# Psion's game day plots



## Psion (Feb 25, 2002)

_If you are in my Trinalia campaign run in southern Maryland, SHOO! There are MAJOR spoilers hereafter and you WILL ruin several surprises for yourself._

Okay, this thread is a spin off of the thread in the general forum:

http://www.enworld.org/messageboards/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5133

Basically, my players are trying to plan an extended weekend of gaming, and I would like to plan ahead and make it special.

Right now, my campaign is at a juncture where the players have been bombarded with lots of recent events that can lead them in a number of different directions. A recent battle that did not go well for the players had the following results:


Prince Greyhawk, the exiled elven prince that some of the PCs call leige, has been kidnapped; he teleported out of the battle, only to have the teleport intercepted by a psion with _redirect teleport_. Drakar (see below) was responsible for this, but ultimately the prince will end up in the hands of Lerendia, the nation that he was exiled from. The psion-autocrats of Lerendia overthrew the royal family in a bloody coup. Lerendia is allied with Drakar, and made a bargain with them to capture Prince Greyhawk while he was meeting with the King they intended to assassinate.
King Isiana Thindara, the last righteous ruler of the Suertrea bloodline, was permanently slain. The Suertrea bloodline is said, by prophecy, to be that which will always hold sway over the Aborian people (a human culture). This bodes ill, as the only two remaining members of the Suertrea bloodline are members of the Drakarian imperial family.
The PCs faced a beholder construct (beholder with magical construct template from BoEM applied). Little do they know at this point that this beholder construct comes from another world, one which the local culture originally came from. The people fled through a gate to the current world 1000 years ago when there was a "magical apocolyptic war" (called the Chaos War) on the old world. Two of the PCs have the keys to enter this old gate (in the form of magical tatoos, hence the keys are not transferable... well they are, but that is a long story...); a third NPC also had a key to this gate. This NPC WAS friendly to the PCs, but she got _mind seeded_ by an evil psion and now works for Drakar, my resident opressive evil empire. They mounted expiditions to the old world to recover artifacts of the Chaos Wars. This problem will continue to mount until the players decide to do something about it, as they are the only ones that can.


Now, with the current setup, the players are forced to decide which path they will go down... this will probably be spelled out for them in a prophecy by a prophetess they have just saved.


_Continue pursuing their old nemesi, the Arcane Alliance_ - The party's major villain to this point has been the Arcane Alliance, a cabal of wizards bent on establishing wizards as an upper class. I want to taper off this plotline for a while as I refocus the campaign more on Drakar and their foibles. However, one of the hurdles I mentioned I might set the party up to acheive during the game weekend is the opportunity to eliminate an old nemesis. Their most hated nemesis is a female summoner named Galea, so I may have to work up a chance for them to cross paths.
_Free Prince Greyhawk_ - This will be priority number one for some of the players, thoug in reality the next too goals are really more important for the state of the world. I had planned on having the players set of a revolution that will will start the fall of the Autocracy in Lerendia and eventually restore Prince Greyhawk to his throne. Two of the PCs in a Bloodguard in service of Prince Greyhawk, and one of them was an orphan that did not now his parents, who remain mysterious to him. I had been thinking on making one or both of his parents a member of an order that made the ultimate sacrifice to save the Greyhawk family and maintain the fight against autocrats, but over the years, he has been slowly twisted towards evil.
_Deal with the war machines_ - The war machines are going to be a big problem for the PCs' homeland... and all free races, really. They will have to deal with it. This will involve them travelling back through the gate to the world that Drakar is getting these things from and stop them somehow. I am a little fuzzy on this one, and would like to leave several options open to the players. The old world is just recovering from the war that happened a thousand years ago, and the ice age it caused is slowly coming to an end.
_Find a solution to the problem triggered by the King's Death_ This is going to be a doozy. The king is dead; this mean in the mind of many that Drakar will win their fight... and it certainly looks that way considering the above. However, someone will suggest a solution. The previous good regent, Ariel, was rumored to have obtained immortality. However, she was last seen when she forced the avatar of Idan (Drakar's deity) through a gate and closed it behind her. Many presumed her dead. However, someone will unearth a clue that will reveal that she indeed acheive her quest for immortality, and she may yet live. If she can be found, this will give new hope to the people. The players will have to retrace the steps of her quest for immortality, and face some hazards along the way. They will eventually be drawn into my campaign's orient, and learn that she has become immortal through internal alchemy, and that after being slain, she will rise again. However, her new form will have to awaken, something that will not happen for the first 16 years or so of her new life. However, once that happens she will have all of her memory and power back. And the timing is just about right, the party will so realize that the Queen's reincarnated form is someone they already know...

