I love it when an evil plan comes together !

[Samuel Weiss]

I started my current online campaign on 5/14/07.
This was going to be a big one. Our first online campaign, where I started as a player before the DM got stolen from us by work, was Night Below. That went something like 5 years and the conversion from 2nd ed to 3E, with the mini-conversion to 3.5. It proved how unstable high level play was, so I set my expectations to lower levels for the next two to end around 14th-15th level. With those lessons learned, this one is supposed to hit epic levels. It involves PCs with links to PCs from our previous campaigns. I still do not know how it will end, but I knew how tonight's session was supposed to go.

And, shockingly, it did.

The loyal NPC magic item maker ("My name is Fred. I took all the shop classes.") died a noble and heroic death, beaten to a pulp by a shaboath golem while using disable construct on them (harm spell against constructs), revivified by the determined archivist, then blasted to his death by the late arriving bodyguards of the aboleth.

22 months of gaming, and it actually went the way I had it planned.
The plot is advanced as plotted, the PCs are suitably outraged at the death of their devoted follower, and I do not have a clue what the next chapter in the story is.
But I got this far!
Yay me!

Now what the heck do I do with 16th level characters?

[Kevin Andrew Murphy]

I think the loyal Fred could easily become a "ghost in the machine," specifically meaning a poltergeist that possesses golems and other mechanical gizmos.

Let an Apparatus of Kwalish follow them around like a puppy, attempting to sign things with its claws.

As for what to throw at 16th level characters, Baba Yaga is always fun for an encounter or two.

[yellowdingo]

They recieve some document delivered by a messenger that their dead sidekick was infact the rightful king/Duke/Baron and that The King's Wizard is behind the Golems.

So they can Take their companion to the Temple of Trisha Helfer on the Mountain of whatever, where he can be restored to life if a Powerful Cleric Uses Raise Dead in the presence of the Shrine. They are assaulted at the Shrine by a lot of these Golems and This time the King's Wizard.

Using nifty Subsidence rules that are floating around here you design a Shrine deep in the Mountain that is a death trap - the Wizard Collapses the Mountain on them as he dies and they must work their way out through a maze of destruction and certain death.

They may march on the Capital against the King and his troops - seeking the aid of Generals loyal to the True Monarch. Then they get to put a Friend on the Throne.

[Samuel Weiss]

Kevin Andrew Murphy wrote:

I think the loyal Fred could easily become a "ghost in the machine," specifically meaning a poltergeist that possesses golems and other mechanical gizmos.

He is becoming the ghost in the machine, but to break the general control of the aboleth.

Now swarms of free-willed living constructs will raze the subterranean lands for their own ends, driving all before them to menace the surface world!
But that is for the next campaign.

Kevin Andrew Murphy wrote:

As for what to throw at 16th level characters, Baba Yaga is always fun for an encounter or two.

Heh. They still have to defeat the aboleth. I just do not have a specific adventure concept in mind.

[Dale McCoy Jr]

Samuel Weiss wrote:

Now what the heck do I do with 16th level characters?

Idea:

Spoiler:

After returning home to either raise their friend or to lay him to rest, a powerful magic item that he and 3 other magic item makers all helped create is no longer working the way it should and the nation is now in peral. The 3 other magic item makers cannot be located by any means. Should the PCs travel to whatever plane the spirit of the dead MI maker now rests, he will tell that they need McGuffan item to fix it. (Studying the magic item and a knowledge check or two reveals the same.) They seek out McGuffan item and find it to be presently being retrieved by Aboleth's followers. Seeing this and a several magic items that control the wearer to obey the Aboleth's orders on the bodies of the followers reveals that the Aboleth fears losing control of his followers.

Does this help?

Shameless Plug:

Spoiler:

This Idea was brought to you by the Ultimate Toolbox, gaming inspiration for every occassion.