Tell me about Melora

[Rechan]

Is Melora mentioned anywhere beyond the 4e PHB?

I have two characters with strong connections to Melora, and I'm not really getting any ideas to exploit this (especially for adventure hooks).

KotS is ending, and I'm trying to find a way to drive the PCs to Thunderspire, and there's not a lot of cementable plothooks (aside from the Bloodreavers, which is a little eh; Thunderspire is a rather far way from Winterhaven).

Does Melora have anything related to the Fey? I would definitely like to implement some Feyness.

 

[Mentat55]

Melora is often worshipped by elves and some other fey, I imagine; she has also been mentioned as a god that is respected and even revered by primal characters in PHB2. I think there is also some connection between Melora and minotaurs. There is definitely enmity between Melora, Baphomet, and maybe Yeenoghu.

 

[Rechan]

Melora is often worshipped by elves and some other fey, I imagine; she has also been mentioned as a god that is respected and even revered by primal characters in PHB2. I think there is also some connection between Melora and minotaurs.

Anything else? That's not a whole lot of info. Is Melora detailed somewhere other than the PHB?

There is definitely enmity between Melora, Baphomet, and maybe Yeenoghu.

Hmm. THat can be useful, yes, but on the one hand, I don't want to steer the PCs on "Yet Another Evil Cult Sorta Thingie all the way over THERE", now that KotS is winding down. That being the MAJOR hook is a bit much.

 

[Ktulu]

There is an AWESOME (I say this quite often) adventure module on DDI, written by Ari, called Last Breaths of Ashenport.

In it, there's a nice little part about the town worshipping Melora, and it's got some nifty roleplaying ideas (the module's likely too-high for your group, even with modifications, but the spot on Melora could be a nice little piece:

Spoiler

The town sees wonderful weather and bountiful crops, but their shrine-grove to Melora is pretty heavily defaced. When asked, the townsfolk just refer to a bad time in their history when they suffered and some lashed out against their goddess.

The real truth is the town has made a pact with far-realms creatures and provides sacrifices to ensure they always receive great weather and harvests.

 

[alleynbard]

I did a bit of hunting. Near as I can tell, not a lot out there.

There is this thread at Wizards, not sure if it would help. Exploring Melora - Wizards Community

 

[Kaodi]

Hmmm...

What if you had a disguised fey hire the PCs to capture a fabled animal that leads a group of its brethren from one area to the other? The thing is, there is an unaligned group or cult of Melora followers who derive some sort of spiritual benefit from this herd, and taking the creature would hurt them. The kicker in all of this is that the creature the players have been hired to capture is also a disguised fey, related to the one that hired them in the first place. And perhaps once the players are hired, that fey gains some sort of coercive power over them, and that there will be consequences if they do not follow through. Could lead them to a real dilemna...

 

[Rechan]

Hmmm...

What if you had a disguised fey hire

See, what I was hoping for was something that's a Message or Directive from the Goddess, or directly out of her portfolio.

The party has a cleric of Melora, and a Druid/Invoker of Melora. So, obviously having something coming down from the Big M would fit in.

Maybe I'm just creatively impotent right now, but "Goddess of Wilderness" just isn't inspiring me at all. It's fairly unspecific and lacking in detail. Especially since we're in a landlocked Vale and I'm trying to desperately find a Good reason to loop in Thunderspire.

 

[alleynbard]

See, what I was hoping for was something that's a Message or Directive from the Goddess, or directly out of her portfolio.

The party has a cleric of Melora, and a Druid/Invoker of Melora. So, obviously having something coming down from the Big M would fit in.

Maybe I'm just creatively impotent right now, but "Goddess of Wilderness" just isn't inspiring me at all. It's fairly unspecific and lacking in detail.

Perhaps Paldemar (the big bad from H2) has plans that adversely affect the environment around the mountain.

It could be, he has enslaved the mountain's primal spirit to help enact his plan of domination over the Mages of Saruun. You could re-write some of the later encounters to include this spirit in some way. By enslaving the spirit the lands around the mountain begin to wither and die.

If you want something a little more epic, try this. Thunderspire doesn't seem to be volcanic, but that can be easily changed. Perhaps he is toying with the long dormant volcano, preparing it to erupt and bathe the entire region in a cloak of choking ash. He could still enslave the mountain's patron spirit to do this. Once Nentir Vale is shrouded in darkness Vecna will reward him by providing him the tools to raise an army and march on the people of the Vale.

Both of these situations would warrant a message from Melora.

Come to think of it, I might use that last one myself. Except I might change Vecna to Orcus to keep the theme from KotS going.

 

[Rechan]

Perhaps Paldemar (the big bad from H2) has plans that adversely affect the environment around the mountain.

It could be, he has enslaved the mountain's primal spirit to help enact his plan of domination over the Mages of Saruun. You could re-write some of the later encounters to include this spirit in some way. By enslaving the spirit the lands around the mountain begin to wither and die.

Hmmm. This is actually particularly useful.

Another possible angle is to toss in the Far Realms. That something deep in the earth is bubbling up from the Far Realms. Aberrations are pretty, well, aberrant to nature, and all that good stuff.

I had pondered that the Feywild-Thunderspire was actually the Bitter Senate; a court of various fey. But I haven't really gotten any traction there.

But I like the suggestion. That can very well function. Thank you.

 

[alleynbard]

Hmmm. This is actually particularly useful.

Another possible angle is to toss in the Far Realms. That something deep in the earth is bubbling up from the Far Realms. Aberrations are pretty, well, aberrant to nature, and all that good stuff.

I had pondered that the Feywild-Thunderspire was actually the Bitter Senate; a court of various fey. But I haven't really gotten any traction there.

But I like the suggestion. That can very well function. Thank you.

No problem. Glad I could help.

If you are interested in the Far Realm, perhaps the primal spirits or the fey of the mountain are infected with an aberrant taint from the nastiness bubbling up from the earth. These beings have somehow taken hold of Paldemar and are using him to take out the Mages of Saruun. Perhaps there is some reason they can't do it themselves and have twisted Paldemar with empty promises and vague oaths.

This gives you a bigger threat to work with but it might mean skipping H3 in the process. That is, if you were considering on using that adventure. Of course, maybe not. There are some limited Far Realm overtones to that adventure as well. It might be twisted around to make it fit.

But if you aren't going to use H3, an aberrant threat at Thunderspire could finish out the heroic tier nicely. There is so much unmapped territory in that place, you could have some real fun with it.

If I had read H2 before I ran H1 I think I would have skipped my current campaign concept completely (say that 5 times fast) and ran it entirely within Thunderspire. I could see a full 30 levels working in that place, so long as you are willing to do the expansion needed.