Now this has loads of possibilities, and what it seems like will happen is that they will start with 2, get deflected to 3, then to 4, and then resolve 4 and work their way back down the chain.

Where they will be in a month (when this game is likely to happen) I don't know... but I'll probably have a better idea after next week. However, what I am looking for now is ideas for activities highlighted in the other thread appropriate for a major turning point game day.

Any thoughts?


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## Oogar (Feb 25, 2002)

I saw your post in the general forum, and thought I might share a thought about a comic relief moment.

Make an NPC insane.

If it is an enemy, the PC's get a chance to see a very frightening whacko that could be very dangerous. But it can set up several little gags that are within the situation.

If it is an ally or neutral, there can be a sub plot about helping them. Or even saving them from their own actions. But depending on the insanity it could be rather funny. That poor fellow who is convinced that the gnomes are out to get him.....


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## Chimera (Feb 26, 2002)

I should steal those tag lines...

What, if anything, is the relationship between the Arcane Alliance and Drakar?  Perhaps Galea can be going to them, whether friend or enemy (deal with the devil) to get help against the party.  Especially if the PCs have been stomping on the AA.


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## Psion (Feb 26, 2002)

*Re: Re: Psion's game day plots*



			
				Chimera said:
			
		

> *What, if anything, is the relationship between the Arcane Alliance and Drakar?*




They have cut a couple of deals, and basically have acted as mercenaries in order to further their own goals. In they end they probably can't trust each other; each pictures a new world order with themselves at the top. However, the arcane alliance is smaller, but has some talented individuals. This makes them great mercenaries, if relucant ones, as they would rather be pursuing their own goals.


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## Chimera (Feb 26, 2002)

Shooting from the hip again...

If the Arcane Alliance becomes aware of the War Machines and their potential, would they not seek out the same powerul artifacts and machines?  Hey, "we" are not going to sit still while the stupid "good" guys and those Drakar b@stards get their hands on our doom, are we?  No!  This is an arms race, and we need to get our hands on those things too!

Perhaps if Galea shows up with more constructs, the PCs will get the idea that they should put a stop to this kind of thing.


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## Psion (Feb 28, 2002)

Chimera said:
			
		

> *If the Arcane Alliance becomes aware of the War Machines and their potential, would they not seek out the same powerul artifacts and machines?  Hey, "we" are not going to sit still while the stupid "good" guys and those Drakar b@stards get their hands on our doom, are we?  No!  This is an arms race, and we need to get our hands on those things too!*




Good point... but that sounds like a setup for an uncomfortable alliance more than a confrontation; perhaps she will try to convince the party that Drakkar must be stopped, with secret plans to snatch the goods for herself. Which is worth considering. The uncomfortable alliance with Galea would be something that the party would loathe right now...

And Galea probably knows that. She is a summoner, though. Perhaps she can send some summoned lackeys to do her dirty work, and I'll leave it to the players to figure out who is behind this.

In the past, I have already had a turncoat within the Arcane Alliance -- a spectral loremaster named Sigrid -- help the PCs because he fears that the Alliance's plot with Drakar will eventually turn against them... which is a valid concern. But he has hidden his connections with the party from the rest of the alliance, so if I use him, it has to be in the context of what the whole alliance knows he knows. However, in the back of my mind, he is the perfect go between, because in order for Drakar to pass they gate, they would have had to have defeated its Ghost-mage guardian. As a spectral loremaster, he would be the one to call on to speak with the guardian.

Anyways, thanks for the feedback! Still chewing on this one...


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## Psion (Mar 3, 2002)

Okay, update time for anyone still listening and/or willing to contribute:

Last game, I gave the players their options and they followed a few other leads that pointed them in the direction of the gate to the ice age world. For more info on the ice age world I am planning, see my post on the whereabouts forum:

http://www.enworld.org/messageboards/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5498

Which is the "deal with the war machines" plot.

I may end up playing several sessions before we end up with that, but I'm still not sure when this "game day" will be, so what I am going to start doing is working up a backlist of adventure ideas so when it happens, I can be ready.

