Golden Opportunity - HELP!


Age of Worms Adventure Path


So my poarty experienced their first actual death - 3FoE, the Grimlock Chieftan charged and full-power-attacked the Sor/Rog (who was already down 10 hp from a longspear crit), hitting for 26 damage, putting the pour soul to -16 in a heartbeat.

The party Druid, feeling solely responsible for the death (he had failed to notice that the Sor/Rog was wounded), immediately set down and began petitioning Elhonna for a reincarnate spell - a spell the 5th-level druid was still several levels away from qualifying for. The Player announced that the Druid would be willing do do anything to gain this favor from his deity, and that began the wheels turning in my head.

The party also had no really good exit strategy from the mines, so a quick trip back to Diamond Lake and the meager healing resources to be found there was out of the question. In addition, as a once-a-month campaign, I was hesitant to spend the remainder of the session dealing with this rather than getting to the good stuff - the Ebono Aspect.

So I gave it to him. I told him that he was in communication with Elhonna, and that she would grant his request, and that we would sort out the details later. Soon enough, the human Sor/Rog was reborn as a Goblin Sor/Rog, and both Grallak Kur and the Ebon Aspect went down in very easy anticlimactic battles (web + trip = nasty)

So here is the Golden Opportunity I am presented with: The Druid is now beholden to a God (not necessarily Elhonna, either - all that is set in stone is that the Sor/Rog was reincarnated.) in a campaign that has epic potential.

The problem is that I have no idea how to tie his "payment" for this gift into the remainder of the campaign.

My first thought is that this druid is a distant relative of those druids of the Order of the Storm, and that his involvement has drawn the attention of those storied druids. Perhaps it was not Elhonna who answered his prayers, but the collective and coalesced consciousness of his distant relatives. They seek to ensure his mission does not fail, and to obligate him to see it through to its conclusion.

Perhaps it was some other, more nefarious god (Vecna?) intervening - perhaps in disguise - to further his own ends by gaining a hold on one of those who would topple the Ebon Triad?

Perhaps Obad-Hai answered in Elhonna's stead, to attempt to convert the worship of her idealogical opponent?

Any thoughts? This truly is a golden opportunity to tie several threads together in the campaign, and I don't want to squander it.

Chris

Grand Lodge

Chris Salvato wrote:

So my poarty experienced their first actual death - 3FoE, the Grimlock Chieftan charged and full-power-attacked the Sor/Rog (who was already down 10 hp from a longspear crit), hitting for 26 damage, putting the pour soul to -16 in a heartbeat.

The party Druid, feeling solely responsible for the death (he had failed to notice that the Sor/Rog was wounded), immediately set down and began petitioning Elhonna for a reincarnate spell - a spell the 5th-level druid was still several levels away from qualifying for. The Player announced that the Druid would be willing do do anything to gain this favor from his deity, and that began the wheels turning in my head.

The party also had no really good exit strategy from the mines, so a quick trip back to Diamond Lake and the meager healing resources to be found there was out of the question. In addition, as a once-a-month campaign, I was hesitant to spend the remainder of the session dealing with this rather than getting to the good stuff - the Ebono Aspect.

So I gave it to him. I told him that he was in communication with Elhonna, and that she would grant his request, and that we would sort out the details later. Soon enough, the human Sor/Rog was reborn as a Goblin Sor/Rog, and both Grallak Kur and the Ebon Aspect went down in very easy anticlimactic battles (web + trip = nasty)

So here is the Golden Opportunity I am presented with: The Druid is now beholden to a God (not necessarily Elhonna, either - all that is set in stone is that the Sor/Rog was reincarnated.) in a campaign that has epic potential.

The problem is that I have no idea how to tie his "payment" for this gift into the remainder of the campaign.

My first thought is that this druid is a distant relative of those druids of the Order of the Storm, and that his involvement has drawn the attention of those storied druids. Perhaps it was not Elhonna who answered his prayers, but the collective and coalesced consciousness of his distant relatives. They seek to ensure his mission does not...

Heres a laugh....perhaps it was not Elhonna but Olidimmara that did it. After all a rogue/sor has died and he thought it would be funny to bring him back. Olidimarra would think it good fun to have on a Elhonna druid owe him one. After all, what Olidimmara gives he can also take away. And you know his little quirk for playing tricks on the other gods.


No it was neither Ehonna nor Olidammara who granted the spell, it was Kyuss himself who through the powers of the dark citadel has found some ways to reach into the minds of some beings in the material world from his demiplane prison. I found it a good idea to resurrect that poor rogue and use him as a puppet later in the campaign. e.g. he could be misguided by false visions or - if the Kyuss mind could not be exocised before the climax of the campaing - could be used as a spy on the group revealing tactics and powerups before it comes to the final battle.


This is the kind of opportunity that makes being a DM all worth it!

The way I see it, the druid has requested a pretty big favor (the reincarnation of someone's life), and now owes something equally as valuable (another life - possibly HIS OWN).

I would most likely play this up, never letting the Druid forget that he owes this debt, and prior to LoLR I would make it known that it is his own life that must be sacrificed.

When the PCs arrive at Last Resort, I would be clear that the "time has come," and when he prays for spells that day he finds an extra slot with a spell called "Divine Absolution" (or some other fluffy-dramatic name like that) - THEN give him a handout that details the spell which will function like Ressurection, EXCEPT that it will be HIS life energy (soul) that will be used to fuel the spell (which of course will kill him outright) - Then I would make it to where this is the BEST (but probably not the only) option for bringing the ROC KING back to life!

IF the Druid follows through I would take his character (rewarding him with EXPERIENCE and possibly more - maybe even allow him to make a reincarnated version of himself as a "Chosen" of his god - I'm in the Forgotten Realms, BTW.)

IF he FAILS to follow through, I would probably have him fall out of favor with his god and dis-allow him to receive spells until he had atoned for his sins (which would probably require an entire sub-plot, side-trek, and would likely lead to his death since the Age of Worms is no place to be caught with your spells down).

Thats my suggestion!

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Maps, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Charter Superscriber; Starfinder Superscriber

LoLR is a good choice. The wild watchers were once druids, so maybe it's this druid who must fight one of them to use the fountain of dreams. If he dies before LoLR, you could have him be reincarnated as a fifth wild watcher.


I started this summer to run the Age of Worms campaign. It fitted in well with the world I use and I was able to get some good roleplaying for the party. On the whole the advetntures have been well received, in particular the second adventure in the mine in Diamond Lake and also the Return to the Whispering Cairn. Last week we did the beginning of the Library of Last Resort and had our first party death, our fighter/rogue who was tentacled to death by the Octopus Tree. Now we're going on to the final stages of the Library adventure and the party is now starting to get worried, particularly as they're aware that a Dracolich is coming up. Many thanks Dungeomn for the adventure path. Looking forward to the Savage Tide adventure path by the way, always wanted to do a Stormwrack based campaign.

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