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When my players reached the end of the first installment of Legacy of Fire, they were about halfway from 4th to 5th level. I decided to give them a side adventure to get them to 5th level before starting the next module. It went against my "Grand experiment" notion of running the AP in the first place, which was to do all AP content, since for 30 years I've been running home-brew settings. But I figured I could find something within the context of the setting itself and place it before the heroes. In previewing the 2nd module, what stuck out to me as the obvious choice was Onyx Hall. It was close to Kelmarane, outside of the Brazen Peaks, and had a brief adventure hook in its writeup.
I've talked about it a lot in the latest episode of the podcast but I'll post some info here for those who are interested.
When I first read it, two facts about the location struck me as seeming very specific but open to interpretation. One was the fact that it was a cursed manor. The first thing that popped into my head was "undead," which indicated to me that when my players heard about it, they'd assume they were going after undead. Which is why I determined, whatever else I did, it would not be undead. The other was that the curse would last "until the stones themselves burn like a pyre." The first thing I thought of was lava or a volcanic eruption, so I decided it would have nothing to do with that.
I had a total of three conditions: No lava, no undead, and this adventure must be completed in one session. I felt the story I had in my head was workable, but if they had to step away from it, they'd lose the drama and the tension. So I wanted it to be something that would hold their attention and that they could finish in a short time.
I was dreading having to map and populate a manor house, when I got a wacky idea for an adventure. The initial idea made me think of the plot to a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, and in fact, I had been pondering lately how to make a trek RPG feel like Trek and not like D&D in space. The idea was that the party would be sent back to the beginning with no memory of having been in. I felt there was no way to really a) guarantee that the trick would work, and b) ensure players won't metagame the knowledge they got from going in before. So what I did was tell them what it was like as they approached the manor for the first time, then told them they were waking up in the morning sun. To add a touch of mystery, I said they found, amongst their possessions, 4 items they had not had before: a rolled up carpet, an empty picture frame, a gold goblet, and a brass oil lamp.
When I had this idea, I had no idea how they got those items or what they signified. I just knew I could tie it into the story.
I had several elements I wanted to get into play. The whole adventure was tied into the trait that one character took in the beginning of the campaign, "Earning Your Freedom." Since the curse was put in place by a witch who was sold into slavery, I made him a descendent. That idea actually came to me late, so I hadn't predicated the whole adventure on it while I was making up plot elements. However, that turned out to be the key that made the rest of the plot fall into place for me.
What was really going on was that the curse was bound by a genie, what I called a Cursebinder. Everyone who had come into the manor house to investigate the curse, over the last 200 years, was still alive, kept unaging by the Cursebinder's geas. As a foreshadowing of a recurring theme of the module, the genie was able to grant each of its prisoners one wish, but it would manipulate the person into making a wish to suit the genie's need. The genie had a good thing going, and didn't wish the curse to be ended. That's why, when the last descendent of the witch still in slavery (the PC) came to the manor, she had to get rid of them. The PC had the means to end the curse, by forgiving the family that had been cursed by his many-times-great-grandmother. The genie didn't want that to happen. So the party would come in, start to mess things up, and the genie would command one of her trapped victims to wish them away. But the power of the wish was somewhat localized, and the genie could only banish them from the manor, and wipe their memories as if it had never happened.
I figured the party would find where they had gotten an item in each place, or an item might lead them to that place. I had four locations in the manor: The entry hall (lamp), The ballroom (goblet), the library (frame), and the cellar Rug). They met the servants in the entry hall, and that was the cursed family living in servitude. I had them be deformed and scarred, the underlying reason being that the genie tortured them, and they were unable to die.
In the ballroom, the other adventurers from the previous two centuries were gathered. The cursebinder presided over a grand ball, and one of the NPCs giving the PCs information precipitated the conflict, which was that the NPC would be killed in a spectacular way. I had the genie turn the NPC into sand. This got the PCs involved, as well.
In the library, each of the books was a detailed accounts of the life of every family member of the witch, describing in detail each suffering of slavery, including the PC's life, up to the moment he was freed.
The basement had the tortured and twisted bodies of the family members, some flayed alive, some in pieces, some in chains... all in agony. This was intended to be the final spot where the party would go, and they'd find the family members and the PC ex-slave would decide whether he'd forgive them or not.
The stones burning like a pyre was the fire opals in the genie's jewelry. If the ex-slave chose to forive, they'd glow white, the family would be incinerated in place, and their healthy-looking spirits would be there to thank the ex-slave PC. If he chose not to forgive, the fire opals would glow red, and devils would drag off the screaming spirits of the family. Either way the curse would end, and the PC wasn't forced to forgive.
