I'm running a game at a weekend meet-up. We've got gaming from 4pm Friday to midnight Sunday, with breaks for food, drink, sleep and a brewery tour.
I've offered the group a choice of plots, and here's the one they've gone for. Now I need to flesh it out. Any brainstorming/ideas/etc. will be gratefully received!
(Note that the level is flexible: I can run this anywhere from 6 to 12, if necessary).
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New job is eating all my time. On hiatus.
Towns destroyed, holding defence, things being lost, slaughter everywhere, etcetera, etcetera.
In the defensive actions, players get more people for whoever they save/protect at the "main base"
Then at some defensive main base (fort, mages tower, etcetera) the party discovers a MacGuffin that will close the demon rifts.
Problem 1) Fighting to the Demon Rifts is going to be brutal, and your allies think it a hopeless cause.
A) Diplomacy: If you're sufficiently rousing/convincing, you can get people to come with you.
B) Go it alone: Fight through demon hordes as a party
C) Sneaky: Try to sneak
D) Give up, go live on your own ---> This leads to a neutralish-baddish ending
E) Hold defence and try to carve out life. ---> This leads to a bad ending
A-C are likely. If A, it's a war-trudge with allies holding off enemies as you get to the rift.
B) Similar, less enemies
C) Similar, more sneaking/running.
Problem 2) At the rift, your wizard/power figure/knowledgeable old guy reveals your MacGuffin won't work unless you find a special place inside the rift.
A) Your army flagrantly won't go inside the rift, if you have it. Sneaking becomes harder. Fights are harder, and resources are low. Sleeping outside the rift is suicide. If they try a time stop rest (extended Rope Trick is the best guess), let them; but if they win, they find their stronghold over-run with demons.
They either retreat or go in. See options D/E in first problem for retreat.
So they go into the Rift and battle their way through a flaming hostile demon environment. They find the portal, and a demon guarding it. Make it a demon famous for lying/deceit, if you can figure that out. Write his name into the lore of the world. "Thorsten Hoss, the prince of lies." The demon berates them, then stands aside to let them throw it into the Special place.
This indicates problem 3)
This doesn't work unless they also sacrifice someone with a pure heart, and kill Thorsten Hoss, the prince of lies.
They have to leave a party member behind, and chase down and kill Thorsten.
The party member that agrees to be sacrificed comesback as a pre-generated demon that has reason to be opposed to this invasion of the prime material plane, orchestrated by Thorsten. Does the party trust the demon and ally with demon against demon?
If yes, then they'll have a powerful ally. (If level 9, CR 8-10)
If no, they still have a chance at winning. The player gets readded as a weakened tortured soul trapped on this plane for some reason. Flesh out. (If level 9, level 6-8)
They eventually do sweet-ass-boss-battle with Thorsten Hoss after tracking him across hell itself. You can use the demon ally to start a "war across hell" theme where various demons battle around them.
They beat Thorsten, and the rift closes. Except now they can't get out.
They have to trust their demon ally to cast magic on them and port them out of the plane, which leads to Optional problem 4:
The demon doesn't teleport them to the prime material plane, the demon teleports them to the Celestial plane.
Which would be no big deal, except the Celestials watching this think that players are demon tainted, and want to kill them.
Some sort of trial goes on of the players actions. RP thing, not diplomacy thing; put a lot of emphasis on how cool people sound, not how strong they defend themselves. If players did "evilish" things, definitely bring them up. If all they did was reluctantly work with the demon, most or all should go free.
players that win at the trial get to go free
Players that lose at the trial get imprisoned in the celestial realm for a thousand years.
Which leads to Optional Problem 5:
The demons on the prime material plane were trapped there, and now have nothing to lose.
A profoundly convincing/holy party can get celestials to help.
Then you get to do closure and civilization rebuilding.
This campaign should not have a Paladin in it.
Some of the demon battles should be glossed over/hit and runs to save time.
Use a wide variety of demons. Make some up. Borrow from every PC game you can think of; Diablo 1-3, other games, etcetera.
Problem 3 can be actual closure.
Problem 4 can be actual closure.
Problem 5 can be actual closure.
If you are generating the characters, make sure you give them things well suited to demon fighting; holy weapons, fire resistance, etcetera.
If you are generating the characters, try for consistent power level.
If you are generating the characters, I'd give them a little more magic than typical, just for the demonwar theme.
Also, I just wrote this, and I think this is brilliant.
I'd give you RPXP but I'm all out for now, so here's a promise.
That's a truly excellent name for a villain. I'm so using it
Various logistical things that need working out:
Fitting it all in one weekend
Coming up with some backstory for the MacGuffin that makes it Not The One Ring
Coming up with some demon encounters that we can gloss over (don't want to run a dozen battles, but don't want to say "after a long week's march into the Blasted Lands, you arrive at the Rift. You've used 75% of your spells and HP.")
