resistance leader from #2 above, you may rest here in safety. However, you may not rest forever.
7. Encounter – In this room you will encounter a group of human officers.
They will demand to know what unit you are from. You can either try to bluff your way through or you can attack them. If you bluff and answer them with 101, which you find out from the tavern, then you will get to eat with the officers and you can listen in on boring speeches. You can then leave or attack If you attack after dinner, you will get the advantage of surprise . Either way, you should attack them because they have a treasure containing a suit of +1 Plate Mail and a set of Gauntlets of Ogre Power, which increase the wearer’s strength to 18(00)!
The fight will be difficult, as there are many spell casters. The three evil fighters provide excellent cover for the two evil curates and the two thaumaturgists. Don’t let their spell casters get their spells off, or you will certainly have some party members go down. Use arrows or Magic Missiles to keep their spell casters at bay.
8. Warning – You will spot the draconian guards ahead at #9 here.
9. Guards – Draconians are guarding what appears to be an empty wall. If you are not wearing your hoods, you will be attacked immediately. Ifyou are wearing the hoods, you may either run away, attack, or parlay. If you parlay either MEEK or NICE, the guards will push you away. Otherwise, they will attack. The fight is against four baaz draconians and three kapak draconians. Be careful, as the kapaks can paralyze you with their poisoned weapons. Cast a Bless spell before entering the combat in order to increase your characters’ resistance to paralysis.
10. Decoy – This is the entrance to the false front of the Keep that the draconians have added since they took over the town. There is a secret door in the upper right corner of the room.
11. Poisonous – You will be attacked by five skeletons, two giant snakes, and a evil curate here. The giant snakes are VERY LETHAL, and if you still have some of the Neutralize Poison scrolls found in Throtl, use them on anyone poisoned by the snakes. If you beat the curate’s company, you will find 500 steel pieces, three gems, and two items of jewelry.
12. Encounter – If you have found the secret door here, a group of draconians will pour out of the door. You will be attacked by four baaz and three kapak draconians.
13. Secret – There is a secret door here.
14. Encounter – Another secret door is found here. If your party spots it a group of enemy troops pours forth. You will have to fight four baaz draconians and five elvish killers. The elvish killers carry two-handed swords, which are very handy weapons. Pick up one for anyone who needs a bigger weapon.
15. Bring it! – This is the real entrance to the Keep. It is heavily guarded by four kapak draconians, three baaz draconians, four thaumaturgists, and two elvish rogues. THIS IS A TOUGH FIGHT! Make sure you save before trying to defeat these evil forces, as you could very well have trouble with them.
This is a fight that will require careful planning and execution. You should cast preparatory spells before going into the fight (including Prayer and Bless, if you have them) and should even consider using the Potion of Speed on your best fighter. This will allow you to hack your way into the thaumaturgists before they can begin their lightning frenzy . Use Charm Person spells to get one or two of them on your side and you will have a much easier time of it.
16. Guards – This is the upper guard house. If you attack, you will have to fight five ogres, three evil fighters, and two elvish rogues. If you win and there are still guards in the lower gate house, you may attack them from here.
17. Stairs – This is the top of the staircase to the castle walls.
18. Stairs – This is the bottom of the staircase to the castle walls.
Synopsis: From Throtl you have learned that the draconian forces are beginning to rise once again. The most disturbing news is that they are once again attempting to create more evil draconians through the corruption of good dragon eggs. So far, they have not succeeded. However, Myrtani’s name seems to keep popping up, and he may have learned the secret of the conversion! As you arrive at the second outpost, the towns of Gargath, Jelek, and Neraka are named as possible enclaves of evil. One ray of hope shines through, however. .. a Dragonlance is rumored to be hidden in the Keep of Gargath. This weapon must not be allowed to fall into the hands of the enemy.
Goals: You must find the entrance to Gargath Keep and clear the town of evil forces.
Note: You should follow the instructions of the resistance fighter you meet upon entering the city. If you do not, then you will have many more random encounters and this part of the adventure will be much more difficult.
Where you can rest: If you did not follow the instructions of the resistance fighter at #2, then you will not be able to rest anywhere but the inn.