With that in mind, the activities for next week will start out with the party venturing into the ley line nexus that contains the gate. The party has a magic amulet which they (correcly) beleive contains the spirit guardian of the gate, that was trapped by Drakar to allow them to use the gate.

The party discovered last week that the third NPC is somehow under the control of Drakar by speaking to fellow prisoners that they released. She was imprisoned with the other prisoners, and was visited by a psion who used some effect on her. A week later, the guards came, let her out, and she assisted Drakar of her own accord.

When they release the spirit, he will reveal some facts about the gate. The gate was made to accomodate a lot, and Drakar this. They have already returned with some war machines, but he will allude to the fact that they are greater war machines and other artifacts still to be had. In all likelihood, when the PCs enter the gate, they will have a few objectives.

Their primary objective will probably be to neutralize the mind seeded NPC... she is the key to the whole plot.

However, even if they succeed at this, Drakar has already escaped with several war machines, and the players may think of or be nudged into finding a foil or counter to this menace by further exploration.

Drakar knows that the mind seeded elf is the key to their plan, so they guard her well. That said, this may fall down to a tactical scenario as they players try to outmanuever Drakar, guess what they are doing, and try to evade whatever machinions they activate.

Hopefully, there will be an exploration and diplomacy aspect to it as the players need to get information from the locals and possibly allies against Drakar.

Oh, one other thing, regarding Galea. While reading the MotP, I was inspired as to a very interesting plot regarding her true nature while reading the Manual of the Planes... perhaps she is a mirror of a true galea that was slain in a mirror plane. The true galea was the betrothed of a knight that I have destined to become a betrayer in my current campaign; he too is actually a mirror creature. They player's digging into the past will reveal this past and bring to the fore the NEXT stage of the campaign after this three-part campaign comes to an end. So I will be putting Galea on the back burner for the time being, and she won't be part of the game day (unless it REALLY gets delayed).


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## Psion (Mar 18, 2002)

Okay. Game day is this weekend, and I have to pull it all together.

I haven't done much work on it since last time I worked on this thread, but as of last Friday, the situation is this:

Most of the stuff I talked about in the last thread has happened. The party learned that Drakar was up to something, and was grabbing war machines from another world. They tromped into the ley line nexus and found a Drakarian camp stationed outside the obelisk that contains the gate. The defeated the Drakarian guards, and where able to get some information from the freed prisoners and the freed ghost guardian of the obelisk. They find that one of the three people who have the keys to the gate has been dominated by Drakar somehow, and they went through the gate looking for something. They also notice three stone spheres stacked on the local side of the gate.

The party decided to pursue them. On the other side of the gate was an ancient elven city entombed in a sheet of ice. They defeated the guards an a fiendish minion of the Drakarian's dark deity. They explored the ancient elven city and:

found reference to artifacts in the city
found an ancient vault with soul magic designed to defend the city
the city is infested by demons; they fight a few
a ghost of a Dark Minstrel who saw the city fall wreaks havoc. He possesses the body of one party member and activates a soul magic (see BoEM II) spell that gets rid of the demons (good) and shuts the gate back to their homeworld (bad). They defeat the ghost, but he will probably return.
by means of a divinatory soul magic spell, the party uncovers a few facts, like the fact that the stone spheres that they discovered were eggs for lithomorphs, living floating mountains. This scares them. They also discover that the next nearest gate is in the hold of dwarves to the south (these are the psionic dwarves I discuss in the above linked thread.)
They discover a floating skyship under Drakar's control but manned by creatures called Asherake (see Bastion press' minions'; they are basically brutal flying slavers). They defeat the remaining Drakarians and asherake, and find a scroll protected by warding magic, and free some slaves that can pilot the ship and provide them with information.

That was last time. The scroll will be sort of a situation report that will provide major clues to what drakar is up to. I wrote this up earlier totally ad hoc and I am using it as the basis for my plans for the campaign day.

The scroll contains hints to the following facts.

