540. Over the last few years magic in the region has been becoming more chaotic with more and more areas becoming dead zones or overwhelming wellsprings where magic seems to surge. The PCs venture out to discover the cause of the disturbance, where they come to learn of a deranged wizard bent on harbouring the source of all magic who has devoted his life to studying the weave and devising a great artifact capable of harvesting its raw power and bending it to his will. His experiments have almost come to an end and his artifact nearly complete, all he needs now is something the PCs possess, and will waste no expense at obtaining, under any circumstance.
541. Nearly 3 decades ago, the citizens of the coastal city of X woke to a great storm that rocked the shoreline, and in the morning a crystalline city of silver and gold floating just off coast about the sea. With it came strange beings, faceless mages and artificers who claimed to have come from beyond the stars, and brought with them new strange technologies. All attempts to conquer these star magi and there crystalline city of Y failed miserably, and saw the forces of the realm slaughtered by their terrible strange weaponry and mastery of the arcane arts. Soon after the King, woefully bent the knee and welcomed these star magi into the realm where they have come to be viewed as Gods among men, and trade their technology in exchange for willing tributes, men and women whom wish to serve them and are promised the gift of long life for their servitude, the only men and women allowed into the crystalline city.
Now, the city of X has become a bustling metropolis and enriched the region with untold wealth due to the technology bestowed upon them by the magi and the kingdom as a whole has flourished well beyond that of neighbouring empires. Yet the King is distraught and nearing the end of his life.
The PCs meet in prison, where they are brought before the King who shows them a man being held in the dungeons whom his guards picked up in the wilds just outside X. The man begins ranting and raving about the magi, claiming that he was a tribute years ago but escaped from the "soul-sucking monsters in disguise", emploring the King to massacre them all now lest the realm face certain doom. The man looks not a day over 40 yet claims to be well into his 70s, and in the last 30 years not a single tribute has been seen or heard of again, which would make this man the first to have been to the crystalline city and returned.
The King, though he doesnt fully believe the man, has grown desperate nearing death and isnt going to let any opportunity to dispel his new guests from the land go to waste. He offers the PCs a proposal, infiltrate the crystalline city of Y and discover the source of their power, and the truth behind the claims of this madman and he will forgive them of their crimes, spare their lives and bestow riches and lands upon them. That, or rot in the dungeons below for the rest of their lives. It seems the choice is clear, and just to be sure they carry out this task, he is sending 2 of his best and most loyal spies to accompany them with the instructions that nothing can tie them to the King, for fear of the war it may bring.
542. The PCs are all aboard a ship sailing to a continent theyve never been to before, when an massive asteroid of black stone plummets into the ocean. The ensuing tidal wave capsizes the ship and all the PCs black out. They wake bound and gagged, tied to sticks and pulled down a long dark dank tunnel by several Kuo-toa, stripped of their gear and barely clinging to life. They can hear gutteral chanting and drums echoing from the caverns below and are soon brought before a great ritual fire burning infront of a gargantuan underground lake that extends into complete darkness. A priest and several others chant incessantly around a makeshift altar while the flames dance, and as the PCs are brought up and placed on the altar something in the darkness beyond catches their eye, as the waters of the black lake begin to stir.
543. While venturing through the wilderness/mountains/dungeon etc the party comes across an abandoned treasure hoard completely unguarded and practically out in the open and upon claiming it are now rich beyond belief. However, (DC 18 perception investigation) they notice it looks like no gold they have ever seen before and each piece is marked differently with a strange design, but no matter, gold is gold and adventuring isnt cheap. As they make off with the treasure, they cant help but feel like they are being followed. Each night they have the gold have each character roll a D6. On a 1 - 3, that character gets a temporary flaw that forces them to covet more wealth and corrupts them with greed and is plagued by vicious nightmares for 1d4 days, if the nightmare last for more than a week the character becomes evil. The gold is cursed and slowly but surely begins to corrupt the hearts of the PCs or anyone else who comes into possession of it. The curse can only be lifted by burning or placing each piece in holy water, causing a shadow, demon or some other fiend to be forced out.
544. The citizens of X wake one morning to find the streets have been paved in gold...literally, gold bricks line the city streets. Chaos ensues as words spreads and townsfolk kings thieves and adventurers alike all scramble to tear apart the cities infrastructure. Plot twist: Some time later the gold reverts to stone.
