My DMing style is strongly based on improvisation. As in improvisation matches, I have tight rules (a well-defined world) and well-defined themes, but the rest is played by ear and in interaction/reaction with the players.
Obviously, some game sessions turn out better than others, and sometimes I find myself thinking "Alright, where I'm I going with this..."
Last session, I painted myself in a corner (so to speak) and I need to come up with an answer for my own riddle. All suggestions are welcome. Here's the story:
Besieged by a small army of demons, PCs are trapped in a dungeon with friendly Fire Elementals exiled from the elemental plane of fire (read the spoiler below for a more complete retelling of the story). Turns out that this dungeon (a volcano where fire elementals are living) has been besieged by demons thousands of years ago, and the eldest (and strongest) of their kind single-handily faced the leader of the demons (a Marilith named Beshna). No one witnessed the fight, but the eldest returned to the volcano victorious, or so it seemed. Beshna was never seen by the Elementals again and the demonic army retreated.
After the battle, the eldest elemental retreated to his halls (which is now a temple in his honor) and started to diminish until only a smoldering smoke was left. Now that the demons are besieging the volcano again, the Elementals are afraid since their savior is no longer there. The PCs are commissioned to bring him back.
Some older elementals know a bit more and so told the PCs. Whatever happened in that final battle destroyed the eldest. He lost his link to the material world (a stone? a magical coal? a gem?) to the demon Beshna and couldn't sustain his flame. Unable (or unwilling?) to return to the elemental plane of fire (they are exiles remember), he now exists only in spirit and cannot take form nor convey his will in any ways.
In the meantime, Beshna (who was apparently not destroyed) was made captive by Elves hundreds of years ago. She still have the stone/coal/gem in her temporal-stasis prison (which the players know as well, but ignore to location of this prison).
So my question is, what exactly happened during the fight between the eldest of the exiled elementals and Beshna the Marilith, and how can the PCs save the day?
This is a Forgotten Realms campaign. Magic as an available commodity has been dialed down a notch or two. PCs include a Forest Gnome Bard/Rogue, a Dwarf Fighter/Barbarian and a Half-Elf Cleric(Sehanine Moonbow)/Wizard(conjurer). The Volcano in question is Mt. Hotenow, source of the unnatural warmth of the Neverwinter River and its namesake city. I'm not playing by cannon and I never played the computer games.
Campaign starts as the PC witness a Fire Salamader passing through the river in kind of a Viking burial. After many games, this will lead the PCs to explore the Fire Halls, an underground complex build by dwarves and commissioned by the wizards of Illusk at the same time they commissioned Gauntlgrym. This was built as a trade post to deal with the Elementals of Mount Hotenow. There they found that wizards of the Arcane Brotherhood declared themselves as rightful heirs of the Illusk wizards and claim the right to use the elemental forges like the Illuskan of old. This was denied and they started to attack the elementals. In this process, they booted-out the Goblins that inhabited the abandoned complex. The goblins didn't like that very much and opened an eon-old portal, summoning demons to help them avenge their evicted comrades. Needless to say, the goblins lost control and the PCs, after a few battles, retreated into the volcano and parley-ed their way with the elementals. This they succeeded rather well.
Three elemental nations reside side-by-side under Hotenow in a peculiar harmony: Azers, Fire Salamanders and Fire Elementals. Azers are the workers of this society, Salamenders are the warriors and Elementals are the "gardeners", tending the volcano and venting out its energy in the river to keep things nice and quiet. Each have their king, except the Fire Elementals who lost theirs to Beshna and never elected another one since the previous one still "lives". All are exiles from the Elemental plane of fire and doomed to guard this rift (the volcano) for eternity. In the story above, the Azer and Salamanders are relatively clueless, but the elementals know better (although they always kept that secret to themselves). Their newest NPC is a small fire elemetal named Ignos and will follow them outside the volcano since he is not "native" but rather an escaped wizard's familiar.
Thanks
'findel
The two immortals struck a secret deal: 2,836 years of peace, after which the elementals would surrender the (whatever the demons want). Each thought they were outfoxing the other; the elemental conspired to have Beshna imprisoned by the elves, and Beshna knew of a way to sever the elemental from its source of power by draining it into this item.
PCs enter Beshna's extradimensional prison, defeat Beshna and claim this object, likely with the intention of restoring the elder elemental. This is no longer possible because Beshna has turned it into a weapon, which the PCs can turn against the demon army.