The drakarians have excavated what they call the "Floating Mountains" (the lithomorphs) and have established a base on one of them. *(Adventure idea 1: The party confronts the Drakarian base to get more information and/or eliminate the threat)*
The supply of available war machines in the floating mountains is exhausted, but the report indicates that their research indicates more can be found out a place called the City of the Golem. The city of the golem is currently under the control of a Lich Kobold Sorcerer. (City of Golems/Kobold lich idea taken from bastion press' Villains.) _*(Adventure idea 2: The party goes to the city of golems to get their own warships or stop the Drakarians from doing so.)*_
The Drakarians are after even more powerful creatures, Kaiju per the recent dragon. Their plans for controlling the Kaiju involve tracking down ancient demons and wresting a secret procedure they used during the chaos wars to dominate Kaiju from them by infusing the creature with demon blood. The demons primary stronghold and leader was destroyed in the war, but three demon lords remain in a place called the pit of souls. Drakar is travelling there to get the procedure. *(Adventure Idea 3: Go to the pit of souls and stop Drakar from either freeing the demons or getting their secrets.)*
The explorations on the floating mountains uncover a mage that is experimenting with machines. The letter indicates that the psion inquisitor was able to dominate the mage and that he has mastered a technique that will allow drakar to create half machines that can be bent to their will; the inquisitor beleives that this technique is generally useful, but it may be possible to apply the procedure to a kaiju if the demon blood technique does not work. _*(Adventure Idea 4: The party goes through a tweaked version of Kambranex's Machinations in Dungeon #91)*_
The Drakarians know that the gate in the ancient elven city is too small to accomodate the Kaiju. They mention two other gates, one guarded by the psionic dwarves, and another one left anonymous, which is actually at the site of some of the PCs anscestor's kingdom, and is a path through the plane of shadow. _*(Adventure Idea [*]Join forces with the Dwarves to repel the Drakarians)(Adventure Idea 6: Uncover the secret of the other gate to make it back to their home world, and in the process they may uncover some ancient history of their own world that will segue into the next adventure.)*_

I'll put up the letter as I found it. Those are the basic ideas; I am looking for some ways to flesh this all out before Friday. PLEASE HELP ME!


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## Nightfall (Mar 21, 2002)

Well to help out, while the City of Golem is one place they are looking, in a far distant part, buried MILES beneath the earth, a very AMBIOUS illithid has hit upon an incredible idea. Fusing his own body and soul with that of an automaton so that he can gain control over other automani(sp). He's currently trying to persuade the relucent Kobold lich to let him experminent on a few of his creations. 

Meanwhile, the Arcane Alliance, in an effort to both strengthen their position as well as help in stopping the possible invasion by Dakar, have hired a new recruit and his fellows. Rickon Taleason, a necromancer(prohibited school, abjuration)/shadow adept/animator, hails from an alternate prime, which has ties/touches both the negative material plane as well as the plane of shadow. There he has successful subjugated the few remnants of living society into an orderly mass that serves his whims as well as guards his borders from incursion by otherworldly forces. He came to this world because of the Arcane Alliance's offer to help in giving him certain rare compontents that will help in his greatest acheivement, true immortality. That and the fact they need him to help organize troops. His second in commands are the fearsome yet beluging Talia Shroon, a fighter/cleric/unfailing whose knowledge of things both military and divine have helped to keep Rickon in power as well as strengthen her own resolve, to be his forever no matter the cost. His other follower is a much more gruesome yet powerful creature, the tannruuk barbarian/Fist of Grummsh/Foe Hunter called only Harm. Harm himself commands an impressive array of living and unliving troop of orcish descent. They were original just foreign travelers, hunting in the distant etheral, until they came to Rickon's world. There they became elite troops, ready to fight no matter the cost. Now Rickon looks to learn more about automati (they are cheap and easy to maintain compared to humans, especially the undead kind). He hopes to snatch away any chance Drakron has of gaining dominance, since he feels only those of arcane strength deserve some measure of rule and authority. 

Finally, deep in the desolate ice fields, a long forgotten evil, a gelugon and his unholy spawn, a half fiend/white dragon, a half fiend/frost worm, and a dozen or so of fiendish dire polar bears, awaken, hoping to find a way back into Hell, since they were cast out for failure in some service to Hell.  

That help any?


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## Psion (Mar 21, 2002)

Whoa? A response! Cool!



			
				Nightfall said:
			
		

> *Well to help out, while the City of Golem is one place they are looking, in a far distant part, buried MILES beneath the earth, a very AMBIOUS illithid has hit upon an incredible idea. Fusing his own body and soul with that of an automaton so that he can gain control over other automani(sp). He's currently trying to persuade the relucent Kobold lich to let him experminent on a few of his creations. *




Have you read the Dungeon adventure I referred to above? The main villain there is a character who has placed his soul in a shield guardian. Probably too much overlap there.



