So last session my players left me with a request for an exceptionally difficult dungeon crawl. They offered some input but wanted to leave most of it up to me. So off we go.
The party is currently trapped underground in the House of Silver and Shadow, a residence that exists on both the material and shadow planes. A series of mirrors laid out throughout the house allow individuals on one plane to see into the other, a chest in the foyer allows objects to be passed between planes-but not living creatures. Currently most of the party is trapped on the plane of shadow. We are playing pathfinder/3.5e, and the party breakdown is as follows:
Togomore Wizard 4 -On Material plane
Jin Gunslinger 4 - Shadow Plane
Moira Sorcerer 3 - Shadow Plane
Hodor Cleric 3 - Material Plane
There are also 3 lvl 1 followers (all trapped in shadow) Rogue, Bard, and Fighter.
This is where the last session left off, and the conundrum was mostly their idea, they want me to fill in the rest. Which I am fine with, For now I will leave out what I have come up with. I'd like to get some ideas for who resides in the house of silver and shadow (BBEG required), what its purpose is, how to get back to the material plane, and what sort of obstacles you would place there-creativity appreciated.
Thank you for any input.
For a BBEG some sort of Summoner with a shadowy form eidolon would let you battle in both worlds simultaneously.
Brilliant! I love it.
Also I forgot to mention, the players requested that this be a mythic challenge. Togomore and Jin are already MR 1, but Hodor and Moira have yet to ascend and we want to catch them up.
Togomore also has a psychosis, an irrational fear of ghosts.
She’d died of a strange disease not yet identified by the clergy at Arabellyn. Philinthrocus was once a respected professor of the Akadamie there, poised to become one of the nine Deans, but when Penoka had gotten ill all of that disappeared. He’d nearly lost his mind to the grief of losing his beloved wife months earlier; Philinthrocus couldn’t stand to lose his daughter as well. But despite all he was capable of and all the powers of the clergy of the Akadamie, there was no cure and the man’s nine year old girl was gone.
He’d tried everything to return her. Somehow she resisted resurrection. Demons and devils promised respite but their tricks were just lies that he spent his magic defeating. Agents of the Pharasmin arrived then and asked to have the body interred; they assured Philinthocus that the Mother of Souls would guide her safely. They told him to trust the plan of the Great Wheel. They told him to let go. 3 days later the priestess and her retinue were found charred and dumped unceremoniously in the bay.
Philinthrocus had read of the House of Silver and Shadow. Built by an ancient arcanist an age ago, the creature had existed in both the Material and the Shadow for decades. He unlocked secrets and discovered a way to hide where even death would not follow. The cold hand of Pharasma could not guide those from the house; once passed from the Material into the Shadow the dead lived once more. This was no trick, no animation; the soul of the deceased was literally hidden in shadow from even the Weeping Mother herself.
And so he’d preserved his daughter, made preparations and left Arabellyn to find the House.
“Daddy loves you Penoka.” The whispered words were sealed into the chest in the parlor of the House. The mirrors around Philinthrocus suddenly filled with mist and when they cleared again, they held the image of Penoka, alive and well and smiling at him. The father, overcome with joy, opened the box once more to retrieve his little girl. But that was when he discovered the awful truth of the place. Once he made to retrieve her, she was once more an unliving corpse, cold and empty.
In the Shadow Penoka lives forever, hidden from Pharasma’s sight. On the other side, in the Material, dwells Philinthocus. He can faintly hear his daughter as if calling to him from a great distance through the mirrors, and he can see her smiling face, perpetually young and innocent. But he cannot touch her, cannot be with her. This has driven the old spellcaster insane.
Over the years Penoka has grown twisted as well. She no longer remembers life in the sunshine. The little girl has learned to control the monsters who live in the Shadow with her and since they cannot die, save by special means such as pure Daylight conjured by spells or intense fire, Penoka has ordered them to care for her in the way her father no longer can. They carry her about, clothe her, play with her and feed her though she no longer has need of the sustenance.
Through it all, Philinthocus can do nothing but watch.
Is this enough or do you need statblocks?
Thats great, I love the story. I don't need the stat blocks but if you are feeling especially charitable I would appreciate them.
A 9th character level Fetchling gets shadow walk once/day. This means they can go back and forth between planes with ease. Pick your class levels however you want. Let him escape one set of PCs by switching planes, and have the other PCs finish him off.
/cevah
very nice story Mark :)
Ok, so I haven't statted them out yet, but here's some answers to the other questions:
Residents - constructs and animated objects (twisted toys for Penoka to play with), fetchlings (no brainer) and Dark Creepers; on Philinthrocus' side perhaps magical beasts and oozes; the more mindless the better. He might also have a demon or devil after him for breaking a contract.
