Well it seems kinda odd to be posting again on the AoW with the big news on the transition and all, but I figure the game must go on, eh?
I am about to run the Library of Last Resort and was going over some ideas on how to push and make even more hectic the last few adventures.
one idea I have had for a while is making the demi-plane of the Library have a slower run of time compared to the rest of greyhawk, thus meaning that by the time the characters have returned victorious, the world has passed them by significantly. I am not planning to make it to drastic, my thoughts are to make it as follows:
1 hour = 2 days outside
1 day = 2 months outside
1 week = 1 year
Thus most likely a year will have passed while they are in the plane. This helps to explain the pace of work on the tower in Alhaster, spreads the AP over a longer time, and also explains perhaps why the enemies within the cult of Kyuss do not move against them as fast in the last 3 adventures, they think they are dead or gone, having lost track of them for a year.
I am also planning to have a number of events occur while they are gone:
- The Day of Night – During a solar eclipse. The rise of an undead army, lead by the Death Knight Raknian and his lieutenant, a powerful undead (a Kyuss Knight which was one of the players cohorts at one time). The army will attack and wipe out most of a city or town, perhaps Elmshire, maybe part of the Shield Lands. The reaction will be swift and most of the army destroyed, though Raknian and his Lieutenant will escape, leading many to think that the age of worms has been averted. This is however just a taste of things to come, as undead begin to rise from graveyards with a greater frequency (think ghost busters "the dead rising from the grave!") in towns all across the Flanness, harsher weather becoming more common, a late spring frost killing young plants and blossoms, a summer blight and drought, and a early onset of fall with a very harsh winter.
(Hey it's global worming! I couldn't resist.)
Thus the players will return to find most/many thinking them dead and gone, their homes empty and dusty, the world a darker and more apocalyptic place then they had left (think 5-10 times more rain barrel men) and the general feeling that the age of worms is Nigh!
Any other suggestions for events that could occur while they are gone?
What do you folks think?
--White Plume Mountain erupts, spewing a cloud of ash that darkens the land all about (especially the region around the Rift and Alhaster!)
--Some polymorphed avolakia have been building a Kyuss cult in the Free City--its discovery leads to a brief civil war in the streets and a significant political rearrangement. The PCs are now persona non grata there, believed to have stirred up the menace themselves.
--An ulgurstasta roams the land (Urnst or Furyondy would be good targets), eating everyone in its path and spewing spawn of Kyuss right and left.
--An army of undead boils out of a hidden chamber deep below Kuluth-Mar, ravaging the jungle and descending upon Cauldron and Sasserine (cf. the Wormfall Festival in Savage Tide).
--Iuz is reported missing. Is he off arranging some sort of conspiracy with the minions of Kyuss? Or has he been removed from the game by them?
--The Sword of Kas resurfaces.
--Kyuss spawn are reported wandering in several important sites of where extreme magical contamination has been loosed, such as Rauxes, Chathold, the mysterious ancient elvish city in the Adri Forest, and the Sea of Dust.
Awesome Ideas, consider them stolen!!
Thanks!
And remember only you can stop the coming threat of Global Worming!
this trantitionsucks i valued the feeedback I really neeed to aquirer the template for the favoered spawn of kyuss if anyone can help a fellow DM please send that info to bagginshire@yahoo .com please!!!!
Awesome Ideas, consider them stolen!!
Thanks!
And remember only you can stop the coming threat of Global Worming!
These are all cool ideas, it's a shame you couldn't start showing them happening earlier in the campaign rather than all at once towards the end.
Any thoughts to how you'll present these inconvenient truths to the PCs other than just as exposition?
So I wrote up a monologue based version of the events we had discussed above. Here it is. I figured this speech would be given by Tenser or some other powerful ally, upon their return from the island of Tilagos. By the way the Citadel I am speaking of is the spherical fortress on the Negative Energy plane.
“Tell me your story, where have you been, tell me first, for I have grave news for you afterwards.”
“It has been dark times, hah….dark times indeed since you have left us. It began just a few hours after you left, the mountain to the North, known to locals as White Plume Mountain, it began to rain ash and fire upon the lands nearby, barren places, but it also began to shake the very earth, quakes felt by the commons as far south as Alhaster, and by the more attuned, such as myself, as far south as Magepoint. The skies above Alhaster darkened for nearly a week, with the sun rising and setting blood red. That was at or nearly at the 1st of Fireseek, as I recall. There were reports of an army of the undead being seen in the area, but it was hard to follow these up, as any who passed on the word seemed to die, and all word from locals in the area ceased, for in fact they ceased to exist. We will return to them later.”
“In the month of Coldeven, a powerful cult of Kyuss was discovered in the Free City, lead by a foul beast known as a Avolakia. It was this same species that wrote the passages on the circular well that you discovered below the streets of Alhaster. This Avolakia’s cult led to a brief civil war in the streets of the Free City, with pitched battles being fought not only by the city guards, but by the very citizens of the city, against these apocalyptic fanatics that seemed to come out of the woodwork from every organization. The free city is still suffering from the last throws of the witch hunts that have paralyzed the councils and thrown it’s society into chaos for the last half-year.”