> *
> Rickon Taleason, a necromancer(prohibited school, abjuration)/shadow adept/animator,*




Animator?



> *
> Talia Shroon, a fighter/cleric/unfailing*




Unfailing?

Are these classes from Hollowfaust (which I don't have?)

Anyways, that is something to think on for later, but I really think the arcane alliance is going to be off stage for a while. Are these characters from your campaign, perchance?



> *
> Finally, deep in the desolate ice fields, a long forgotten evil, a gelugon and his unholy spawn, a half fiend/white dragon, a half fiend/frost worm, and a dozen or so of fiendish dire polar bears, awaken, hoping to find a way back into Hell, since they were cast out for failure in some service to Hell.*




Nasty. I ran a frost worm against them last session (I guess I should have mentioned that in my last post.) It almost killed them when they first met it and they ran away... those things are nasty. However, they came back and the bard charmed it, and they used it to dig a way to one of the under-ice chambers in the frozen elven city.

Right now my focus is more on demons. Devils serve Drakarian priests, but if they players enter the Pit of Souls, they will be struggling with demons.

Thanks for the input!


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## Nightfall (Mar 22, 2002)

First off, NP Psion/Alan. I'm glad I could TRY to help.

If you REALLY want evil outsiders, then I'd suggest using a few blade demons, followed up with Leonine demons as shock troops/front liners. Course since you SAID devils, Legions automatically comes off the top of my head, so probably instead what you SHOULD try is that the Witch of the Damned (the one with the big cabal of witches) is helping out, by having a couple of her high preistesses summoning and calling devils of all stripes. Iron Devils would definately work to your avantage.  Still might be something to add. Demons I can do. 

My idea, there's a HUGE chuck of ice and snow where locust demons breed, since they don't care for WHERE they hail. They are looking for a way to send their spawn forth and despoil and ravage as much verdant wildlife as they can find. Plus they have some help from a colony of Milicend(sp) (Fungi people), that are looking for better place to settle. Also, the attention Drakar is getting from Hell, also draws the ire of one of the Demon Prince's underlings, Graz'zt shamaness Night Hag who wants to prove her worth to him. So she's been keep taps on the Blood War and of course many different primes. So now she's involved, via some low level operatives, in subverting much of the arcane power of Drakar as possible. That help any? 

As for the Animator/Unfailing, yes they are prestige classes from Hollowfaust. (I know I'm pushing this hard my friend but I cannot say ENOUGH good things about Hollowfaust.)  But no they aren't.  I just created them on the fly, BUT they came into my head rather quickly, so they have life to them, as I picture Rickon as kind matured vetern spellcaster with the qualities of a Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony mixed with a touch of enlightened despotism added in. 

I don't get Dungeon, so no I didn't know that. But since you already mentioned that, perhaps the Kobold cannot sustain the rescepticle any more. Thus you might have a wild uncontrolled shield guardian to content with along with uncontrolled automani too. 

Anyway, I hope SOME of my ideas take root for you. Good luck tomorrow.


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## Psion (Mar 22, 2002)

Nightfall said:
			
		

> *If you REALLY want evil outsiders, then I'd suggest using a few blade demons, followed up with Leonine demons as shock troops/front liners.
> *




Hmmm... I hadn''t thought to much about CC2... I might have to dig it out for this. I had forgotten what a nice resource it is for fiends. Mainly because when I was using it a lot, the fiends therein where beyond the abilities of my party (I once faced them with a despair, and it was quite a showstopper.)

That said, there are places for both to get worked in... it's just that the "devil in the wild thing" itself didn't work too well. "Devils: Lackeys" and "Demons: Wild Threats" is the prevailing situation.



> *
> My idea, there's a HUGE chuck of ice and snow where locust demons breed, since they don't care for WHERE they hail. They are looking for a way to send their spawn forth and despoil and ravage as much verdant wildlife as they can find.*




That could work with my pit of souls thing.



> *As for the Animator/Unfailing, yes they are prestige classes from Hollowfaust. (I know I'm pushing this hard my friend but I cannot say ENOUGH good things about Hollowfaust.)*




Be that as it may, my campaign is in the "undead downswing" segment right now. The players grappled with undead before, and soon will again, but the time isn't quite right yet.



