I'm about to run the storm at the end of Sea Wyvern's Wake. Because the players have various abilities that make a storm hitting them out of nowhere unlikely, I've decided to let Emrag the Dragon Turtle make an introductory appearance.
The PCs spot the Isle of Dread, and as they approach they might or might not spot the Dragon Turtle spying on them. Either way Emrag casts Control Weather to cause the storm, figuring it can always clean out the wreck later.
I know Dragon Turtles are not normally spellcasters, but my players are not rules-lawyers (at least not where monsters are concerned) so I can easily get away with this. I simply give him Control Weather as a spell-like ability 1/week. CL = HD, (25), so no worries about dispel. It should build some animosity against him for later. Of course, they might go our of their way to hunt him down once they get powerful enough.
* Can anyone find a serious flaw in this as a plot development?
* Can I find a suitable underwater dragon lair (and treasure) someplace?
I'm about to run the storm at the end of Sea Wyvern's Wake. Because the players have various abilities that make a storm hitting them out of nowhere unlikely, I've decided to let Emrag the Dragon Turtle make an introductory appearance.
The PCs spot the Isle of Dread, and as they approach they might or might not spot the Dragon Turtle spying on them. Either way Emrag casts Control Weather to cause the storm, figuring it can always clean out the wreck later.
I know Dragon Turtles are not normally spellcasters, but my players are not rules-lawyers (at least not where monsters are concerned) so I can easily get away with this. I simply give him Control Weather as a spell-like ability 1/week. CL = HD, (25), so no worries about dispel. It should build some animosity against him for later. Of course, they might go our of their way to hunt him down once they get powerful enough.
* Can anyone find a serious flaw in this as a plot development?
* Can I find a suitable underwater dragon lair (and treasure) someplace?
Even easier than that, simply let Emraag attack during the storm. The hurricane would effect him minimally underwater, but he could rise up and puncture a hole in the already floundering Sea Wyvern or even capsize the boat. Then the PCs could simply wake up on the Isle's beach and see their run aground Sea Wyvern not far off with a huge hole in the side. While the PCs might be able to deal with the Storm, I'm sure it'd take them awhile to tune down a hurricane and Emraag could use the time to attack the ship. Then later on during the Lightless Depths, he could express surprise that his victims survived his assault. If it was made an almost casual surprise it would go a long way towards adding to his reputation and power.
~ Bryon ~
Just give him a magic item that can use control weather 1/week. The PCs aren't going to get their hands on it before Lightless Depths anyway, and by then it's hardly going to unbalance the game even if they do manage to kill Emraag and get hold of it. Maybe it's an enchanted figurehead or something from one of the ships he's sunk over the years (plus, if the item's really big and cumbersome it makes it really hard for the PCs to cart it round everywhere!)
If Emrag was involved in the ship sinking he would be a little bit south of his usual haunts (unusual, but not impossible). Also, why does he wreck the ship then leave? I doubt he would sink a ship just for the heck of it (then again, I'm no dragon turtle). The animosity it could generate would make any later Diplomacy with Emrag interesting though.
This pretty much guarantees the ship sinking. Kudos!
I used emrag after the ship wreck to "motivate" my players to stay the hell out of the water. I didnt want them grabbing row boats and rowing their way to farshore... So I described something terribly Big and loud, just beneath the surface of the water... eating /crunching on floating corpses that did not survive the shipwreck. . . needless to say... the idea of using a rowboat never entered their lil minds and if it did, no one said a word (cue evil manipulative DM laugh LOL)Bwahahahahah :D
I'm about to run the storm at the end of Sea Wyvern's Wake. Because the players have various abilities that make a storm hitting them out of nowhere unlikely, I've decided to let Emrag the Dragon Turtle make an introductory appearance.
The PCs spot the Isle of Dread, and as they approach they might or might not spot the Dragon Turtle spying on them. Either way Emrag casts Control Weather to cause the storm, figuring it can always clean out the wreck later.
I know Dragon Turtles are not normally spellcasters, but my players are not rules-lawyers (at least not where monsters are concerned) so I can easily get away with this. I simply give him Control Weather as a spell-like ability 1/week. CL = HD, (25), so no worries about dispel. It should build some animosity against him for later. Of course, they might go our of their way to hunt him down once they get powerful enough.
* Can anyone find a serious flaw in this as a plot development?
* Can I find a suitable underwater dragon lair (and treasure) someplace?
My group aren't rules-lawyers either, If I need my players to end up on a lost isle for the sake of the story there gettin' to that damn Isle! I will make up, think up, Improvise, cheat,lie anything so that they end up there. Our "Dungeon Meets" usually involve Food, Imagination, home-brewed rules,improvising, and lots of dice...cause everyone has like 800 sets of dice(never enough dice)! So what I am sayng Is do what you have to do to get the job done.
DAve
It seems to me that a Cat-5 hurricane is enough to railroad a party of sixth or seventh level characters on to the beach of the Isle of Dread. Dredging through my sources (PHB, Stormwrack, Spell Compendium), the only spell I can find that is within casting range of a 7th level character that is of any use in preventing this outcome is raise from the deep. That spell will keep the ship afloat for 7 hours at a stretch, and assuming you have a 7th level wizard with an intelligence of 18 (=2 4th level spell slots per day), the ship can be kept afloat for 14 hours before it sinks again, and you're out of prepared spells to keep it afloat. If the DM has let 7th level characters stock up on wands or scrolls of 4th level spells, or let them obtain a greater metamagic (extend spell) rod, well, you've shot yourself in the foot.
There are no spells (as far as I can tell) below 5th level that will allow you to reduce the effects of the storm itself. Conventional or magical means of predicting such a storm might give you forewarning, but they won't give you time to evade a storm that big (possibly 200 miles across), and once you're in such a large storm in a sailing ship, there's only one direction you can travel, and that's the direction that happens to take you directly toward the lee shore of the Isle of Dread. So, assuming you apply raise from the deep you're still in a leaking ship that will sink in a few hours, and you can only travel in one direction--shoreward. If your characters genuinely have a way to get off the train, well, you can let them if you want--but if they think they can move their ship upwind in a hurricane, show them some pictures of boats and barges Hurricane Katrina moved way up on shore, and remind them that their caravel isn't all that much bigger than a millionaire's cabin-cruiser yacht.
Adding Emraag to the storm is fine if you want to clinch it, but the storm should be fearsome enough in itself, and if the rules in stormwrack don't make it so, then make it an epic storm, and have a cloudy image of Demogorgon (or maybe Procan himself!) appear in the approaching storm front to remind them that something really, really powerful is driving this storm.
I used the storm, and let Emrag make a cameo at the start of it. Some players are wondering why he didn't actually appear to claim the wreck (I guess he's just being evil and want to pick the wreck clean without opposition - you don't grow that old by being forward).
The players failed just the right rolls to make the entire process not seem forced, so I'm very happy with how it played out.