“It seemed that little could get worse than that. However in the 2nd week of the month of Planting, a great frost arose from the North, destroying almost all of the crops planted so far, making many fearful of a famine, a famine, which I might add might now be coming about.”
“During low Summer, rumors came out of the North that Iuz, the old man-god of the North was reported missing. I have been unable to accurately assess these rumors, but many have questioned Iuz’s motives in the current times. The old one has been known to associate with all sorts of deadly cults and world destructive forces including the cult of Tharzidun, so it would not be out of place for him to arrange some sort of conspiracy with the minions of Kyuss. Yet he is also a jealous godling, and so it might also be the he has been removed from the great game by the Cult of Kyuss, I am not sure. Perhaps he seeks to play us all, or just died, one could only hope.”
“All during Low and early high Summer the lands of the North were beset by a powerful drought, parching the lands and desiccating what few crops farmers had been able to save form the frosts. Agath and I have tried, with some aide from other powers of our outlook, to aide farmsteads as we could, calling down favorable weathers, but it seems as if nature herself is against us. The circle of Eight has decided that it must look into this matter more, and so of course Mordekainen has side stepped helping the people, and has instead locked himself up in his tower somewhere, brooding, scheming, or just sleeping, I know not.”
“On the 1st of Reaping though, all hell broke loose. It was then that the Day of Night arose across the lands. Upon nights of the festivals, Celene, the aquamarine Lesser moon, shines brightly across the lands, showing her face for but those four short weeks a year. This is as it ever has been. Yet at morn on the 1st of Reaping she was again in the sky. As the midday approached, she took a place, standing still in the heavens, and covered the face of sun, an eclipse. While these events are not unknown, once in every few decades Luna will cover the face of the great mother sun, and hide her for a few moments, much more unique are the instances of Celene covering the face of her Grandmother, the only one I could find was a testament that upon the eves of both the Invoked Devastation and the Rain of Colorless Fire such an event occurred. None the less, the lands of Oerth were bathed in darkness.”
“This event coincided with the rise of a great army of the undead, lead by the Death Knight Raknian and his Lieutenant, near the city of Nystran, on the Northern coast of the Duchy of Urnst. Nearly 8,000 souls were laid to rest that day, as Raknian’s army stormed the city walls, and bathed the streets in blood. It was so fast that word could barely be sent out to the Duke before all were slain. The foul army left the wreck of the city, traveling swiftly through the night along the coastline, burning homesteads, looting and slaying across the land. I arrived in the ruins of Nystran late that eve, and met Duke Lorinar and his court not far from the city gates. That eve we had our work cut out for us as hundreds more of the victims arose as spawns of Kyuss as the sun, who finally showed her face, set.”
“Agath, the Duke, his Court, and I all traveled in great haste to the city of Goldplain, the last bastion of the Duchy before the wilds of the Cairn Hills. There we wove powerful magics to defend this country town, calling in the shock troops of the Duke from the capital, and preparing for the arrival of the Army of dead that eve. And come they did. Hordes of Spawn, it seemed that had grown fat on the peasants of Urnst, swelling their numbers until they covered the land with their filth. It was a battle the likes of which the South lands have not seen since the Greyhawk wars. Countless brave soldiers fell laying low those spawn of the near god. The death knight and his Lieutenant fought like zephyrs, cutting great swaths through our numbers, even laying low one of the Duke’s Generals. His Lieutenant, a massive undead beast, armed with a vast bastard sword and glowing plate, fought Agath to a stand still, only fleeing when I and he combined our might against it. . Their might was no match for ours however, and the tide soon turned. By sword and steel we brought an end to their terror, and won that day, if at a hard cost.
Raknian and his Lieutenant escaped though. I tracked them as far as a Citadel of hate upon the Plane of Destruction, yet there their trail went cold. It seems that the combined might of our forces managed to save the day and perhaps avert their plans, as the Duke and the Council of the Free City believe, that the Age of Worms was averted there on the shores of the Nyv Dvy, and that peace was brought to the land. I am not so certain however, and will await my final judgement.”
Great job! Its this kind of "value added" material that makes a great Adventure Path like AoW into an unforgetable one that you'll be talking about for years to come with your friends.
Wow. Fantastic job!
RPG Superstar 2008 Top 6, Contributor
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Nice read, but a few suggestions (as a long time contributor to the Duchy of Urnst in Living Greyhawk) - first, the I would use the Bar Rampant, the Duke's elite cavalry, as the likely troops that sallied forth. They are based in Seltaren. These would be more impressive than the troops in Leukish itself (though the capital does have a number of mages housed in Castle Leukish). Second, we usually refer to the Duchy of Urnst as "The Duchy, since Urnst can refer to the County as well. Finally, the Duchy is more the central Flanaess than the Southern.