Convincing myself that I'm a good enough DM to pull this off!
As for the earlier "defence" stage of it, there's a really good wargaming section in one of the published modules I have, so I can use those ideas. Also Kingmaker for the army ideas.
This sounds sweeeet.
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New job is eating all my time. On hiatus.
You don't know your players very well, do you? It's a bunch of randoms more or less?
Recall that you can cut off at exactly the point they deliver the MacGuffin. They can go down in a blaze or Riddock-like-horror where thousands of demons start to slaughter them in rage at being trapped on their plane again. If you play it right it feels like the most heroic win ever.
That'll help the time thing.
Yeah, backstory for the MacGuffin is going to require you to write and think for a while.
For battles:
1) One at the camp
2) 1-2 retreating to the stronghold, +1 defending a small village perhaps, + 1-3 glossed over.
The glossed over ones:
A) You hear fighting at the edge of your military column. You sprint over, getting there two rounds later. You see the ripped shreds of some soldiers and a single demon 120 feet away, moving away. It has LAUGHTER IN ITS EYES MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
B) As above, but the soldiers win before you get there.
C) It's very few demons and a quick victory. The demons laugh as they die, knowing that they'll swiftly be returned to the battle through the rift. They care not of their losses.
Then;
1 significant battle at the stronghold
Then;
Moving to the demon portal
Lots of small, quick, wearing down battles; only 1 bigger one, probably at the end of the portal.
Depending on your group and how rules competent they are; I know my RL group, if I tell them I need to do something for a reason, they'll
1) Keep initiative
2) Be willing to do 1 minute timed turns
Especially for the "you obviously win this one battles."
Then big battle at portal, more wearing down in demon plane, then big battle at MacGuffin site.
Damn dude, I want to write and run this so much right now.
You don't know your players very well, do you? It's a bunch of randoms more or less?
<snip>
Depending on your group and how rules competent they are; I know my RL group, if I tell them I need to do something for a reason, they'll
1) Keep initiative
2) Be willing to do 1 minute timed turns
Especially for the "you obviously win this one battles."
They're good people; I've known them for 10 years, but we all live (at least) 2 hours apart so don't get together more than once a year. We mostly game via a chat system. Combat has always been slow: some of the players seem to need five minutes to look up "I shoot an arrow at it".
Also, I'm not a very experienced tabletop player/GM (due to the restrictions above).
Quote:
Then big battle at portal, more wearing down in demon plane, then big battle at MacGuffin site.
Damn dude, I want to write and run this so much right now.
Seriously? Then do it. Take the idea, run with it, and post an adventure summary on DnDOG. Have fun!
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New job is eating all my time. On hiatus.
They're good people; I've known them for 10 years, but we all live (at least) 2 hours apart so don't get together more than once a year. We mostly game via a chat system. Combat has always been slow: some of the players seem to need five minutes to look up "I shoot an arrow at it".
Hmmm...that's rough. If they're good people, can you say "I'll need the minor combats to be fast, please be reasonable?" or encourage people who are slower with their turn to take 1 option characters (TWF melee rogues; flank and roll the dice, scouts/rangers; "I shoot every turn until they die") sort of characters?
Lack of experience can be replaced by experience ********ting/public-speaking I've found, or heavy prepping.
This is so getting written up when I have time as an adventure.
Rifts (Demonic invasion; level 9)
This morning, you took your places at the head of your platoons. The armies of Siriand and Marrin lined up; the priests and wizards prepared the men for battle; and with a roar and a crash the armies charged home. You were injured in the melee, but fortunately for you your side (Marrin) was victorious. You awaken in the healers' tent, your wounds bandaged, to find something slaughtering the other wounded soliders. Though the battle is won, the war is not - yet something worse than war is coming.
This adventure is available for free use to anyone that wants it for any reason, though giving a shout out to CE2JRH of DNDOG for the original write up and HenryLockwood of DNDOG for the concept would be kinda nice.
Written for 3-8 adventurers from level 7-10
You will need this SRD entry extensively. http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/demon.htm
Some items are from the Magic Item compendium
Some spells are from the spell compendium.
Social note: This society is profoundly friendly to necromancers, and views them as holy priests of the dead, taking care of them, even if this involves animating them. Analysis of this social custom is impossible to understand (though a hint of it comes later). Necromancy is not intrinsically evil, and any spell tagged [necromancy [evil]] should be considered as neutral for the purpose of clerical alignment spell selection.
For faster, time sensitive games:
Fewer encounters, more encounters glossed over (instructions included).
No optional scenes (The Siriand Rear Guard, Justice in the Celestial Realms, Desperate Demons)
No Betrayer
Less treasure in army tent
For slower games where this “1 shot” can take 2 or 3 sessions:
Use optional scenes
Use Betrayer
If Betrayer stays in party after killing Hintari, Betrayer can reveal by destroying vial of tears.
