Running Delvesdeep's last chapter (spoiliers)

[zebuleon]

Hey,

I'm coming up on the final chapter going the route Delvesdeep wrote in his cagewright document. But I'm unsure how to run it.

I figure the first part is similar to the book, in that they need to get to Skullrot and to Adi's cage. So a final dungeon crawl. Then they use the dream catcher to enter his dreams, that's where I'm unsure how to run it.

Should I just start the dream sequence at the beginning, or start it a little bit in, basically reading a bit to them as they come upon the scene?

I'm thinking it would take place on a series of platforms with stairs going down, kind of descending into his madness. each platform will have the ghostly encounter. Maybe a visual clue as to whether the party are doing the right thing would be for the platform to either be destoryed or hardened into blackness kind of thing.

What have been some of the ways any of you have ran these events?

[TyroAmberhelm]

I am also interested in how people ran the final confrontation. Anyone?

[Tormak]

I ran the dreamcatcher sequence as a series of vignettes. The PCs entered Adimarchus' dream and found him in his gilded cage in his separate halves - the angel and the demon. Whirling around the area were concepts, feelings, and emotions. Betrayal. Treachery. Exile. Wrath. Revenge. Things that defined Adimarchus' fall from glory. The PCs could use these words to open 'portals' back through Adimarchus' memories to the moment in his life when this emotion was strongest. When they were there, the related moment from Adimarchus' dreams (see: delvesdeeps dreams that were sent to the owner of the smoing eye, or the one with the scarred soul trait) would spring to life around them and begin to play, endlessly.

When the PCs were ready to take action, they could bodily 'enter the scene' and implant their will upon Adimarchus' memories to try to change the situation. For better or worse, the outcome of their intervention would either change that memory and emotion to a better one ( Treachery - Loyalty, Wrath - Love, Ambition - Serenity, etc) or cement the negative emotion into a permanent part of Adi's psyche. They aren't changing history, they're just showing Adimarchus' fractured mind what could have been, or what should have been. By showing him hope still exists, or in reverse, that all hope is lost and he should give in, they effectively "rebuild" his broken mind.

I chose to lock off "Wrath", which is Delvesdeep's final dream where it is revealed that Adimarchus slew several angels, and was also set up by the Angel general, Athux in disguise, until they had seen the rest of Adimarchus' life first.

As the emotions changed towards one end or the other, the aspects in the gilded cage began to fight. My group managed to successfully traverse every emotion positively, and so the angelic side of Adimarchus defeated the demon. There was no "final boss battle" except the battle against the Warden.

Hope this wa shelpful and/or not too late.

[delvesdeep]

Hello everyone,

I haven't been back on this forum for what feels like years now. My game effectively stopped before I was able to play out the final sequence I had planned.

I like the ideas above. I always toyed with how the players would resolve the dreams after they entered each nightmare. I was unsure where it should be 'solid' fragment of his mind they needed to retrieve from each dream or whether the door to this dream simply faded once the characters moved through it.

I preferred a mixture of roleplaying challenges, skills based contests and battles to just another series of hack and slash encounters. I'll fish out the old documents and have a look at the dreams and see if I can get the creative juices flowing again ;)

I envisioned the party entering a circular corridor with doors. Each door lead to one of Adimarchus dreams. When all the nightmares were resolved the inner wall would fade revealing Adimarchus inner demon resting upon a throne of writhing souls. He would be staring into and manipulating a pool that stretched out before him, revealing the Dreamscape.

All in all its nice to hear that people are still using the material. Where are you finding the old documents? Keep up the great work and good ideas!

I doubt whether I will every finish off the Adventure Path now. My goals now to create a new group of players to begin a new campaign using half the old group and a few newbies. Life just keeps getting int he way but I've gone to long without playing now so its time to start again. I'm looking forward to it!

[Werecorpse]

delvesdeep wrote:

I doubt whether I will every finish off the Adventure Path now. My goals now to create a new group of players to begin a new campaign using half the old group and a few newbies. Life just keeps getting int he way but I've gone to long without playing now so its time to start again. I'm looking forward to it!

Where did your campaign get up to?

[Greystaff]

Delvesdeep...all the docs are still at the RPGenius (http://therpgenius.pbworks.com/w/page/22143327/FrontPage). Thanks for your contributions to the AP.

[delvesdeep]

Werecorpse wrote:

delvesdeep wrote:

I doubt whether I will every finish off the Adventure Path now. My goals now to create a new group of players to begin a new campaign using half the old group and a few newbies. Life just keeps getting int he way but I've gone to long without playing now so its time to start again. I'm looking forward to it!

