Planescape Redux - Through the first Planar Portal

 Last time, I decided that Theros would be the destination of the first Omenpath. This is fun for two reasons. There are many packs to crack to generate an adventure, but there is also a 5e book for Theros (Mythic Odysseys of Theros or MOoT) that we can mine for goodies!

So far our adventure has a few angles we could lean into. 

1. The Harpers are acting like the Planar Police and are gathering the keys to and researching more information about these Omenpaths.
2. Bane, the Lord of Darkness has an active cult in the Forgotten Realms that the players have already crossed once. For some reason, they too are interested in the Omenpaths. 

We don't need to get into #2 at the moment, luckily. I think it is best to let the campaign breathe for a while, no need to set up some end-game threat quite yet. But we can keep this cult in our back pocket for later. Let's start this Theros adventure by cracking a pack from the original Theros set.

This is a great pack. I think it would be great if the Omenpath the characters took opened up into a mountain range depicted in the land card. In these mountains lives an evil Gorgon, Hythonia the Cruel, and a Stoneshock Giant. 

When the characters are getting their bearings and journeying around the mountains the following encounters will be great to fill out a potential hex map around the mountains. The number of creatures per encounter totally depends on the level of the party you are running this for.

• Returned Phalanx - The Returned have four stat blocks in MOoT from CR 1/4 to 4. Lore-wise the Returned are quite literally people who have returned from the dead. The mask is left over from their funeral rites.
• Soldiers - Allied soldiers from the nearby town who are out hunting Hythonia.
• Led by a human named Elias who was sent on a scouting mission to find the cave of Hythonia.
• Blood-Toil Harpy - This is actually a CR 1/8 creature from MOoT.
• Two-Headed Cerberus - What better way to kick off a Greek-themed adventure than with an encounter with a Cerberus! It helps that it is also a CR 2 creature in MOoT.

I don't see any inspiration for villages or towns. But I'm sure we can turn to MOoT for that. After looking at the world map, I've settled on using Akros as the nearby town. I like it because it's basically Sparta, so it is easy to imagine. It's also geographically next to a mountain range which fits right in. 

So in summary, this is what this pack has given us for our next adventure:

    After the characters pass through the Omenpath, they come out on the other side deep within the mountains. They begin to get their bearings and some marching Returned come across their path. From here, you'd really only need 3 hexes of mountains, put a harpy nest in one, soldier camp in one, Hythonia's Cave in one, and have the Cerberus be a wandering monster they see off in the distance that is tracking them over time. Once they meet and hopefully offer to help the soldiers from Akros, they will lead them back to town once Hythonia is taken care of or scouted (the goal would depend on the level of the party if they could handle taking her down right now).

The only thing left to do is grab a map for Hythonia's Cave and put some encounters in it just in case the players decide to go head first. My favorite place to get maps is from Dyson Logos' blog Dyson's Dodecahedron. A quick Ctr+F and "cave" search led me to this beauty called "Gloomforge Caverns"

I typically don't do a lot of work when keying my dungeons but I do like to do the following:

• Sight: Dimly lit from sconces with a green flame.
• Smell: Mildew mixed with a harsh tinge of sulfur.
• Sound: Mostly silent, something sliding across a rock surface can be heard from all around. The faint echo of a snake's hiss can also be heard.

1. Entrance Room: Pharika's Mender from our pack is great here. This card tells me that she is going to be reanimating dead things and artifacts. Let's combine that, in this room, there will be statues of fallen warriors who succumbed to Hythonia's Gaze. The gorgon here, Pharika's Mender will reawaken them by weaving magic from the green flames around the room. 
2. The South Western Cavern: This could be a large snake nest similar to the ones shown in the card above named "Viper's Kiss".
3. The Central Chamber: This is where Hythonia is. This will be a shrine room to Pharika, the God of Affliction. 
4. The Eastern Chamber: Treasure Room: Have the northern entrance be a secret entrance but an obvious exit. For loot, we can add some gold based on the system you are using and the appropriate level, as for items I will open a few more packs and see what we get. 
   

              Prowler's Helm: A helm that casts Pass Without Trace once per day.

              God's Willing: Once per day, at dawn, you roll a d20 and store the number in the sword. As a reaction, you can replace the result on any d20 roll by you or against you in combat. 

This easily gives us 1 to 3 sessions worth of material. From here they will travel to Akros and go from there!

- Daniel