Need to insert a dungeon to hunt down vial of tears then.
Use full army tent treasure list
The afterwards scene (Desperate Demons) can lead into a entire campaign.
This campaign should not have a Paladin in it.
Some of the demon battles should be glossed over/hit and runs to save time.
Use a wide variety of demons. Make some up. Borrow from every PC game you can think of; Diablo 1-3, other games, etcetera. I didn't specifically include much custom material, but it will make the adventure a lot more fun and real feeling.
Closure is great: give it. There are a lot of places you could cut off, but don't have to; scenes 6 and 7 are optional.
If you are generating the characters, make sure you give them things well suited to demon fighting; holy weapons, fire resistance, etcetera.
If you are generating the characters, try for consistent power level.
If you are generating the characters, I'd give them a little more magic than typical, just for the demonwar theme.
The men and women wake up to the sounds of slaughter, still wounded (everyone loses 1d20 hp). A soldier nearby screams in agony. A prayer to Pelor is shouted, and a flash of light comes from outside the tent, followed by the sound of flesh being ripped.
Marrin soldiers are running everywhere. One gets into the tent and says “Anyone capable of moving; demons are attacking! We need to run!” His arm and face is heavily burnt and he has a holy symbol of Pelor around his neck. This is High Priest Sokal.
High Priest Sokal: Fire and Sun; Pelor; Alignment: Neutral Good but Desperate and concerned about losing all of Civilization to the demons. Alignment should feel more “Neutral Desperate” than “Neutral Good.”
Level 11 Cleric: Str: 18. Dex: 12. Con: 14. Int: 13 Wis: 24. Cha: 16
HP: 66/75. AC: 10+10 (armor)+1 (dex) +4 (shield) +1 (natural) +2 (deflect) = 28/13/27. Saves: 10/5/15
Attack: +2 Holy flaming morningstar; +14/+9, 1d8+2d6 holy+1d6 fire+6 (or 17 damage against fire resist, 21 without fire resist)
6th: Fire Seeds (D), Bull's Strength, Mass, Summon Monster VI
5th: Flame Strike (D), Wall of Stone, Slay Living, Raise Dead.
4th: Fire Shield (D), Sending, Dismissal, Freedom of Movement, Deathward
3rd: Searing Light (D), Magic Vestement *2, Daylight, Dispel Magic, Prayer, Wind Wall
2nd: 1st, 0th, make up on spot. Has 6+1 2nd, 7+1 1st, and 6 0th.
Sokal is a good man, but frantically worried about civilization dying. As such, he's willing to sacrifice people to get others out alive; it's become a mode of existence; he never wants anyone to face danger and is always a fan of fleeing. He's also the senior military man alive.
In the sick tent, there are twenty men (including the PC's). Ten of them can move (including the PC's) but ten require assistance. Sokal wants to leave them to die.
If the PC's insist on taking the wounded men along, increase attack frequency slightly, due to number of wounded men. If they leave them, decrease attack frequency slightly. Wounded men that make it to Fort Joldin will be returned to fighting shape and join the army.
Sokal suggests that you all head to Fort Joldin, which is a days travel. Along the way are two towns, which Sokal wants to warn and levy a militia with; Farnsville and Kingstown.
Outside the tent, dretches run everywhere, fighting with soldiers. They are a non-threat to the PC's, who can generally take a single action to remove a dretch. (HP 13, AC 16, Dr 5/cold iron or good, immune electricity, resist acid/cold/fire 10)
On the army field is a Balor, chomping through fleeing soldiers. This should make the direction to run clear.
Near one of the tents of army servants and helpers are three vrocks, dancing. There are wounded men all around them. The dance ends the round they spot them, releasing a wave of noxious energy that kills all the wounded men. One of the vrocks will move to the party and attack. If the party fights, dretches should harass the soldiers or wounded with them. If the party flees, the vrock should get bored and attack nearby men. The party should be able to defeat the vrock, especially with Sokal's assistance.
The men flee, gathering up refugees from the army. As they crest a hill outside the battlefield, they see a massive rift, with demons of all shapes and sizes pouring out of it. From here, one party member also spots a tent that they know is filled with magical arms and armaments, both their own, and those stripped from enemy soldiers after the battle. It looks undisturbed, but will involve staying in this area longer to gather up.
Treasure will take 10 minutes. They should be continually harassed by demons, and Sokal will be incredibly annoyed at this delay.
The treasure is largely minor trinkets. If the PC's are geared with standard wealth, most of the items will prove useless to them, and many of the “useful” trinkets would be only minorly useful. The potions, wands and scrolls are predominantly lower level spells that would be a waste for a 7th+ character to use in combat. Remind them that they can spread this material around the army. This will make the army much tougher.