> *I don't get Dungeon, so no I didn't know that. But since you already mentioned that, perhaps the Kobold cannot sustain the rescepticle any more. Thus you might have a wild uncontrolled shield guardian to content with along with uncontrolled automani too. *




Actually, I know I have thrown a lot of elements out here, but the Kobold doesn't have anything to do with the shield guardian. The reason I dimissed you mind flayer is that it was too similar to the shield guardian scenario that I already had in the works.

Basically, this is the situation with the constructs, the kobolds, and the shield guardian.

Drakar has dominated the Asherake and used their flying ships to excavate weapons stored in the flying mountains that once belonged to an ancient pact of wizards called the skylords. They found all of the operational weapons/constructs there, but are looking for more. While there, they discovered two things:
1) They discovered the shield guardian, dominated him, and discovered that he was performing experiments that they could exploit. They put him to work trying to create a means to turn the kaiju into half machines so that they can use it as a means of controlling them if the effort to secure the demonblood ritual from the pit of souls fails, and as a sinister technique they can use even without the kaiju.
2) They discovered evidence that there exists a city of golems that may have more contructs that they can take control of.

Anyways, thanks for you help!


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## Nightfall (Mar 24, 2002)

Np Psion. I hope it goes well.  I just keep CC2 close by because it's something to keep in mind IF you need a monster that not only your players don't know much about (I've yet to show ANYONE CC1 and CC2 in any real depth. Plus they have horrid short term memories! ) those are the books I use. I'd love though to hear about the Despair. That's one I've yet to use.


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## Psion (Mar 25, 2002)

Nightfall said:
			
		

> *I'd love though to hear about the Despair. That's one I've yet to use. *




Well, there's not too much to tell. I let a cleric summon one. I am used to my party being able to shrug off any barage of spells (or special abilities) that you care to throw at them. However, it seems like will saves are their weak spots. The despair pretty much nullified multiple party members in a fight with some high level NPCs, which almost turned the tide of the battle.


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## Nightfall (Mar 25, 2002)

Well I hope your gaming session went well. Any comments or questions you might have for other sessions? I'd be happy to bounce my ideas off you.


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## Psion (Mar 25, 2002)

Nightfall said:
			
		

> *Well I hope your gaming session went well. Any comments or questions you might have for other sessions? I'd be happy to bounce my ideas off you. *




Well it might be worthwhile to post a micro summary of what actually did happen.

The party boarded the ship, and discovered the letter that planted most of the seeds. One of the slaves on board mentioned a creature near his hometown that could help them with locating some of these ancient lairs.

The party went south through the major mountain range of the setting and one of the lookouts notices a mountain hovering in the air. They go to investigate and notice more of these floating mountains growing out of peaks. They also spot a valley beneath them with a flurry on inhabited floating mountains in it.

The party sends their invisible elven rogue with boots of flying to investigate. She quickly discovers that the Asherake and the Drakarians have pretty well scoured these mountains and this seems to be their base of operations. The rogue retreats.

The party continues bearing south in search of the dwarven keep that they learned of when they used the soul magic in the vault of the high mages in the elven city. They find it, but the Dwarves initially mistake them for Asherake, and are on the defensive. They eventually convince the dwarves they are not allied with the Ahserake and learn that the portal that they seek is, in fact, within an ancient human temple that was carved out of one of the mountain peaks.

They explore the cursed temple, and complete adventure idea 6 as described above. They explore the temple, figure out that there are seven shrines dedicated to various deities, many of which have helpful magic. The paladin has an intelligent sword inspired flashback that relates how the temple was lost -- a paladin slew a lich and took its phylactery, and returned it to the temple as a sign of his deed. However, the lich brought death and mayhem to the temple and corrupted it. The paladin said a prayer to his deity that his mistake would not endanger the world, and embedded his sword in the altar, which became a holy ward that trapped the lich within. The catch was that if the players took the sword, the lich would be released... and it just turns out that this lich is a clerical lich devoted to none other than Idan, the evil deity of Drakar. Letting him get loose would be a bad idea.

The party solved the riddle and did a very good job of making sure that the lich was erradicated (the lich was a 13th level cleric / 4th level warpriest half-fiend lich.) They took out his physical form, but had enough sense to check to see if the magic holding the lich there was still in force... and it was. It turned out that the lich's phylactery was in the hilt of a sword the party found, and he hoped that would be his key to escaping the temple. But they managed to destroy the phylactery.

