| GureiKun |
Hey guys; so a few of my players can't make this weeks game. I know i could just pull a "mark the red" and have them quiet and inactive in the proverbial background but i've managed to get my players invested in the characters and the story so in lue of that i'm thinking of having those who can turn up do what is an acknowledged side quest that will be related to but not an essential part of the story.
For context the party is in Olfden, Andoran. They have just escorted some refugees from one of the PC's hometown to there. The refugees were fleeing from a second goblin uprising that looks like it could be on the scale of the goblin blood wars. There is of course a little more to it (a cabal of necromancers are staging the war and getting in the way of the government's response to it as part of a power play to get the MacGuffin from Almas' University of the Arcane). I have of course dropped hints so the players are suspicious that more is going on - the current "face of evil" is a young female sorcerer that they encounter but haven't managed to capture/kill yet.
The party was probably going to head off south to the capital as they are on a quest for an Eagle Knight Captain to take word of the scope of the goblin uprising to the (suspiciously) inactive andorian government. My plan is to agree (metagame) with those who are there on saturday that they will not head off on that quest but that i have a side adventure for them.
The seed i have for the adventure is this :
1. The PCs are confronted by a mother who claims her daughter has been abducted.
2. When they go to the girls room there is a message in blood on the wall (shamelessly nabbed from the lone wolf books) :
"When the full moon shines o'er the temple deep,
A sacrifice will stir from sleep
the legions of a long forgotten lord.
When a fair royal maid on the altar dies,
The dead of traitor's gorge shall rise,
To claim their long-awaited reward."
3. Introduce some background about traitor's gorge being the site of a battle where an old noble family that had origionally aided in the andorian war of independance turnned on the common people. They were slaughtered to a man in brutal fashion. The region is now known to be full of ghosts of the traitors, bound there by their betrayal. There is indeed a temple to pharisma there; where a lone monk attends to the souls of those unable to pass on to the next world. The blood message is curious because Andoran now has no nobles, and certainly the missing girl is as common as they come.
4. the pcs travel to traitor's gorge (I NEED IDEAS FOR THINGS THAT HAPPEN ALONG THE WAY!).
5. When they arrive the sorceress is performing a necromancy ritual to bring back the traitors as an undead army. The girl is "andorian nobility" in the sense that in andoran the common man governs in place of royalty.
6. The ensueing battle plays out, either they kill the sorceress and save the day (making the undead army a potential resource aragorn style), or she manages to summon the army in which case they would have to escape and the campaign situation becomes more dire for all concerned.
Does this sound good? Ideas for different challenges that could fit in here?
Many thanks :)
G