Where did your campaign get up to?

We were just about to head into the Haunted Village.

[delvesdeep]

Greystaff wrote:

Delvesdeep...all the docs are still at the RPGenius (http://therpgenius.pbworks.com/w/page/22143327/FrontPage). Thanks for your contributions to the AP.

Thanks Greystaff. I noticed the site has a great deal of my early writings. Some of which I forgot I had ever put together ;)

Most of these don't have my name on them though such as -

1.Skie's Treasury
2.Cauldrons Coins
3.The Cauldron Aquirers
4.Foreshadowing Documents
5.Knights Chivlar
6.Sasserine
7.Alternative Adimarchus and the Cagewrights
8.Invasion of Regorge
9.Demonskar Ball
10.Last Laugh Guildhouse ideas

I used all of them except for the last couple of chapter ideas/adventures

Cheers

Delvesdeep

[KenderKin]

zebuleon wrote:

Hey,

I'm coming up on the final chapter going the route Delvesdeep wrote in his cagewright document. But I'm unsure how to run it.

I figure the first part is similar to the book, in that they need to get to Skullrot and to Adi's cage. So a final dungeon crawl. Then they use the dream catcher to enter his dreams, that's where I'm unsure how to run it.

I am working through DD's outline for this as well and wanted to get some feed-back, my idea is that at first they think the dream-catcher failed.....

Here is the draft of what I have so far.....

Redeeming Adimarchus
You save Nidrama from the Haunted village and recover the spellweavers dream catcher.

Divination magic reveals:
Shackled in nightmares
Of long done deeds
Only true love’s kiss
Nightmares becoming bliss
Only by undone deeds
May Adimarchus be freed

As you place the dreamcatcher above the shackled cage….
The dream catcher comes to life, creating a smooth pool of strange visions, the pool constantly expands with a great wind moving through the area. And then you feel the pull of the dreamcatcher pulling you into the dreams of a mad god’s nightmares!
Suddenly you are pulled through the portal into the misty realm of shadows and nightmarres, you can no longer see the way back, instead you see, sense, and even feel the dark tendrils of madness writhing through everything.

The darkness and madness leaves little doubt of the dangers to both your mind and body on a quest within a nightmare realm beyond redeemptions’ reach.

At first it seems you are drifting upon and through what seems like a thick fog that reveals only flashes of emotions and negative energy to you, First is hate and betrayal linked together in a measure that is beyond your experience; the next wave is Fear, then pride, then you feel deception (as if those with you could betray you at every moment); Then you are hit with utter horror beyond your reconing; Then rage that burns and even those near you seem to be killed to right the wrongs they have done you); then pain as if you are being torn in two and your soul is being separated from your body at the same moment; then anger; and then lastly and thankfully despair unlike you have ever felt before.
After the journey through the emotions and into the dream plain you find yourself in a drained state.

You find yourself upon a solid and real stone floor.

Dream 9 Hate (Anthux’s betrayal)

You awake to find yourself lying on the floor near the shackled cage, you look that way to see what has happened, what went wrong that you were not able to enter the dreams….
The entire prison is deathly quiet, the prisoners screams have all been silenced,
The shackled cage is standing upright and three celestial beings are standing in front of it, one (adimarchus) has one foot in the opened cage….
Dark Myrkul: ”Step within my friend, I will ward you and see that none will be able to harm you within.”

The other celestial being lays a hand upon Adimarchus’s shoulder…Anthux ”Truly this is the only option that remains to us.”

Anyone need the dream reminder?

Anthux turns and notices you for the first time and he calls out to Adimarchus:
”Quickly my friend they have come to (stop you from doing good) put Heaven’s judgment upon you!”

What do you do?

Ending the scene – In burst of smoke and sulfur the revealed fiend points at you, the magic hits and a sudden jarring….

Dream 8 Fear (To’lor’s lies)

, you find yourselves witnessing a pitched battle between Celestial and fiendish armies.
The fighting is vast and it takes some time to determine what is going on..

The thing that catches your concern immediately is not the Heavenly hosts nor the demonic hordes waging war against each other it is instead the leaders of those armies. For leading the demonic hosts is the light of a celestial being as you squint against the brightness you can make out Adimarchus and his general (at his right hand) a Pit Fiend!
Anyone need the dream reminder?

What do you do?

The pit fiend screams over the din of battle
@Adimarchus ”Now is your chance, while we have them rocked back upon their heels, now you can rescue Anthux from the Celestials ‘mercy’!”
The word mercy drips with both hate and sarcasm.

Ending the scene