In the tired and weary but nearly triumphant Republic of New Edom, victory appears to be at hand. For the first time, a major expedition is planned which will invade the Great Kingdom of the Drenai--with the aid of Drenai themselves! Having built an alliance with the kingdoms of Cadwald and Courdewayne.
Link for the Celtic Great Kingdom(http://www.thecbg.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?39954)
Link for the Republic of New Edom
{http://www.thecbg.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?24252)
there is a general agreement that the Duchy of Deva and the Lords of the Haralaw Isles are the key enemies.
I'd appreciate any input or suggestions for the important elements and adventure path listed below, any requesting of details that might help me flesh out my ideas, criticisms or completely out of the box ideas. I should also add that my players at this stage have had a lot to do with advising the general plans.
Important Elements:
1. New Edom has a new High Lord named Crowl; a bitter but eloquent and shrewd man who lost a hand fighting hobgoblins on the border. It is his grand strategy that the new alliance is pursuing.
2. Two major thrusts of the planned military campaign: one is a land based one entirely which will move mainly forces of Courdewayne and Cadwald against the Duchy of Deva; the other will be supported by Yasg privateers and Cadwaldish ships but will mainly be New Edomites invading the Harlaw Isles.
The Adventure Path
1. The pcs (now at around 10th-11th level) will arrive at the city of Cordwin in Courdewayne (if someone can come up with a better name I'd be happy) and there are responsible for the safety and keeping of a disgruntled Harlaw claimant. Part of the plan is that this prince will accompany the invasion force and try to raise his people to his banner. (I'm trying to come up with an adventure for this but I thought something intriguish might be good)
2. The initial invasion calls for an attempt to get directly onto the main inhabited island. The best way is nevertheless difficult; a river entrance is guarded by a tribe of Sahuagin who are aligned with the current rulers of the Harlaw family. Once this underwater fortress is taken (by the pcs leading aquatic allies) longships can take the army up river inland.
3. The Harlaw prince (minded by the pcs) heads for his own lands to raise his personal forces. However it is discovered that they are terrified by an incursion of demonic forces sent by the Harlaw ruler to claim the lands.
4. The pcs and their ally attempt to rally certain of his clansmen to their banner; in so doing they have a chance to discover an heirloom weapon in a forgotten tomb that might give their prince the proper claim.
5. Meanwhile the rest of the army catches up (ideally helped along the way by now friendly locals) but by now the Harlaw ruler has rallied an army of powerful foes. Here a great battle is fought with magics, monsters and mighty heroes on both sides. The pcs have opportunities to discover much about enemy plans and the region to give their army an edge.
6. (Supposing victory) At the fortress-city of Harleigh the pcs are key to finding a way into the fortifications that will not involve a long costly siege or wasteful assault. In so doing they learn that this is the home of the lich that has been their true nemesis all along. They learn that for whatever reason the lich has prepared a powerful gate into another world to raise yet another force there. There are hints that they may find in this other world why the lich is the enemy of their people and what he truly has in store for them...
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1. New Edom has a new High Lord named Crowl; a bitter but eloquent and shrewd man who lost a hand fighting hobgoblins on the border.
Things like this always stand out to me. I don't mean to nit-pick, but in a land with magics and so forth, there's not many reasons for men the power and/or resources to get their missing appendages regenerated. However, such things can be worked into the character's personality.
Perhaps this Crowl has a disdain for clerics and thusly wouldn't let him tend to it(would work with the "bitter" part), or conversely, perhaps he made some kind of faux pass in his youth with the most common religion and has been excommuncated(causing him to work on how he presents himself, leading to his now eloquent nature). Hey, maybe he sees it as a badge of honor. I dunno.
Like I said, I see/hear odd details and it can just remove the believability for me.
Aside from that, I like it. Its a good path. However, its a new path, therefore we must fear and reject it.
Seriously though, lots of good in there. You might wanna set it up so that actions that happen in, say- Part 2 forshadow something from part 5; or the choices/interactions made in Part 1 directly effect what they have to face in Part 3. Those numbers were picked at random, and do not refer to specific story elements, just ideas for how set up the story.
Example: A decision to let someone go after taking down the Sahuagin forces could lead to one of two things: Either the enemy leader becomes more aquainted with what the party is capable of, so he plans traps according to their weaknesses(if the guy released doesn't feel indebted to them); or they gain a spy in the enemy's ranks, and become more aware of the situations they walk into at the Fortress-City.
1. New Edom has a new High Lord named Crowl; a bitter but eloquent and shrewd man who lost a hand fighting hobgoblins on the border.Things like this always stand out to me. I don't mean to nit-pick, but in a land with magics and so forth, there's not many reasons for men the power and/or resources to get their missing appendages regenerated. However, such things can be worked into the character's personality.
Perhaps this Crowl has a disdain for clerics and thusly wouldn't let him tend to it(would work with the "bitter" part), or conversely, perhaps he made some kind of faux pass in his youth with the most common religion and has been excommuncated(causing him to work on how he presents himself, leading to his now eloquent nature). Hey, maybe he sees it as a badge of honor. I dunno.
A regenerate spell would require a 13th level cleric, so if the church leaders are all 12th level or less this could still be believable. Also, he could have his hand replaced with a magical prosthetic/undead graft/weapon attachment (depending on alignment, personality, role, and taste). A very scary variant would set up High Lord Crowl to be corrupted by an artifact (i.e., the hand of Vecna) that is the main goal of the lich.
Interesting twist idea with the Hand of Vecna thing, Dragonchess.
I had Lord Crowl written up as a very proud man who liked to use his handless arm as a demonstration of the viciousness of humanoids; one of the pcs actually intends to regenerate his hand at some point. (when the pcs were young he was one of their instructors at an academy)
I appreciate the idea of linking the different parts of the adventures; I need definitely to work on that. Specific ideas like finding a spy are good. (Perhaps finding a spy or NOT finding the spy might greatly affect the adventure)
*bump*