545. The party recieves a letter begging for their help, saying a dark force has consumed their village and is moving silently towards the capital growing in strength. When the party arrives in town, it appears noone is able to speak yet display terrified expressions. Later that evening a fiendish witch creeps into their camp/room while they are sleeping and steals their voices, imprisoning them in necklace of crystal and bone. She then sends zombie/demon slaves to collect the hearts of the party and townsfolk to add to their ranks. Though the party make swift work of them, these minions regain their strength just as quickly as they are cut down. Their only true weakness: A blood curdling scream.
546. An aspiring oracle begins messing with divination magic by giving out overly vague yet obscure fortunes to townsfolk, yet these premonitions seem to always come to fruition mostly with disasterous consquences. Soon kings and queens across the globe are seeking the reading of this clumsy clairvoyent. The oracle hires the PCs to protect him/her from one noble with the nefarious intent of using the oracles fortunes to sway fate in their favour as they conquers the land, and discover the truth behind his/her powers of divination. is it a blessing or a curse?
Steal your voices? Don't spell casters need to be able to speak to cast most spells? This might make the adventure harder than expected.
545. The party recieves a letter begging for their help, saying a dark force has consumed their village and is moving silently towards the capital growing in strength. When the party arrives in town, it appears noone is able to speak yet display terrified expressions. Later that evening a fiendish witch creeps into their camp/room while they are sleeping and steals their voices, imprisoning them in necklace of crystal and bone. She then sends zombie/demon slaves to collect the hearts of the party and townsfolk to add to their ranks. Though the party make swift work of them, these minions regain their strength just as quickly as they are cut down. Their only true weakness: A blood curdling scream.
No one said adventuring was easy. Good point though, but I'm sure you could tweak some rules here or there or just tell the players to bulk up and roll for some melee boys. Either way its a puzzle type scenario so its supposed to be perplexing.
547a. A bard has discovered a new chord or melody that when played puts others into a hypnotic state, waking with no memory of what happened and is using this technique to wreak havoc across the land.
547b. A bard comes into the possession of a mythic instrument or artifact that causes their tales and songs to manifest before them, often with amusing yet hazardous consequences and is wreaking havoc across the land.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
544. The citizens of X wake one morning to find the streets have been paved in gold...literally, gold bricks line the city streets. Chaos ensues as words spreads and townsfolk kings thieves and adventurers alike all scramble to tear apart the cities infrastructure. Plot twist: Some time later the gold reverts to stone.
545. The party recieves a letter begging for their help, saying a dark force has consumed their village and is moving silently towards the capital growing in strength. When the party arrives in town, it appears noone is able to speak yet display terrified expressions. Later that evening a fiendish witch creeps into their camp/room while they are sleeping and steals their voices, imprisoning them in necklace of crystal and bone. She then sends zombie/demon slaves to collect the hearts of the party and townsfolk to add to their ranks. Though the party make swift work of them, these minions regain their strength just as quickly as they are cut down. Their only true weakness: A blood curdling scream.
In the jail, one cell has been made into a dead magic zone. There you can scream and the scream will carry out breaking the spell.
546. An aspiring oracle begins messing with divination magic by giving out overly vague yet obscure fortunes to townsfolk, yet these premonitions seem to always come to fruition mostly with disastrous consequences. Soon kings and queens across the globe are seeking the reading of this clumsy clairvoyant. The oracle hires the PCs to protect him/her from one noble with the nefarious intent of using the oracles fortunes to sway fate in their favour as they conquers the land, and discover the truth behind his/her powers of divination. is it a blessing or a curse?
Have them be Asmodeus illegitimate son for extra irony.
549. WeSee Dead People: After a minor adventure into a long since looted crypt the adventures begin to hear and see ghosts, specters, and spirits. Some ask for help, some angrily attack. What did they do? How do they fix it? What did that damn rogue take?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
550.Flip the script. The party catches up with Barthos the Magnificent, and he's already dead. Barty haunts the bard or spiritualist in the party. At night he or she finishes the last book, detailing the tiefling assassin who killed Barty. The party has to follow the clues in the book, to kill the assassin, and free their friend from the possession. They will have no trouble getting the book published, even though it ends with the ghost of Barthos coming for the rival author who hired the assassin. (Note the author credits the entire party one by one in the forward of the last book.)
If the party tracks down the rival author they find him dead of fear wearing Bartos' Helm of Telepathy.
551. Flip The Script Pt. 2- One overcast day, the heavens open up. The rain is composed of little annoyingly painful(though not deadly or overly damaging) pinpricks of energy. A flash of liquid courses through the air moments before a moment of true silence carries out throughout the lands the storm encompasses. Adventurers are hired to find out why precipitation is mixed up so.