Unique Skullsmasher One end is simply +1, but the other end is +1 Ghost Touch Greater Undead Bane (+3+3d6 versus undead).
Unique: Might. +1 acid shortsword, provides +1 enhancement bonus to damage, acid resistance 5
Unique: Robes of the Evoker: +6 robes of armor which also provide spell focus: evocations
Unique: Amulet of Protection: energy resistance 5 to each, deflection +1, natural armor +1, and SR 11.
(3) a masterwork chain shirt, (2) +1 heavy steel shield, (2) +1 fullplate, (2) +1 chain shirt, +1 mithril buckler, a +1 buckler. +1 breastplate, +1 twilight leather armor, and a green dragonhide shield (large) restful crystal in a masterwork leather armor,
(4) +1 rapier, +1 greatsword, +1 club, +1 flaming morningstar, with a lesser pheonix ash threat crystal. +1 spell storing quarterstaff staff, Whip of Webs and a Viperblade, (2) +1 shortsword, an adamantine dagger, +1 morningstar with a least ice assault crystal , and a masterwork greatsword, +1 dagger and a +1 longsword.
Potions of: Dispel magic (self only), Protection from Energy, Summon Monster 3, Heroism, Displacement, Fly, 2 Haste, Magic Weapon, Greater, 3 potions of cure light wounds, a Potion of Lesser Restoration, a potion of shield of faith +3, an elixir of adamant blood,
Scrolls of: arcane scrolls of resist energy, identify, mage armor, shield, and expeditious retreat, scroll of teleport, scroll of haste, scroll of greater mage armor, scroll of slow, scroll of fireball, two arcane scrolls of CLW, a scroll of sleep, scrolls of orb of acid lesser, orb of electricity lesser, orb of ice lesser, orb of fire lesser, and orb of sound lesser, a scroll of shocking grasp, another pouch has a scroll of cure light wounds (divine), Scrolls of Magic Missile, Summon Monster 1, Mount, Nystul's Magic Aura, and Gust of Wind, Scorching Ray, Shatter..
Wands of: Wand of Identify (21 charges), A wand of Cure Light Wounds (11 charges), Wand of Burning Hands (CL 3, 22 charges), Wand of Magic Missile (CL 3, 18 charges), Wand of Shatter (CL 3, 11 charges), Wand of Fireball (CL 5, 15 charges). (12 charges), is a wand of shield (1st, 12 charges), a wand of grease (22 charges), a wand of lesser vigor (22 charges), Wand of Magic Missiles (CL 1, 47 charges), Wand of Flaming Sphere, 12 charges, wand of resist energy (11 charges),
Plus basically as much of the following as you feel like: If this is being run as a one-shot, go towards less loot, and the core only stuff.
Cloak of Resistance +1, amulet of natural armor +1, Arcane Theives Tools, a bracers of armor +1..
a ring of natural armor +1 that also has burning hands CL 1 3/day (DC 11).
+1 cloak of resistance, spellbook, +2 bracers of armor.,
Counterstrike Bracers, Helm of Wisdom +2, Phylactery of Faithfulness, Rod of Metamagic: Silent (Least), a pair of boots of landing, arcanists gloves, a chronocharm of the celestial wanderer, and a crystal of least underwater action, a Healing Belt, Pearl of Power 1st, and Muleback cords.
+3 Cloak of Resistance, Headband of Intellect +4, Amulet of Natural Armor +2, boots of mountain hammer (2d6, breaks dr), bracers of shield block (maneuver), and a least iron ward diamond. and a wink broach, and a soulvoid orb (MiC Pg 186) masterwork flute, drums of marching, a fiendslayer crystal least,
amulet of natural armor +1, horn of fog, amulet of teamwork, boots of jumping,
a crystal of glancing blows, lesser, a fiendslayer crystal, lesser, a gloves of manual prowess, a third eye clarity, a talisman of undead mastery,
It has Brooch of Avoidance, Caster's Shield, Hexbands, Gloves of the Uldra Savant, Orb of Mental Renewal, Domain Draught, Torc of the Titans, Scout's Headband, a Ring of Mystic Healing, a set of Bracers of Repulsion, Spellbook, bracers of armor +1, cloak of resistance +1, headband of intellect +2, rending gauntlets, crystal of return, greater, dragon mask, necklace of warning, pearl of power 1st, surcoat of valor. and a healing belt,
Bag of Tricks Gray, Hand of the Mage, pearl of power 1st, bracers of the entangling blast, crystal of arcane steel lesser, a dragon spirit amulet (pg 95), and a ring of four winds (pg 124),
a lesser lifedrinking crystal, headband of Sapphire Nightmare Blade pair of boots of Stone Bones.
Bracers of armor +1,
Headband of Moment of Perfect Mind.
The men finish their retreat. You have the PC's, Sokal, and about 100 soldiers. You move slowly, hassled by dretches, and the occasional Babau. Have them retreating army actually fight just 1 battle, and “gloss over” 4-5 battles to make it feel like they're being really harassed.
