I posted this over in a "Freeform DM" thread at EN World, but I thought feedback from Canonfire would be singularly appropriate.
In my undersea campaign, the party is currently in the region of the Sinking Isle (World of Greyhawk) in the company of humans once enslaved by a kraken. To defeat the enclave of tentacle-tailed mermaids who now command the kraken’s power, the party must fashion a weapon of Oerthblood in a forge known as the Hearth of Hearts.
While the Sinking Isle is mentioned in Greyhawk Adventures, I pretty much play the game by ear. On-the-fly DMing is my bread and butter, I enjoy plucking things out of my brain that fall in to place at a later date. I tend to run three hours of adventure with a handful of rough notes at the most.
Scia, the elderly druid leader of the imprisoned Drylanders, presented the party with a proposal. She knew the Isle would rise from the bottom of the ocean, if an intelligent being was sacrificed on an altar hidden in the depths. She offered her own life, so that the Isle might rise and the weapon might be forged.
That’s how the game ended two sessions ago. In yesterday’s game, she presented the party with a ceremonial dagger, with which to perform the sacrifice. I decided that the dagger was made of a substance similar to blue sea glass, the same substance from which the altar was fashioned. The altar is briefly mentioned in Greyhawk Adventures, but I made it one of three similar sets of ruins, each capable of summoning an extra-planar maelstrom.
Then I decided that the dagger was actually made from a shard of the altar (yes, Dark Crystal reference). As a description seemed forthcoming, I googled images of obsidian knives and daggers. In the end we ended up with a dagger of blue crystal with a hilt made from the bone of a leviathan. Scia mentioned the dagger held “potent magics”.
Uh-oh. The PCs would want more information than that. Then it hit me. Scia didn’t really want to die. She knew that she was old. She knew that anyone who lived in the caverns of the Hearth could never leave, for while the mysterious radiation of the Heath granted near immortality, one could never leave the caverns or all of their years would come rushing back (yep, borrowed from “War-Gods of the Deep”). She found a way to escape. On a whim, I have the dagger powers similar to a demi-lich’s soul gem. If you were slain by the dagger, it would absorb your soul. The next victim of the dagger would present an empty shell for the soul to inhabit.
Yes, I have too much fun, for people.
I was waiting at the credit union, earlier today, when it hit me. There was already a soul trapped in the dagger. Okay, that could be fun. It would be released into Scia’s body, when she sacrificed herself. It would be the sacrifice of this entrapped creature, now released into a body rapidly aging and wounded, that would fuel the altar.
So, what might tomorrow bring? What happens when this trapped soul is freed, even for the briefest of moments? Will it be friend or foe? Will impart ancient wisdom or reveal the location of treasures untoward?
Mind you, I DMed this game for over three years knowing that the BBEG wanted to use the planar maelstroms to drain the Solnor Ocean. I never knew why. It seemed an evil enough act in and of itself. Over time I decided that the waters would travel to the interior of a hollow world, in this case the lesser moon Celene. It seemed like a lovely place to visit; an adventure for later days.
Then I discovered a bit of buried lore. The demon lord Dagon and elemental princess Olhydra had twin daughters. That was it. All there was. All mine. I decided that Dagon imprisoned his daughters within Celene, each trapped in separate subterranean lakes now tended by kuo-toans. Only if the lakes were joined, would the daughters be joined once more. Together, they are a force to be reckoned with.
Oh... guess where all that water to join the lakes will be coming from?
I wonder if the Rhennee will have anything to do with the connection maybe some Vethas believeing that by joining the lakes a portal to Rhop will open flooding Oerth and bringing the Rhennee back home.
I prefer to use Rhop as a place on Oerth myself. But the water probably from the Solnor and Drawmij is in the dagger. So who's been meeting with the circle?
Are you aiming for a notorious Greyhawk character (good or bad) that disappeared/dropped out of the history books, or someone entirely new to start from scratch with? Story-wise, do you have a preference for good or evil? It sounds like you've got the bad-guy aspect of your story taken care of. Maybe an ally would be good, someone grateful for release that could help you as DM impart some ancient knowledge to the characters to futher the storyline. Maybe a powerful bad guy the characters need to team up with or strike a deal with to succeed in their quest? That’s always a good moral quandry for characters. _________________ The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed, in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a wide-spread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible. - Bertrand Russell
Does someone have to die by the dagger's blade every time the Sinking Isle rises from the sea, or are there other reasons the island may decide to take a peek above the waves?
If the latter, the soul in the dagger must be whoever died the last time the island rose. Perhaps it was one of Aedorich's crew, slain by Aedorich himself.
If the former, the soul in the dagger might be much, much older. Perhaps one of the original inhabitants of the Isle before the land-mass sank, before the birth of the sahuagin race millennia past.
If the latter, the soul in the dagger must be whoever died the last time the island rose. Perhaps it was one of Aedorich's crew, slain by Aedorich himself.
I was thinking perhaps Aedorich himself could make a surprise appearance. After his ship sunk in the storm, perhaps he was captured by the inhabitants of the Sinking Isle and sacrificed. He would be a pretty interesting character to release on the campaign, as a Herzog of North Province who has been dead for 400+ years. Depending on the nature of your campaign, that could create untold of havoc/adventure possibilites.
- A sahuagin, executed by his people.
- An elder kraken.
- A triton prince.
- A child of Olhydra, half-sister and rival to the twin daughters of Dagon.
- A Vecna-worshiping pirate, captured during an attempt to wrest secrets from the sunken isle.
- A mundane, nonmagical rat.
- A sea hag.
- The archmage Drawmij.
- A Scarlet Brotherhood agent.
- Kelanen, Prince of Swords.
- A hapless astrologer from Rel Astra.
- A saucy wench (with extra sauce)
- A salty dog (with extra salt)
I was thinking perhaps Aedorich himself could make a surprise appearance... He would be a pretty interesting character to release on the campaign, as a Herzog of North Province who has been dead for 400+ years.
The wiki lists him as a M-U but proficient with a bastard sword. Hrmmm.
Drowned One? Lacedon? Sea Lich (okay, gotta write that one up)?
Envision someone's soul now trapped in a body that will die in mere moments... I wonder if a phylactery is nearby. ;)
rasgon wrote:
Well, there are any number of possibilities:
- A sahuagin, executed by his people.
a timely possibility, as the currents near the Sinking Isle have shifted.
Quote:
- An elder kraken.
check. A spectral kraken has made an appearance.
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- A triton prince.
check. A former PC, a triton prince, is now trapped in a magical conch shell. (All Hail the Magic Conch!)
Quote:
- A child of Olhydra, half-sister and rival to the twin daughters of Dagon.
demon prince and elemental prince possibilities abound
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- A Vecna-worshiping pirate, captured during an attempt to wrest secrets from the sunken isle.
“Avast, mates! We seek the Sea Legs of Vecna!”
Quote:
- A mundane, nonmagical rat.
but first I need some rope, cheese snacks, and a crate...
Quote:
- A sea hag.
“You’re mocking me, aren’t you?”
Quote:
- The archmage Drawmij.
I have plans for his fortress.
Quote:
- A Scarlet Brotherhood agent.
I did work briefly on the Briny Brotherhood, comprised of escaped slaves from the Olman Isles.
Quote:
- A saucy wench (with extra sauce)...A salty dog (with extra salt)
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