Purpose - the house was originally built for the owner to live forever. He was a higher than 9th level fetchling, so he could pass 1/day between worlds and therefore didn't need a way to traverse like a door and such. He also instructed a golem to retrieve his corpse and put it in the trunk if he died in the material, so perhaps the key to the whole bloody place is that. That doesn't have to be the ONLY key...
Back and forth - the trunk is an obvious one. Using that perhaps hiding inside a golem or something. Also perhaps some kind of diabolic ritual using the old master's body as a doorway. Finally perhaps one of the things driving Philinthrocus mad is that, if the mirrors are all lined up a specific way at the right time reflected light will outline the Primean Portal which is how the place was crafted in the first place.
Variation on a theme: in my homebrew of Karnoss I do a lot of dark fairy tale type games. The cosmology is such that in the First World there is no time or age and that the Plane of Shadow is seeping in to corrupt it. If that's the case...
The house was originally built millennia ago by a First World Primean - one of the beings crafted by the gods to anchor their design in reality. It imposed some kind of order here; enough that when the Material was laid over it like a skin the house remained at the heart of a First World wilderness. The fey would revel around the house and on the inside it was impossibly larger than it should be... and ever expanding.
Like a living creature the house had fused with it's maker at the moment of the Material plane's birth. The fey of the material would enter the place and cavort, entreating the living house to portal them into the First World and back again. All was ageless bliss and savage abandon as the house and its revelers ran riot.
Then came Negoria, the Black Queen.
The undead dragon, the Shadow-eaten harlot, Negoria had once been a living sentience of the Material. Seduced by the Shadow she used magic to conceal herself and enter the First World. There she wounded the house and sundered it. The poor eldritch place retaliated by closing its portals and gates forever. This of course was as Negoria wanted.
Within an age the gardens and forests around the house became desolate swamps in the material. In the First World the Shadow took hold and the land stagnated there as well. However Negoria hadn't counted on one thing; once trapped she could not leave.
Now the house slumbers. No more do the fey revel here; no longer do the satyrs spill wine and blood and worse in the gardens; the sun no longer lingers in parlors and halls. But the fey still mingle and fret amid these sacred eaves, though they no longer remember why. Negoria sleeps as well, finding her dreams are the only way to pass into the Material. She has brought minions to herself and they have tried all they can to rouse the eldritch power of this place. So far only the lifeless may pass the portals unbound.
So the BBEGs then could be a powerful corrupt fey on the material side and something either draconic or undead on the shadow side. The goal of the place isn't just to roam and murder; on either side the house just keeps going. Even in its dormant state it's still 1000 rooms with both sides counted. But there are secret paths, like fairy circles, gardens, mirrors and holes that portal from important story locales to other ones. The clues may be enough to rouse the House and Negoria and prompt a final showdown. If the fey can be moved to revel instead of murder and sin, the House will yet prevail. If however enough evil is done, the Black Queen will have completed her corruption.
As for residents, I'd suggest all manner of fey as well as perhaps kobolds, half-dragon templates, and the following types: Monstrous Humanoids (I'm looking at you hag coven), undead, humanoids, magical beasts and undead. I'm thinking a cult of kobolds worshipping the old bird and communing with her in the mirrors; undead sacrifices sent to the other side as minions (along with constructs made by kobold magic), half-dragon satyrs; perhaps worgs who can smell the house's breath.
Obstacles would be traps, riddles, and circular-themed puzzles and mini games. Also contests with fairy tale themes like footraces, drinking games, and beauty contests. The fey are never honorable or virtuous to mortal standards, but they rarely cheat by their own standards either. The more they can be moved to participate in these old games fairly (by First World standards) the closer the house gets to waking. Of course, so does Negoria.
Another obstacle is the PCs themselves. If they just walk around like murdering hobos, the darkness wins. They will have to temper their wrath with compassion and roleplay if they want a happy ending.
Great stuff. So the maps I'm drawing have ballooned a bit, but thats good it needs to be huge. I actually haven't read anything I don't like in here.
The House is currently sitting in the midst of the Capital city of Skyward, a collection of islands and sub-continents hung aloft a permanent cloudbank that sails on the prevailing winds. This much is part of the already established fiction of the game, but that doesn't mean it needs to stay this way.
Philanthrocus moved the house to Driscol so that he could be near the Mages college and continue his studies and keep up appearances. This allowed him to throw grand balls and parties. Invariably some guests always end up losing themselves in the house, whether by design or ill-fate the result is the same. Philanthrocus binds them into service in vain attempts to stave off Penoka's madness another day...
Guests become unwilling servants to Penoka, this is always a temporary solution, as they slowly lose their minds and become Allips, shadows, or worse.
Cool stuff I may have to try out. Oddly enough I'm in the middle of creating a spire for my group with the same silver and shadows theme (going more with kytons and dark folk as residents).