How to “gloss over” a battle:
A) You hear fighting at the edge of your military column. You sprint over, getting there two rounds later. You see the ripped shreds of some soldiers and a single demon 120 feet away, moving away. It has LAUGHTER IN ITS EYES MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
B) As above, but the soldiers win before you get there.
C) It's very few demons and a quick victory. The demons laugh as they die, knowing that they'll swiftly be returned to the battle through the rift. They care not of their losses.
When you get to the town of Farnsville, it is a smoking rubble. There are corpses everywhere, some half eaten. This is clearly the work of the demons. Sokal says that if you hurry, you might be able to beat the demons to Kingstowne.
When you get to Kingstowne, the first Dretch is there. As it dies, it laughs about how there is no way to evacuate the town of 500 before the demons get there in about an hour.
Sokal wants to abandon the town and take only the hardiest and strongest men to hold Fort Joldin. The young, the weak, get left to die.
If the PC's choose to defend the town they'll have to convince the soldiers and Sokal. This should be relatively easy. Scouts get sent out, militia is levied, and any defense preparations the party comes up with are followed. This town has a lumber mill, so there are large loose logs all over the place. Three can be stacked to make a barricade, which breaks charges and gives +2 AC/reflex versus ranged attacks.
A tense situation comes up when a Scout spots movement in the trees after only twenty minutes. He yells that the demons are coming.
The Siriand Rear Guard (only occurs if players choose to defend Kingstowne, can be removed or placed anywhere for time reasons)
Bursting out of the forest, however, are soldiers. Soldiers wearing the colours of Siriand. It's the Siriand rear guard; Sokal reveals that a few broke off and managed to get away one of their generals. General Tavius.
General Tavius: Lawful Neutral Fighter 12. Str 22, Dex 16, Con 18, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 14.
HP: 112/124: AC 27, 20% miss chance. Saves 13/8/4.
Weapon is a greatsword that is purest of ebony; soldiers call it the black blade. It's a +5 Speeding Acidic Keen Greatsword, Weapon Focus, Greater Weapon Focus, Weapon specialization, Greater Weapon Specialization, Dodge, Leadership, Power Attack, Cleave.
+25/+25/+20/+15, 2d6+1d6 acid+18, (25 dmg against acid resist, 29 dmg without acid resist, crits 17+)
General Tavius is ready to let by-gones be by-gones at this point, and will send any soldier who disrupts the situation or attempts to go on old hostilies on a suicide mission. He desperately wants succor for his wounded troops, and is willing to fight for a place in the Marrin Kingdom: Siriand, with it's army totally decimated, is even less likely to be able to survive the demon onslaught.
Sokal is going to require some convincing; Tavius has 24 soldiers, of whom, 11 are desperately wounded. He's only willing to fight if the wounded soldiers get protected and healed.
To make matters worse, one of the soldiers that is well is recognized by one of the PC's as Davion. Early in the war, the PC was defending a town against Siriand raids. Davion slipped in and slit the throats of dozens of women and children. He was captured and sentenced to death, but slipped from the prison cell in the middle of the night. The Siriand army officially denied the incident, but the PC saw friends and neighbours lose lovers and children. And the Siriand army has a tendency to use this sort of demoralization based attack.
If General Tavius is confronted on this, he denies it occurred, and says that trials can happen once we're safe from the demons. If it's pressed as an issue, Tavius will order Davion to go attack the demon army. Davion will go.
Tavius and his men will fight sincerely and reasonably once enlisted. Tavius is indeed more of a general than Sokal, and more a leader.
If the town is defended, all the townsfolk get out, but some of the soldiers die. Attack it with Babau's, Bebiliths, Dretches, Hezrou, Retrievers and Vrocks. Let numbers be determined by PC resources. Once the PC resources get low (25% or so) and 25% of the soldier force is dead (25% critically wounded), end the battle and announce the townsfolk saved.
Let the retreat to Fort Joldin be calmer now.
Fort Joldin is an ancient fortress, set one side against a river. There are refugees everywhere, the military forces are overwhelmed trying to deal with so many people. To make matters worse, there are shortages of all resources; food, clean water, weapons, arrows, oil, boats, clothes, and healing. Several courtyards are being used as places to lay the wounded, and there is a mass grave being dug by several civilians behind the fort.
The fort is vastly over-crowded, being intended for 300 military men, currently holding 150 military men (base garrison) + 50-100 of the military men brought by the party and High Priest Sokal, and possibly the Siriand survivors.
The leader of the fort is a mage, who will defer to High Priest Sokal.
Str 13, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 20, Wis 13, Cha 11.
