Has someone already finished the AP with DD's Inner Demon end?

[Oceanstrider]

(Thank you DD for your fantastic improvements over the AP)

I will use rules from Heroes of Horrors "dreams and nightmares" chapter, because I like playing Adimarchus's nightmares as dreams instead of a plane travel, but I'm not sure how to play the different Inner Demons encounters: combat? rolepalying only? Some help?
Ciao
Oceanstrider

[section8]

At this point, DelvesDeep's group has just finished the Siege of Redgorge (listed here). I'm not sure how many DMs have been able to rush ahead of him to deal with the Inner Demon encounters.

I know I am looking forward to seeing what he comes up with.

[Sean Halloran]

Luckily my own party has taken a hiatus for the summer so DD can perhaps start to pull ahead from me and post more of his awesome ideas in more detail. I've reached the beginning of the Demonskar Legacy after just finishing "Gallery of Evil". The party is suspcious of a lot of people at this point, but don't know where to start when it comes to hunting down The XIII.

[MrVergee]

Here's what I did:
Alternative Ending

[delvesdeep]

Yeah sorry. we have been a bit slow of late. :(

We are just about to get into the plot nitty-gritty and the party will be taking on the LL and fighting 'The Fish' very soon after taking attacking Ike and his church.

I'm very much looking forward to revealing first Bishop Shebelth and then Vhalantru soon, both of whom have the full trust and allegiance of the party at this stage. The party were particularly pleased with the fact that Vhalantru was elected Mayor with their urging during the Siege of Redgorge. Should be a fantastic moment of the campaign!

As to the final few chapter alterations, Mr Megee has some great ideas there and what he wrote would work well.

My alteration centred around Adimarchus being rescued by the party from his Inner Demon. To do so they have to first rescue his greatest love Nidrama from Embril in the Haunted Village where the evil cleric holds her captive in the ancient Kopru Necropolis.

This adventure takes the place of the 'Strike on Shatterhorn' for the reasons I have mentioned many times here on this forum and in the Alterative Cagewrights and Admarchus document found on theRPGenius.com site.

The idea from this point is to travel to Skullrot to find the fallen angel where using the Dreamcatcher they retrieved from the Embril' Spellweaver, once they are in his presence, they can directly enter his dreams and therefore his 'Nightmare Realm'.

Within his Nightmare Realm they are greated by a ghostly guide, Haloen, who is trapped within his dreams by his terrible guilt and love for her daughter. Haloen was Adimarchus mentor, who found him guilty of treason, banished him from the Heavens and then sacraficed her own life on the battlefield to tear and cast part of Heaven into the pits of Hell. Even in the depths of his madness Haloen is still there trying to guide him.

Haloen instructs the party that the only way to free Adimarchus from his terrible insanity is to destroy his Inner Demon who lies hidden behind a wall of Adimarchus' downfall. Each door reveals a dream, and each dream recalls a dark memory which lead to his ultimate downfall. These are the very dreams the party have dreamed themself.

The party must enter each dream and stop the event from unfolding either through roleplay, combat or another action. When that is achieved then they are ejected back into the corridor where they can enter the next door.

When all of the dreams are redeemed the central wall in the circular corridor dispates and the Inner Demon (Adimarchus' Demonic Form) sits unpon a throne waiting. After the party defeat the Inner Demon they appear back infront of the Shackled Cage where Nidrama can release him and the party can help him convince him to redeem himself.

The party accompanies the weakened Adimarchus and Nidrama back to Occiptus where he must sacrafice himself to the flame (in the Skull)to resurrect the plane back to it's rightful place in heaven. While he attempts to complete the ritual, Anthux appears with Adimarchus' tratorous pit fiend generals to stop him and kill the angel.

The party defeat Anthux (use Adimarchus' angel statistics) and Adimarhcus is able to join finish the ritual causing the plane to rise into the heavens.

Nidrama thanks the party and from the ruins of the Skull where Adimarchus joined with the plane, a lantern archon floats over to Nidrama.

This is all very rushed but any questions let me know.

delvesdeep

[Oceanstrider]

Thank you DD
My 2 cents changes will be:
I will play this part a bith more "dreamlike" and alien for PC, without any wall and door, but only as a sequence of interactive dreams. PC need to stop the nightmare to unfold completely to solve each nighmare and reach the Inner Demon, but I fear they will have too much rolepaying and too few action, expecially during nightmares 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7. Some of these nightmares can be solved by rping but five "rping only" encounters seem too much: "Now persuade Adimarchus not doing this - roll the dice". So I will change somehow the way the PC can ineract with these nightmares.
I will also add 2 interludes of utter madness between the interactive nightmares.
Ciao
Mario

[delvesdeep]

My idea was to have the party experience the Nightmares in reverse order and replacing the first dream with Adimarchus' most tramatic memory and the first step in his fall - when he was torn away from Nidrama and when he killed another angel.

So why don't we work through the dreams and come up with possible 'tasks' to complete to steer Adimarchus away from his descent into darkness and madness.

When the party enter the dream they see it from the outside rather than directly as part of it as they did when they dreamed it. They can move outside the realm of the dream if they wish to stop creates or events transpiring before they arrive.

