Hey guys,
I have a bit of a unique scenario I need to somehow incorporate into Savage Tide, which I could use some suggestions on. Consider it a challenge for any devious and clever DMs out there (especially any of you who have already ran Shackled City).
Basically, it involves the great return of Orbius Vhalantru, who in my group's version of Shackled City, survived.
He'd been an awesome and very memorable villain, tricking his way into becoming the party's best friend and confidant. His kidnapping of Celeste was made all the more dramatic due to the fact that she was at that point engaged to be married to the party's leader. He'd fooled them all, and was truly a villain that they "loved to hate". And then, at the moment when the party would normally go take him out - things took a different turn entirely. From the clues available, the party essentially knew that both Vhalantru and Thifirane were baddies - but opted to go attack Thifirane at her manor first. They then proceeded, on a hunch, to discover the location of the Fiery Sanctum - and go take out the Cagewrights right away... skipping over Oblivion and the entirety of "Foundation of Flame".
How I reacted to that was two-fold: I opted to make party allies Meerthan and Jenya become the heroes of the evacuation of Cauldron, saving countless citizens, while the heroes were down below trying to stop the eruption.
However, in the midst of all that anarchy, Orbius Vhalantru was left unwatched... His ally Thifirane now dead, and everything going to hell down in the Fiery Sanctum below... So I opted to have him ditch his known Simulacrum Suit (the public face of the noble in Cauldron), don another spare that he had hidden away... and then escape the city in the middle of the chaos around him. The party later went to Oblivion and saved Celeste, but by then - Vhalantru was long gone.
So now, I am left with the interesting dilemma of trying to incorporate Vhalantru, in some way, shape or form, into the Savage Tide adventure path. I wish to do so only because he was one of our most memorable villains ever... and yet he was also "the one that got away"...
With Savage Tide taking place a few years after Shackled City, the beholder has had ample time to find a new life for himself. Yet, he also has surely stuck to his evil, greedy ways. His original escape likely led him to Sasserine, but he may or may not still be there. Also, as I said, he is in the possession of a new Simulacrum Suit, the appearance of which is currently unknown. (For all my players know, he didn't even have this backup one).
If you were in my position, what would YOU think of doing with him? Bear in mind that my Vhalantru did undergo the Tarterian transformation described in the latter stages of Shackled City - making him something like a Challenge Rating 16 foe.
Thanks for any help!
What if Vanthus, the central recurring villain of the STAP, was actually Vhalantru? Vhalantru murders the real Vanthus and his family, then attempts to gain power by serving another extraplanar entity--only this time it's Demogorgon...he'd be the beholder version of Tom Ripley.
This is a really interesting scenario that makes me hope Vhalantru survives my SCAP in progress. I think swapping him with Vanthus is easy and won't require you to alter the AP at all, really, just throw in enough clues so that the party can figure out his true identity by the end.
Is your goal to excite your player's lust for vengeance against Vhalantru or work their desire for a conclusion with Vhalantru into the PC's quests as an effort to defeat someone they have come to know as a renowned villain? The first is easier. If you're going for the second, I think it would take more work but be even more satisfying for the story.
I'm assuming this is going to be a different party of characters than those who knew Vhalantru in Cauldron, what will you do to provide PC continuity and knowledge regarding Vhalantru? Maybe you could do something clever to ensure that they have heard stories of Vhalantru's past deceptions. Depending on the time span between APs you could have one or more of the PCs be related to the original SCAP PCs, or perhaps they were trained by them at some point. They could recall grandpa's grumpy ramblings or adventurers tales told by their mentors of the one villain who escaped justice. Somehow the new party needs to have a reason to feel the same emotional enmity towards Vhalantru.
Thanks for the Vanthus suggestions - I definitely think that this is the best possible way to go.
The character's actions and motivations fit pretty much perfectly with what you might expect Vhalantru to be up to, the second time around. He's more aggressive, more desperate, and more driven than the "old" Vhalantru - who let his arrogance get the best of him, waiting for others to do the dirty work for him. Now he realizes that he needs to take action, to get what he wants.
Also, his role as a central recurring villain means that I will have quite the number of opportunities to make him well-known, and well-despised, by the PCs. Just as he was ever-present for me, in my Shackled City campaign - he will remain at the forefront of this campaign as well (rather than just making a little cameo unworthy of the hype surrounding him).
As for koramado's comments - my aspirations for the campaign definitely fall into both categories you mention.
On one hand, I know my players are still hungry for the chance to get another shot at Vhalantru. When the "big reveal" comes, and they find out that he's behind the trouble this time around, the players will be thrilled by the turn of events and be more driven than ever to get their hands on him.
Yet, at the same time, I'm much more ambitious than that - and I want to make Vanthus into the "new Vhalantru", too. I want to build him from the ground up as a new character and new villain, every bit as despicable and hated by the in-game characters as the original Vhalantru was (in time) hated by the original PCs from Cauldron. By the time the end of the campaign comes around - I want the players AND their characters to be just dying to get their hands on Vanthus... only to shockingly discover that their new enemy is not so "new" an enemy after all, DOUBLING the stakes. It should make for one of the greatest "grudge matches" in the history of my D&D group, at that point.
And of course, I will do my best to sprinkle enough clues throughout the campaign to ensure that the new characters do know a fair bit about the history of Vhalantru in Cauldron, so that the big reveal is meaningful to the characters, and not just the players. I like your suggestions regarding this, too.
Can't wait to start reading the actual adventures, and begin planning this "twist" in more detail.
I hope you'll keep posting your ideas for this as you go. If Vhalantru should for some reason manage to survive my crew, it would be great to do something along those lines in my campaign. Maybe not exactly your concept, but it is always so great to share ideas and draw inspiration from others.
Thanks for planting an evil seed in my head.
Regards,
Koramado