Elven Wizard 5: HP 38, Init +5, AC 16, saves 5/4/6. +1 cloak of resistance, +1 spell storing quartersaff (other end blank) (Stored Icelance), +1 mithril buckler, spellbook, +2 bracers of armor. Spells: 4/5/3/2 --- Sleep, Colour Spray, Burning Hands, Identify, Silent Image. Web, Glitterdust, Summon Monster 2. 3rd level: Icelance (SpC), Fireball. Frog familiar.
Arcanist Hintari is was original planning to do research into artifacts, but he needed some coin. He joined the army, but is a mildly reluctant combatant. He has a slight protective streak, and is more responsible and bold in this situation than Sokal. There may or may not be more mages of higher or equivalent level in the area (DM's discretion), but Hintari's seniority and calm demeanour leave him the head mage.
While the PC's are at the Fort, small DM attacks should probe. Repeatedly, doing slight damage. Feel free to have some demons slip inside the castle under the guise of invisibility, provided by an unknown demon-mage, and slaughter wounded, poison foodstuffs, or cause mayhem in other creative ways.
If there is a mage in the party, they can be a demon ally. This should be revealed before they leave Fort Joldin, so that they can bring up a second character.
The PC's will likely get involved in organizing the defense. Hintari will say that he has something important to tell them, and drag them off, in particularly, away from Sokal. If betrayer, the betrayer should try to kill Hintari here. A particularly reasonable betrayer may be able to convince the party that it wasn't a bad action and that Hintari was hostile for some reason. They'll turn coat again in the battles in the Abyss, leaving the party with a more likely chance of not making out/not succeeding.
If the Betrayer fails (or doesn't exist), Hintari will tell them about the Tears of Mara. Dead betrayers get replaced.
If Hintari gets killed and the Betrayer is successful, they find a journal describing the following story.
It is an interesting historical note that for thousands of years, armies of more than five hundred men were never levied. That was common knowledge, and commonly thought to be a result of simply lacking magic and resources to levy larger armies.
It is also known to historical scholars (DC 25 knowledge history) that there have been two demon invasions deep in the history of man.
Only a historical expert (DC 50 knowledge history) or someone who has studied this (Arcanist Hintari and a few other ancient elven scholars) know that the true reason is that due to some instability of the plane, whenever near a thousand people die at once in battle, the blood, frenzy, and hatred open a portal that allows demons on to the plane to destroy and pillage. The more they destroy, the more death and blood released, the harder the gate is to shut.
The reason for the instability of the plane is entirely unknown, though hypotheses range from a curse from a demon lord or ancient evil god, to some intrinsic nature of the thinning of the veil that also allows conjuration [calling] spells to function.
The first gate was closed by an ancient priest, Mara. Her husband, a mayor of a small town, levied the population of the nearby town to lead an army to the first rift. Mara went along to provide her limited magicks, but even that assistance was unable to prevent the men from being slaughtered by the outpouring of demons on the bloodied battlefield. Mara, the last one left, was taunted by The Prince of Rage, an ancient and powerful demon who's true name is lost.
Mara, however, instead of striking out, knelt, providing her neck to the demon. She was crying for the loss of her husband and her neighbours and friends, tears streaking her face and soaking her cloak, which was bunched up around her eyes and mouth to ward the stench of decay. The demon indifferently lopped her head from her body after savouring her sobs for a few moments.
The demon led the army away, searching for more to ravage. A few were left to guard the gateway to the planar abyss, as the next wave of demons prepared for the portal.
Lurking amongst the dead was what tales call the Noblest Necromancer. Invisible to the demons eyes, and cautious, he was looking to raise an army. But upon watching Mara's humble sacrifice, he recognized the power of the moment. He moved to her body and drained her blood with subtle magic, half filling a dozen vials. He then set the vials out, grasped Mara's cloak, and filled the top half with her tears. The blood and water never mixes, even when shaken or stirred.
He then threw one of the vials into the rift. The rift instantly closed, and the necromancer took the remaining eleven vials and passed them out to the great kingdoms of the earth, warning them to never amass an army of greater than five hundred men.
His warning was forgotten over the ages, as are the locations of the Tears of Mara.
Fortunately for the party, Hintari (or if dead, High Priest Sokal will admit to seeing a strange vial somewhere around this fort before) knows that there is a vial of Mara's Tears in this very Fort somewhere.
The brutality of forcing the PC's to waste effort and time hand searching a mundane castle while people less able to fight are getting slaughtered above them should be emphasized.
Detect magic, locate object (if prepared) can both speed the search, as can characters with high search modifiers.
Smart PC's will try to motivate civilians to search the Fort while they defend it.
During any conversation with a large number of civilians (20+) some will think this a waste of time, some will be friendly, and one will ask if there is a reward.
If PC's offer a reward, the person that finds it is greedy, and conceals it for several hours, eventually confronting a PC and revealing that they've hidden it even better, and will only release it's location for use of the last remaining boat and a thousand gold pieces.