Anyways, after that, they found that the gate they sought was the arena of the temple, but it required a ritual by a priest of one of the attached shrines to open. This seemed to satisfy them, and they moved on to find such a priest (they didn't think about the fact that this in no way impeded Drakar's intent to use the gate... if they need to transport the kaiju/pantaguron using this gate, they still can.)

After that, they teleported back to the ship, and accompanied the free slaves back to their homeland to see if they can get more information. They parked the ship, and moved on to the village where the kid mentioned the creature that could help them. It was an Amberjuron, an ultra-intelligent owl with a memory like a steel trap; it filled them in on some missing facts about the pit of souls and the Kaiju/Pantaguron

When they went back to the ship, it was gone. One of the remaining crewmembers was on the make (and is, in truth, a Verman Corrupter from Mythic Races) and tried to sell it.

The party didn't know what was up. They headed to the local city, something which I did not expect them to do. They saw two airships (one which looked suspiciously like their own, but they didn't make the connection) moored floating next to a tower on cliffs overlooking the city. They started to look to see if they could find a priest that would help them, and ran into a Drakarian guard in town who recognized him. They chased him down and got some information out of him.

So they teleported to the ship and where surprised to see one of their former crewmember talking to a robed man holding a staff with two fairies improsoned in a container on the top. The paladin detected evil on the robed man and his staff, so the party charged him. The former crewmember turned around and stabbed the guard.

(The robed man was a biomancer, a prestige class with a penchant for using living creatures as components; he was carrying a staff of frost that used frost faeries as fuel. I meant to make this class but didn't have time; it turned out not to matter as they aced him before he could act.)

They where suspicious of their former crewmember (and rightly so). The plopped him on their rug of truth that they found in the shrine of a god of honor and questioned him. He explained that after they left, the Drakarians arrived and took over the ship; he played along for his survival. The party bought it.

In truth, the crewman (as I mentioned) is a Verman and was offering to sell the ship to the biomancers; he made his save versus the zone of truth effect. The other ship the party saw their WAS a Drakarian / Asherake ship, but the Biomancers rebuked their advances (unbeknownst to the party.) But the other ship had since departed.

The party gathered a crew and headed towards the pit of souls. That's about where we put up.

I'm thinking when they get to the pit of souls, I'll try to make it a race against a similar Drakarian team to get the books from the pit of souls, somewhat like Indiana Jones in the Raiders of the Lost Arc trying to get the arc before the Nazis did. I was going to rob some encounters from the _Demon God's Fane_ (considering my distaste for time travel, I will never run it as it) and throw your Demon Locust idea in for encounters.

If they party is unlucky, they may even run into one of the three imprisoned demon lords that live there. After beating a lich, I get the idea that I am going easy on them.


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## Nightfall (Mar 25, 2002)

Yeah... I'm a little suprised that Lich didn't at LEAST take down a party member or two. A regular lich probably not...but THAT one.

Well what you could for the imprisoned demon lords, could be a major servant of Orcus, thus maybe a Death Knight might be in order. (I admit, I like the present version of Death Knight though Scott's one for Necromancy was pretty good too) Just make sure to have blackguard/divine champion and maybe even toss half fiend for kicks. 

I'm glad you liked my Demon Locust idea. I do wish Armies of the Abyss was out. I think then you'd have a better resource for Demons. At least IMHO.


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## Psion (Mar 26, 2002)

Nightfall said:
			
		

> *Yeah... I'm a little suprised that Lich didn't at LEAST take down a party member or two. A regular lich probably not...but THAT one.*




Yeah... the party had to bash down a wall to get to him, and he was able to get shield of faith, divine rainment, and unholy aura off. He did get a horrid wilting off, and cast a mass suggestion that almost had one member of the party grabbing the sword that would release him. Fortunately, the party rogue was thinking on her feet that night and made an illusion of the sword to quickly defuse the situation.



> *
> Well what you could for the imprisoned demon lords, could be a major servant of Orcus, thus maybe a Death Knight might be in order.*




Actually, I already know who they serve (or rather, served, as the demon was disperse long ago), but originally, death knights where servants of Demogorgon.



> * (I admit, I like the present version of Death Knight though Scott's one for Necromancy was pretty good too)*




I like the one in the LGJ, though I have my own version made to be usable at lower levels that I am pretty fond of.



> *I do wish Armies of the Abyss was out. *




Oh, so do I.


