I have a couple questions about how to make a side story for one of my PCs work well. Here's the jist, the people of his home town were going to kill him at birth, the result of a hideous prophecy that told of horrible things to come if he was around. Instead of being killed, he was stolen away and brought up by others far away, but is now returning to town to find his roots (he will be aware of the prophecy before going to town).
I've already arranged for his mother to have died just before he was born, so I think I can tie his presence in the community to the start of undead appearances on his arrival in town. Each night, the situation grows worse, until the party realizes that they can't beat this on their own.
They will then, hopefully, head out to find something or someone to help them save the town. What they find is an old tome that tells them of a ritual that will save the town, but requires that PC to sacrifice himself (the character really dies, then the player must roll up a new one). Should they then choose to return to town, they find its an all out necropolis, and he is left to perform the ritual to save the town. In so doing, he discovers that the prophecy requiring him to die really is just bringing the source of the necropolis to him, which the party can then defeat. Of course, if he chooses not to go through with the ritual, the town is wiped out and the necropolis continues to grow.
Now, here's the problems I'm having:
1) What would be a good "source" for the necropolis? Remember, it would need to be something that the party would have to overcome to save the town, and also something that can be tied into the "man from no woman born" thing. Perhaps some imbalance in nature or something? I just don't know.
2) The tome itself: It needs to absolutely sound like the only possible way for him to save the town is to sacrifice his own life. However, after he summons the source with the ritual, it should be clear to the party that they simply misunderstood its meaning, and that it referred to summoning the source of the necropolis. So really, doesn't seem like a bait and switch thing.
I'd really appreciate any help you could give. I've been wracking my brains over this, and think that this will work really well with my group in our big campaign, but just can't nail down these last 2 details.
Thanks again.
Maybe whoever prophesied in the first place was doing so to get him out of the way so they can create this necropolis. You could have be this mysterious enemy be an oracle of bones or a lich if you really want to get into the theme.
Hmm, interesting, I was playing it as an ancient prophesy that no one really believed until he was born, and then it all hit the fan. That might work though, just wondering how it would all fit (haven't played enough yet to know what exactly an oracle of bones is, but it sounds right, lol). Any other suggestions?
On a side note, it's pretty funny, I can come up with all the needed ideas for an all out campaign without a problem, but a relatively small personal adventure, and I'm lost, lol.
Don't worry. I'm writing a full 20 level campaign and I'm having the same problems with this stuff. An oracle of bones is a divine spontaneous spellcaster specializes in necromancy, perfect for your story. A lich would work well for this since it's such an old prophesy, an undead spellcaster could have planned this well in advance.
For the second item, maybe the tome is covered in an illusion which conceals its true message, or the first page has a misleading prophesy,which is what everyone saw, and only upon thoroughly reading it can they discover the truth.
Brainfart!
I like Dragonflyer's "false prophecy" concept. But there needs to be some kind of direct link between the PC and the necropolitan (is this a word?) source. It might be incredibly cliché, but - maybe it's a good/evil twin situation? Maybe his potential for evil was split from him and formed its own identity? Doesn't mesh too well wth the "from birth" component, but hey, that's what time-travel shenanigans are for.
Hmm. What about if the PC's FATHER was the good twin, with both him and the uncle pining for the same women? Uncle kills daddy, sets up the false prophecy when mom still says "no" in a fit of vengeance, thereby inavertedly setting up his own demise by reverse-prophecy? As a final eff-you he enslaves the village as undead. Because he can.
The Tome of Doom (R) could simply be uncle's diary/spellbook enchanted with basic illusions to reverse the text's context, detailing heroic feats and prophecies of impending-doom-by-kid instead of his own unspeakable atrocities and petty "if I can't have you" revenge-scheme...
Instead of a "man from no woman born" it could be a simple "only by my own blood" thing - for which the PC qualifies, of course. One body-meld-and-self-sacrifice later: boom. Of course, load-bearing boss is load-bearing; killing uncle McDead drops the curse, turning the civvies back to their living selves.
i like the above posts, and here's an odd idea of mine: if you still need some civvies to stick around for plot-advancement purposes, you could have the load-bearing boss' setup be draining the life force of the surrounding area--mechanically it just flips the townspeople to weakness to positive energy, healed by negative (like the black blood curse, undead affinity, etc.).
this, paired with the coincidental rash of illness and crop failure such a taint to the land would cause, would be taken as an ill omen by the townspeople, since they don't know about uncle mcstabby's lichdom.
three guesses who rolled into town the next month, no points if you get it right (it's prophecy-boy). the townspeople restrain themselves from running you out of town, but they bar you from the inn/shops/etc.
the town's priest offers to house you for your stay; a good sense motive roll might show that s/he seems to be in much worse standing in the village than a healer would normally be--odd, that.
might make for an interesting surprise for the party to arrive and the party cleric/paladin go to help out at the temple, only to find his offer of healing services shunned--it'd make a good clue that something is off in the village; especially since the townsfolk still detect as their normal alignment.
further investigation of the town's priest could find that s/he's having a crisis of faith; they remain faithful in such troubled times, but not only being unable to help the people of the town--but hurting them in any attempt--was wearing them thin spiritually. they don't know what
- - - - -
also semi-related, but you could use this area as a source of occasional dhampirs or undead-bloodline sorcerers (caused by the townsfolk-of-yesteryear's foray into semi-undeath before being saved by a prophesized hero) if you use the area in a game set later on in the future.
Interesting MustMask, I've got his story pretty much on track now, but I'll have to see if I can incorporate your stuff into it, could make for some fun.
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