They'll have to negotiate that out with High Priest Sokal, who prefers to kill him and question his corpse.
If the PC's don't offer a reward, a child will find it and offer it to them and wish them the best of luck.
If the betrayer killed Hintari and convinced the party it was a good idea, they can also try to take and destroy Mara's Tears. If so, Locate object will reveal a dungeon a day to the north which contains another vial. This will extend the campaign substantially, and I'm not including this dungeon here, as it's not written. Make up something fun.
The PC's will at this point likely wish to fight to the Demon rift. High Priest Sokal is opposed, Arcanist Hintari (if alive) insists on coming along.
The PC's can go small group and try to sneak (if good sneak modifiers, fewer encounters)
The PC's can try to entice a large army to come with them, which will involve lots of fighting and casualties but be more successful.
The PC's can also take the boat themselves. The campaign can end here, or be focused on them following the river out through demon torn badlands, eventually ending up at sea. Demons rule the mainland, but eventually the PC's can settle on a medium island and live there, safe from the desecration of the mainland.
The PC's can opt to ignore the Tears of Mara and try to defend the Fort. This eventually leads to the Balor coming and levelling the fort with an army of demons. Players die.
The journey back to the rift takes about a day. If they have the army with them, this involves constant harassment with demons (see; Scene Two: On the Road to Fort Joldin, for a sense of what this harassment could look like). If they are sneaking, this should involve rare tense moments with fighting (loud) and lots of demons seeming to come for them but not actually see them moments. A particularly brilliant wizard might teleport directly there with 3 others (if small party), or seek to use scrolls of teleport (if in possession) to teleport back to the fort and grab 3 more (if larger party/bringing NPC's). Hintari will be very upset at getting left behind, if teleportation is used.
At the rift should be a larger demon battle with the guardians of the rift. After which, the party will sprinkle some of Mara's Tears into the Rift. (Legend has it a single drop from the vial is enough to close a portal; either way; make sure they have at least half the vial left).
The planar portal will shake and let out a piercing cry, but after a moment, it will expand, not retract.
Arcanist Hintari will then explain that too many have died, and that the portal is too strong. It must be cut off at it's source; a slaughterflame. A slaughterflame is the hellish incarnation of the mass slaughter of individuals; it is a spike coming from the ground that radiates heat (1d6/damage/round to anyone within 100 feet), but is entirely composed of the blood of innocents.
The party can elect to leave (see bad endings in Scene 3: Fort Joldin) or enter the rift with the rest of the vial of Mara's Tears.
No NPC except Arcanist Hintari or General Tavius is willing to come into hell. The army, if there, will either camp at the entrance or retreat. Will retreat unless party convinces High Priest Sokal to keep the army there.
If the party tries to reduce their resource usage or rest here, the balor should appear in the middle of the night, forcing them into the portal without rest. Sleeping in hell should clearly be suicide, with hourly interruptions of minor demons (dretches, quasits). If a rope trick is used, they can complete their quest, but Optional Scene Seven: Depserate Demons ends up having an extra dozen cities destroyed; it's clear that taking that extra time results in thousands dying. Fort Joldin will be a smouldering crater, in particular.
Welcome to hell itself. The landscape is red and barren, the entire plane is quite hot, there are gnarled, pusing trees. Inspiration can be drawn from The Blight, Wheel of Time Book 1, or any preferred conception of hell. The massive slaughterflame can be seen from a small hill near the rift.
Demon attacks should be frequent, and involve more powerful demons than dretches and babaus; Bebilith, Hezrou, Retrievers and Vrocks should be fought 2-3 times, alone or with small numbers of dretches or other weak demons (a few Babaus, for example). If the party is well-optimized, ramp up the number of demons. If the party is poorly optimized, use swarms of weaker demons then singular stronger demons to give the perception of fighting off “armies of demons.”
In this hellish landscape they go through the rubble of a village, empty. Past a parallel battleground, dismembered body parts everywhere and the ground red with fresh blood that doesn't seem to dry.
Finally, the PC's make it to the slaughterflame. Arcanist Hintari or General Tavius should be dead by this point (to establish threat) and maybe a PC (depending on how your group feels about the “someone die” and sits out problem. (Or bring them back as a demon).
At the Slaughterflame they find a massive figure with long, sharp talons that seems to exude a sense of distrust and violence. This is Thorsten Hoss, the Prince of Lies.
Thorsten Hoss is an ancient demon, well known for scaring children in many a tale of deceit and distrust. Thieves guilds sometimes make sacrifices to him. Legends of this Demon Prince tell of him stealing the very essences of people; removing their sense of love, or happiness, and leaving people behind nothing but a broken shell. It is said that he is so capable of deceit that when looking at him, you only think you're looking at him.
HP: 154, AC: 26, Saves 11/18/10, Abilities: Str: 20, Dex 30, Con 16, Int 12, Wisdom 14, Cha 12.