RANDOM ENCOUNTERS:
Although the number of encounters in Gargath is smaller (only seven patrols), the patrols are much more dangerous. They usually consist of evil fighters escorting thaumaturgists, elvish curates, ogres, ghouls, elvish killers, and draconians. Although you could run into some weaker monster types, such as zombies and skeletons, the spell casters are very common here. You should follow the resistance leader’s instructions . If you do not, your chance of having a random encounter is greatly increased.
Objective: Find the dragon eggs and take out the dragons.
Starting location: The party goes directly from the Throtl Temple into the Catacombs. Make use of Room 6 where there is a generous treasure trove and safety for resting, healing and memoring spells. The Cluebook recommends returning to the Outpost to level up, but as long as you maintain Hold Person, Sleep and Dispel Magic spells from your last level up, you should be fine to stay here and finish the level.
Armor: You will find Bracers and a Ring of Protection +1. Equip these to help with defense.
Weapons: Make sure you have plenty of arrows before entering the catacombs, so you can stay in there and finish the level in one go.
Experience: You will get lots of experience in this level, especially from the final fight in area 20 with the dragons. Each member receives experience from winning the fight and a bonus of 4,000 experience. After completing the level, return to the Outpost to level up.
Quests: There are multiple areas where you will have the opportunity to retrieve eggs after combat and eggs dropped by fleeing enemies.
Leaving: Once you have the Catacombs, return to the Outpost to sell your treasure, have it identified, heal and level up. After Throtl, the temple and Catacombs, you will be very wealthy with lots of gems, jewerly, magic items and steel!
The adventure begins after the good armies have recovered lands seized by the Dragon Armies in the War of the Lance and pushed the evil forces from the continent. After establishing outposts to watch over these territories, the good forces withdrew. Your party is
sent to man one of these outposts.
Supposedly the main evil forces have long fled and only the occasional wandering monster remains. On your first patrol, you find this just isn’t so. You find draconians ambushing agroup of the good settlers who have been moving into the reconquered lands. You defeat the baaz draconians. An aurak draconian, who could easily destroy you if he chose, seizes an ancient book. He takes this and Dimension Doors away, ignoring you as beneath his notice.
Returning to the outpost to report all of this, you find Sir Karl, aknight sent to investigate strange reports from the outposts, battling the outpost’s commandant. Sir Karl kills the commandant whose body changes into that of a sivak, a draconian warrior/assassin who assumes the shape of his victim.
From this and your report, Sir Karl quickly realizes that evil has been operating the outpost for its own ends, sending back false messages that all is well, while systematically wiping out the good forces sent to keep an eye on things. One of these forces is now in the (supposedly) abandoned hobgoblin city of Throtl, just northeast of the outpost. The force is led by Caramon Majere, one of the heroes of the War of the Lance. You are sent to warn him of the danger.
JOURNAL ENTRY 48
“Finally, you’re here. I got word that Sir Karl was going to send someone to check this place out. I’ve been waiting for you for days. Come with me.”
JOURNAL ENTRY 26
“Gargath was overrun about a week ago. There were only a few of us here at that time trying to rebuild after the War of the Lance. Draconians and evil forces snuck in at night and captured the Keep. Since then they have been bringing in prisoners and putting them to work. They make us wear these hoods to keep track of us.
JOURNAL ENTRY 43
“They have built up a large, wooden structure in front of the main gates of the Keep. I don’t know what it looks like inside. I can tell you that the main gates are in the upper-northwest comer of the city In the middle of the city you will find a secret door into the wooden structure. It is currently being guarded by draconians because it’s location has been discovered recently.” He licks his lips in consternation and suddenly speaks in hushed intensity “Listen, there’s a dragonlance in the Keep. I know, all of them were supposed to be sent South but the Castellan was injured during the War and his lance was brought with him when he returned. You must find it!”
TAVERN TALE 56
“Who are these guys that have taken over? I see soldiers with the number 101 tattooed on their arms. What gives?”
TAVERN TALE 39
“I tell you I saw dragons! They were flying around the top of the keep! Black ones they were. Except for one.”
