After reading Eric's suggestion about using a wish spell to change the outcome of the fight against the ulgurstasta (Click Here For More Information), I've thought of an interesting option to the begining of the adventure: The PCs have already failed, and are going to try to stop the ulgurstasta again.
I imagine you could start at the point when the PCs first go to see Eligos, like in Part One: An Opportunity for Violence. You'd say something like:
"You hear the door chimes ring, and the steady footsteps of Pollard as he comes to greet you at the door. Pollard politely says, 'Please come in, you are expected.'"
The entire Part One plays out exactly as written, but just as the party leaves, ready to go and join the ranks as gladiators, you'd say something like:
"You hear the door chimes ring, and the steady footsteps of Pollard as he comes to greet you at the door. Pollard politely says, 'Please come in, you are expected.'"
But this time Celeste speaks first, after a worried look at Eligos, she says "What do you remember?"
The players will go on about what they were told, and it will be clear to Celeste that the PCs know nothing about what is going to happen (has happened). She tells the PCs that Ekaym's sister is dead, and their mission has changed.
"It's taken the Circle months to get us back to this point. Someone in the arena has used the Apostolic Scrolls to summon an ulgurstasta, and if it is allowed to mature, it will turn all of the citizens of the city into undead. Again."
The PCs will undoubtedly have many questions, and they discover that both Celeste and Eligos survived the tragedy and have full recollection of what happened. Unfortunately, all of their knowledge is of an apopolyptic future of the next three months, where undead ruled the city and the forces of Iuz were marshalling throughout the land, and they have no real useful information on how it all happened.
Ekaym remembers nothing, and is sorrowed by the information of his sister, but is intent on continuing his patronage of the PCs into the games.
Neither Celeste nor Eligos know anything about who controlled the ulgurstasta, who summoned it, where it was kept, or anything about the events leading up the the cataclysmic event because the PCs lost their second match in the tournament to a couple of dwarves. The PCs were able to find out what had happened to Ekaym's sister by that point, and were on their way back to Diamond Lake when the ulgursasta rose.
The PCs are also told that all of the major forces in the area are now busy on other tasks, some on other planes, trying to piece together vital clues, so it is still up to them to fight here and now and stop the ulgurstasta from rising.
Unfortunately, the wish was cast before the entire scenario unfolded, and many of the major NPCs believe that evil powers (such as Iuz) are responsible, and are mostly following the wrong leads. This will still put the ball in the PCs' court to find out what really happened, is happening, will happen (I'm starting to sound like Douglas Adams, I know), and the fate of the world isn't in the hands of the NPCs.
I think I'll need more time to really flush this idea out, but we're not playing again until after New Year's, so I have time to mull it over and look at anybody else's thoughts.
Neat idea, if a bit complicated.
though the more compex, the better, i guess.
My only real issue is that this upstages the Age of Worms itself with powerful forces on different planes getting involed I'd be concerned that effectivly the entire campaign has been derailed.
My only real issue is that this upstages the Age of Worms itself with powerful forces on different planes getting involed I'd be concerned that effectivly the entire campaign has been derailed.
Good point.
My only real issue is that this upstages the Age of Worms itself with powerful forces on different planes getting involed I'd be concerned that effectivly the entire campaign has been derailed.
The part about forces on different planes is supposed to be a red herring that keeps the powerful NPCs out of the Age of Worms. There are no powerful extra-planar creatures involved (other than Kyuss, if he counts), so I don't expect this story to derail the AP. The PCs should continue on with The Champion's Belt, but with information on the ulgurstasta and the potential destruction it will cause.
The adventure will end as written, the PCs finding Eligos dead and a note that they need to go to Alustan and then to Manzorian. With this "second time around," Eligos finally finds the information they missed the first time, and this time it ends with his death.
I had to find a reason that any NPC powerful enough to turn back time wouldn't just go and kill the ulgurstast him/her self, hence the mis-information that sends all of them in the wrong directions. It might be a good enough reason that Manzorian himself has been away on other planes, instead of following the events in the Free City.
Although it may be possible to have the AP derailed, I find it fairly unlikely. But then again, I've been working on this idea with my players in mind, and if they heard that they lost a gladiator match to a couple of dwarves, they'll want a re-match.
It also takes away the notion that if the PCs screw up, something bad will happen, and that way they don't have to try as hard.
It also takes away the notion that if the PCs screw up, something bad will happen, and that way they don't have to try as hard.
Not necessarily. If you make it crystal clear that this turning back the time took a great effort and is not going to happen twice, they should get it and not take it as "deus ex machina".
Stefan