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## Nightfall (Mar 26, 2002)

I'm very aware that the orginal Death Knights of Oerth served Demogorgon. I just know a few though that have some ties to Orcus.  But you are right, the LGJ version done by Darrin Drader was pretty sweet. I'd love to see your version though. It sounds pretty neat.


Yeah well Armies is just one of MANY books I've love to have in my collection just now. Unfortunately being broke doesn't provide well for fixing up a collection.  Oh well.


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## Psion (Mar 27, 2002)

Nightfall said:
			
		

> *I'd love to see your version though. It sounds pretty neat.
> *




Well, when I conceived it, it was to make lower level Death Knight villains playable, inspired by an old (2e) Dragon article:

DEATH KNIGHT (template)

The death knight is a thankfully rare form of undead. It is said that the mantle of the death knight is an enticement and a curse used by great powers of chaos and evil (demon princes and evil deities) in the corruption of bastions of virtue such as paladins, and rewards for their most trusted thanes.

The death knight appears as a gaunt skeletal form – not unlike a lich – though such a creature is almost always clad in the armor it owned in life, save that the armor is almost always black, as if blasted and charred by some great heat. The eyes of the death knight gleam from within its helmed skull like glowing orange embers.

CREATING A DEATH KNIGHT

"Death Knight" is a template that can be added to any humanoid ex-paladin (fallen) or blackguard of at least 5th level (referred to hereafter as the "character"). The character's type changes to "undead." It uses all the character's statistics and abilities except as noted here.

Hit Dice: Increase to d12
Speed: Same as the character.
AC: The death knight has +5 to its natural armor bonus.

Special Attacks: A death knight retains all the character's special attacks and also gains those listed below. Saves have a DC of 10 + 1/2 death knight's HD + death knight's Charisma modifier unless noted otherwise.

Fear Aura (Su): A death knight continuously radiates fear in a 5-foot radius; anyone coming within this radius must make a Will save or be affected as though by fear as cast by a sorcerer of the death knight's level. Once a creature makes a saving throw versus this effect, they cannot be affected by it again for 24 hours.

Spell-Like Abilities (Sp): A death knight with an intelligence or wisdom of 8 or better gains a number of spell like abilities, according to its hit dice or level. Abilities are cumulative. All abilities are as if cast by a sorcerer of level equal to the Death Knight's level/HD, and are usable once per day except as noted below.

Level:		Abilities:
5-6		Dispel magic (2/day)
7-8		Fireball
9-10		Wall of Ice
11-12		Power Word Stun
13-14		Power Word Blind
15-16		Symbol (pain or fear only)
17-18		Power Word Kill
19+		Summon Monster IX (fiends only)

Rebuke Undead: If the death knight could channel positive or negative energy in life (including as an ex-paladin), they have the ability to rebuke (and command) undead at the same level that they turned or rebuked undead in life.

Special Qualities: A death knight retains all the character's special qualities and gains those listed below, and also gains the undead type (see page 6, Monster Manual).

Detection (Su): A death knight can see invisibility and detect magic continuously.

Darkvision (Ex): Range 60 feet.

Turn Resistance (Ex): A death knight has +4 turn resistance.

Spell Resistance (Ex): A death knight gains SR equal 12 + its level/HD. If the level check to penetrate this spell resistance fails by 10 or more, or a natural 1 is rolled on the dice for the check, the spell is turned as if affected by spell turning spell.

Nightmare Steed: If the character has sufficient paladin level to have the special mount ability, or sufficient blackguard level to have the fiendish servant ability, the death knight may use the ability to call a nightmare instead.

Saves: Same as the character

Abilities: A death knight gains a +4 to Strength and a +2 to Wisdom and Charisma, but being undead, has no Constitution score.

Skills: Death knights gain a +8 racial bonus to Intimidate, Sense Motive, and Spot checks. Otherwise same as the character.

Feats: Same as the character
Climate/Terrain: Any land and underground
Organization: Solitary, Gang (2-5), or Retinue (1-2 Death Knights, plus 11-20 skeletons, zombies, ghouls, ghasts, or wights)
Challenge Rating: Same as the character +2
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always chaotic evil
Advancement: By character class

I was thinking about redoing it taking some of the LGJ's version of the template into account.


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## Nightfall (Mar 27, 2002)

Yeah I was impressed that Darrin did add that stipulation for character level AND for ability score. Not everyone does that with a template. 

So I hope the DL people didn't piss in your soup over the stuff they wrote about liking DL.


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