I didn't have a lot written down, and I made this up after the adventure was over, but here is what I had for the cursebinder. As I say in the podcast, these abilities might seem overpowered for the CR, but it was effectively a "bottled" monster, and I knew what I wanted it to do.
Genie, Cursebinder
CR 9
XP 6,400
LE Medium outsider (earth, fire, extraplanar)
Init +9; Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +16
DEFENSE
AC 18 (+0 size, +5 Dex, +3 natural), touch 15, flat-footed 13
hp 115hp (10d10+60 con)
Fort +13 (Base +7, Con +6), Ref +12 (Base +7, Dex +5), Will +5 (Base +3, Wis +2)
Immune fire, acid, mind-affecting magic
OFFENSE
Speed 50 ft
Melee 2 slams +15 (+10 Base, +5 Dex) (1d6+3) or mwk scimitar +16/+11 (1d6+5/15–20)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 10th)
At will - invisibility (self only), ethereal jaunt (self only), geas/quest, limited wish (to a geas subject only, once per subject)
3/day—stoneskin, telekenesis
2/day-plane shift (self only)
1/day-Intensified Burning Hands (10d4) DC 14
SQ Pact of Binding, Wish of Life and Death, Binder's Immunity
STATISTICS
Str 16, Dex 20, Con 23, Int 14, Wis 15, Cha 17
Base Atk +10; CMB +13 CMD 28
Feats Alertness, Combat Casting, Improved Critical (Scimitar), Improved Initiative, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (Scimitar)B, Weapon Specialization (Scimitar)B
Skills Appraise +12, Bluff +13, Indimidation +13, Knowledge (history) +12, Perception +16, Sense Motive +16, Spellcraft +14, Stealth +15
Languages Common, Ignan, Terran; telepathy 100 ft.
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Pact of Binding (Su)
Any creautre bound by the Cursebinder's geas ability places his life in the genie's hands. As a result, the genie grants the creature a form of immortality. Though targets of the geas can be killed, they cease aging, and their need to sleep, eat, and drink is suspended, as long as the subject is within 300 feet of the cursebinder genie. However, this unending life is at the whim of the genie herself. The target of the geas automatically fails any saving throw against any effect the genie imposes upon the subject using the Wish if Life and Death ability.
Wish of Life and Death (Su)
Every subject of the cursebinder's geas power gains a limited wish from the genie of their own choosing. However, the genie then holds the wisher's life in her hands, being able to create a number of magical effects, to the degree of a limited wish, against the subject of the geas. For example, the target of the geas may wish for staggering wealth, but after granting the wish, the genie may polymorph the subject into a hog. Because of the power of the Pact of Binding, the subject automatically fails the saving throw against this power.
Binder's Immunity (Su)
Although not a universal rule, the creature that called the curse into existence in the first place is often immune to effects created by the genie, and cannot be the target of the genie's attack. If the curse exsts on behalf of a family, often the descendants or relatives of the creature who invoked the curse are likewise immune.
Source Rule Zero Homebrew
ECOLOGY
Environment any
Organization solitary
Treasure standard (masterwork scimitar, other treasure)
Not all pacts are bound by diabolic magic. When a desperate mortal, perhaps with a touch of the elemental planes about him or her, has been desperately wronged, and calls down vengeance upon the source of that torment, the curse summons a cursebinder genie to enforce the curse. Such curses cannot be absolved by simple divine magic, and usually can only be lifted by a great wrong being undone, or justice meted out. Such curses are often overseen by a cursebinder genie.
Cruel by necessity, cursebinder genies oversee the punishment of the cursed, ensuring that the conditions of the curse are carried out in the most effective way for the cursed subject to understand the full wrath of the individual he has wronged. Often, additional magical conditions exist, such as a contract, with a signature extorted from the cursed, enforcing the terms and duration of the curse, as well as conditions that will end it. The genie is also often equipped with some token of the curse, which will change state when the curse is broken. Items of this sort might include a mirror that gets broken (or even made whole) when a curse ends, or a gem that goes black when the curse is broken.
Cursebinder genies often extort unwilling victims to help them carry out the curse. Some such poor souls are drawn by magic, some by persuasion, some by chance. To enforce her curse, the genie often intimidates a creature into agreeing to the geas, which almost always revolves around protecting the cursebinder. The genie then commands the victim to make a wish on the genie's behalf, which then subjects the victim to an unending life, or instant death (or worse) at the whim of the cursebinder through the Wish of Life and Death.
I recommend checking out the podcast for a more detailed account of what happened. The discussion starts at around 20 minutes in, after our talk-in and news segments. Let us know what you think.