Shadow Claws: 1d20+22/1d20+22/1d20+17/1d20+17, damage 1d6+5, +3d6 sneak attack, 3 bleed damage (DC 18 heal check/magical healing removes bleed; it stacks and removes that many HP per round). The sneak attack always lands, piercing fortification, construct/undead immunities, uncanny dodge, etcetera.
Immunity to electricity and poison, resistance to acid, cold, fire 10. Telepathy 100.
He has miss chance 20%, wreathed in shadows and lies.
He can shadowstep up to 20 feet per round as a free action. He consistently uses this to get behind people to backstab them (IE, part of how Shadowclaws works), and can also use it to gain full attacks. His move speed is otherwise 30 feet/round.
Thorsten Hoss will berate the party telepathically, laughing at their ineptitude, informing them that they just make the problem worse, and that it's clear that Mara's Tears help the demons, not harming them, after all, didn't the portal widen? Hoss will try to get the party to turn on the NPC's, but in the incredibly likely event that the party won't trust the demon prince of lies, Thorsten Hoss will kill any NPC remaining (Arcanist Hintari, General Tavius). After that, he'll walk away, letting the party empty the rest of Mara's Tears in the Slaughterflame.
His walking away and letting it be done should raise some suspicions as well.
The Ghost of Mara will then appear to the party, telling them that two more things must be done. The party must kill Thorsten Hoss, the Prince of Lies, as he's used demon magic to prevent the rift from closing while he is still alive...and someone with a pure heart must be immolated in the slaughterflame immediately.
Mara will also tell the party that Thorsten Hoss was telling a half-truth; that the portal does keep getting wider with the power of her tears to draw from; until the moment the connection is severed and it shuts. Thus, all the more reason to do this with haste.
They chase down Thorsten Hoss for a half an hour, tracking the trail of blood as he retreated after killing the NPC's. (That's to prevent them from being sacrificed, rather than a PC).
The party member that agrees to be sacrificed comes back as a pre-generated demon that has reason to be opposed to this invasion of the prime material plane, orchestrated by Thorsten Hoss. The demon will try to communicate this opposition; there are battles within the demon world, and Thorsten growing stronger means this demons master grows weaker. Does the party trust the demon and ally with demon against demon?
If yes, then they'll have a powerful ally. (If level 9, CR 9-10, Bebilith, Vrock, or something custom)
If no, they still have a chance at winning. The player gets readded as a weakened tortured soul trapped on this plane for terrible acts of slaughter in it's own life. (If level 9, level 6-8) (Generate gearless character of the level you feel comfortable with; the DM should do this in advance; if you can get what classes people are playing, you can look for something that's generally not covered).
After a little while longer, the party comes to some broken stone pillars. Thorsten Hoss is on top of one of them, twenty feet up. He leaps down to do some stabbity-stabbity, then shadow-steps back up. He'll use the stone pillars for positioning advantages, and target weak characters first.
Meanwhile, other demons are coming. The party should hear the ground shake with swarms of dretches, the air buzz with swarms of quasits. This should get the party into freak out mode. After 4 rounds of combat, the first demons are in range...though to the parties surprise, they fall on each other, not the party.
Bring in more powerful demons (Babau, Vrock, Hezrou, Retriever, Bebilith) while the party battles Thorsten Hoss. Cause some mayhem. Clog up your battle mat. Use stacks of pennies to indicate swarms of quasits. Once Thorsten Hoss dies, if any of the party is left, your demon should take you aside, away from the battle, and tell you that the Rift is closed. He'll offer to plane shift you to the prime material plane.
The campaign can end here, with all the PC's dying, or with a few escaping. Or, some optional content.
The demon doesn't teleport them to the prime material plane, the demon teleports them to the Celestial plane.
Which would be no big deal, except the Celestials watching this think that players are demon tainted, and want to kill them.
Some sort of trial goes on of the players actions. RP thing, not diplomacy roll and walk away; put a lot of emphasis on how cool people sound, not how strong they defend themselves. If players did "evilish" things, definitely bring them up. If all they did was reluctantly work with the demon, most or all should go free.
players that win at the trial get to go free
Players that lose at the trial get imprisoned in the celestial realm for a thousand years.
The demons on the prime material plane were trapped there, and now have nothing to lose.
A profoundly convincing/holy party can get celestials to help.
Then you get to do closure and civilization rebuilding.
If the party slowed down for any reason (Rope trick), Fort Joldin should be destroyed, as well as all towns and cities in the surrounding area.
This part can take as long or as short as you like, but is basically like the last chapter of a book; civilization rebuilding, picking up, and relaxing. If you want to start a sort of “Kingmaker” style campaign, this is the place to do it. Otherwise, goodnight, and thank you.
Feb 23rd, 2012, 07:55 AM
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