(snip) This is no longer possible because Beshna has turned it into a weapon, which the PCs can turn against the demon army.
didn't think of that one yet. Interesting...
This tread should have been in the SUGGESTION/HOMEBREW forum. Darn
Perhaps link the wizards to the portal and forge via a magic item, be it a gem, a stone, or crown. In the final battle, the elemental realized the leader of the demons intended to use the wizard device to open a permanent rift into the material plane. Knowing the demons greed, and knowing it could not win by brute force, the elemental offered up the device, only to use its essence to trap the demon inside of it, but at the price of locking itself into the portal to prevent any from using it (its material presence vanished in the wisp of smoke).
However, over time the goblins (with an unsual and crafty goblin wizard or insane if the demon lord reached it in its prison) have studied the portal and found a weakness to once again release demons and their ilk. However, since that time the elves took the crown into safe keeping. Without the demon lord to purge the elemental, the gate can not be permanently opened.
So the hunt for the crown starts with the goblins aided by a demon advisor to chase down the elfs.
You have goblins, demons, players, elves and elementals playing a part in the final story. You could probably work in the wizard faction as well.
Of course, all this is based on my understanding of the backstory, so make corrections if necessary.
Perhaps link the wizards to the portal and forge via a magic item, be it a gem, a stone, or crown. In the final battle, the elemental realized the leader of the demons intended to use the wizard device to open a permanent rift into the material plane. Knowing the demons greed, and knowing it could not win by brute force, the elemental offered up the device, only to use its essence to trap the demon inside of it, but at the price of locking itself into the portal to prevent any from using it (its material presence vanished in the wisp of smoke).
(snip)
That could have been good, although I already told the players that the gem/coal/stone (whatever tied the elder fire elemental to the material plane) is in the possession of the Marilith demon named Beshna, who has been imprisoned by the elves eons ago. As a matter of fact, I know where that prison is (I'm reusing part of a pseudo-dungeon I made about 10 years ago for a different group of players) and the PCs will soon learn its location if they keep being smart.
Only, I haven't quite decided what happened in the last battle between the Marilith and the elder elemental. Self-sacrifice pact is an option, or else the demon actually won and retreated with what she ultimately wanted (perhaps the essence of an elder elemental was what she came for in the first place). Perhaps she simply won and preferred to savior her victory by watching the doomed elemental fade to nothingness. Perhaps the elemental's only way to win was to strike her with his own essence, only the demon was merely summoned and re-formed in the Abyss 1001 days later or whatever.
For what its worth, the PCs are now in town in the Elemental Plane of Fire (on the other side of the rift that the elementals are guarding), trying to find a mercenary Jann that would plane-shift them back to a major town... before their protection spells run out that is. At any case, this side-trek could be a way for me to give them some normally obscure insight as to what happened and what they should be doing. As a matter of fact, the PCs are good tacticians when it comes to combat, but they are far from having the abilities to take on a Marilith demon, unless its is severely gimped (which the elven enchantments COULD be doing).
If it were my campaign, I would have the Elder Elemental's victory BE his loss of essence - he sacrificed himself into a talisman of some kind that was forcibly given to the marilith. (Perhaps implantation of some kind?) This weakened the demon and led to her being captured by the elves.
The twist is that the PCs, in restoring the Elder Elemental, will have to free the marilith from the elves and restore her powers, which is what the demon army intended all along. The Elder Elemental is ticked, because the party just undid everything he accomplished so long ago, and (as it wasn't an easy victory) has to take the risk all over again.
Of course, it still isn't that simple. The person behind the latest demon army isn't a demon at all, he's a wizard... taking orders himself from a devil. The devil wants the demons tied up doing this because it tilts the favor towards Baator during an important upcoming battle in the Blood War. He doesn't expect the demons to actually succeed - perhaps he is even secretly helping the PCs - because the marilith's freedom would also be bad for him. So he'll try as hard as he can to maintain the status quo, until this major victory happens.
So to save the day, the PCs should NOT free the marilith, or resurrect the Elder Elemental, but instead find out who this Devil In Charge is and stop him. Without his leadership, the chaotic nature of the demons will ensure they don't maintain their campaign against the elementals. However, they can't discover the whole plan until after they have begun to recieve both hidden assistance AND hindrance from the same source.
The devil's wizard pawn, of course, has his own agenda - not some blind follower, but rather a business arangement. In exchange for helping the devil win this victory, he gets something in return. Perhaps the devil's plans could be thwarted by having the PCs make a better deal?