Dream 9 - Hate -Anthux's Betrayal

Here Anthux and Dark Myrakul manipulate Adimarchus into climbing into the Shackled Cage.

[u]Possible Task/Method -[/u]
* Revealing Anthux for the fiend he is (true seeing, dispel magic etc)
* Place someone else in the age - grapple,

Dream 8 - Fear - To'lor's lies

Here Adimarchus' Pit Fiend general To'lor, convinces the Arch Angel to leave the battlefield and try and 'rescue' Anthux.

[u]Possible Task/Method -[/u]
* Stopping To'lor before he lies to Adimarchus (attacking To'lors demon allies/bodyguard etc)

Dream 7 - Pride - Test of the Smoking Eye

Adimarchus sets up the Test of the Smoking Eye and ignores the warning of his general
[u]Possible Task/Method -[/u]
* Convincing Adimarchus to recruit mor troops or delay the battle
* Sabataging the Test?

Dream 6 - Deception - Sparing Anthux's Life

Adimarchus spares Anthux's life

[u]Possible Task/Method -[/u]
* Stopping Anthux from reaching Adimarchus as he fights his way through Occiptus (Using herd of Thunderbeasts, Slaad, demons etc)

Dream 5 - Horror - Occiptus' Transformation

Adimarchus watches the transformation of the plane

[u]Possible Task/Method -[/u]
* Defending the angels from the transformed demons
* Moving/Destroying/Hiding the tainted soul in the Skull

Dream 4 - Rage - Celestial Invasion

Adimarchus invades Celestia with a demonic army. Holen sacrafices herself to cast the battlefield into Hell.

[u]Possible Task/Method -[/u]
* Destroying Haloen's crystal horn (attacked by demons and angels a like

Dream 3 - Pain - Tainted Soul

Graz'zt rips half of Adimarchus' soul away and replaces it with part of the demonic general Occiptus soul.

[u]Possible Task/Method -[/u]
* Stealing back Adimarchus' soul from Graz'zt and placing it back into his chest.

Dream 2 - Anger - Adimarchus' Trial

Adimarchus is banished from Heaven

[u]Possible Task/Method -[/u]
* Finding Nidrama's fallen crushed flower in the Cathedral (to use to convince Adimarchus their is still hope for redemption)

Dream 1 - Despair - Graz'zt the Deciever

Adimarchus murders the angel guards and is taken away. The Angel Leader true identity is revealed - the demon lord Graz'zt.

[u]Possible Task/Method -[/u]
* Warning Adimarchus and Nidrama, convincing them to flee, delaying the angel guards.
* Confronting Graz'zt?

Anyway, these ideas are very raw and writing them I have realized that I have forgotten alot of the ideas I had behind the adventure so I had better read over my notes again. :(

I know I included many ideas for this adventure in another thread I wrote over a year a go. I will try and find it.

Anyway, if you have any further idea on tasks/dreams tec please post them up

Delvesdeep

[Intrepid]

Instead of using a dream realm, I'm planning on having these scenes occur on Occipitus itself, where the realm is reenacting each of the stages of Adimarchus' descent in response to his release and to Nidrama's attempts to bring him back to sanity in Skullrot. She will find it impossible to help him then realize it has to do with the link between him and Occipitus. The PC's will need to go there and deal with the mad, evil influence of the realm "feeding back" into Adimarchus.

I'm planning a sacrifice as well, but would prefer it be more personal, not Adimarchus. My PC's did not trigger the "self-sacrifice" feature of the plasm geyser, so I may be able to use that little surprise. One PC (with the smoking eye template) is an air elemental savant, another has an item forged in Celestia. The two connections to the other planes, in conjunction with celestial effort, can wrench Occipitus off its unholy/fire plasm access and make it a pocket plane anchored between the celestial and elemental, but not part of either. The celelstials will use it as a "nice" prison/safehouse for Adimarchus, but Nidrama will stay with him and there is the hope of future redemption if he can regain his sanity completely. The PC with the smoking eye template will need to remain and rule the plane, and the rest of the PC's will go epic to deal with the aftermath on the material plane.

[Oceanstrider]

These are my 2 cents ideas and options:
Nightmare Four – Invasion of Heaven (Revenge) – Defeat or at least distract Occipitus so celestial armies can fight back the demonic invasion without the need of Aloen’s self-immolation. Enemies: Occipitus
Nightmare Five – Occiptus (Pain) – Convince to Adimarchus to not becaming the ruler of Occipitus, but to reach him PC have to fight the monsters created by the plane itself. Enemies: hordes of Occipitus native creatures

I feel that may also by interesting if PC help Adimarchus as they were his friends during the other Dark Dreams:
Nightmare Seven - Test of the Smoking Eye (Pride) – Develop a battleplan to defeat Graz’zt mightier army
Nightmare Eight – Abandonment (Fear) – PC bodyguard Anthux during the battle to prevent Anthux to be captured by Graz’zt forces, so upsetting Graz'zt plan.
Nightmare Nine – Ultimate Betrayal (Madness) – Free Anthux by offering to Dark Myrakul another best-fit prisoner, Graz’zt then defeat Graz’zt in battle and imprison him. Dark Myrakul accepts the PC proposal because in thi way he can be free from Graz'zt.

Ciao
Mario