Abyssal Realm Ideas?

SJ · Dec 8, 2002

Working on a D&D game for 15th level characters, and the last four-hour session will take place on a swamp-like plane of the abyss, where the evil Plaguelord (thanks, Chris Pramas) has set up shop, planning his vindictive attack on the Prime plane.

I need help with what kinds of things can the party (basic 6-member group) run into on their way to the finale. I envision some kind of city/circle/keep that the Plaguelord uses (and defends with some Pit Fiends) for the last location, but I'm struggling with the lead-in.

I'd appreciate some resources/ideas on 8 or 9 encounters to challenge a 15th level party. I'm not sure what an abyssal plane might feature, or what are some good encounters for high level characters.

And anyone going con'ing in Memphis anytime soon....Don't Look!

Thanks, GMs
SlappinJoe

reason · Dec 9, 2002

some ideas

Most abyssal ideas revolve around Bad Things. Pollution, torment, war, and so forth. I've always seen these places as where fiends harvest sorrow/pain from souls through twisted means. So:

Man-groves

Swamp filled with trees composed of the dead, pressed together and distorted, their legs broken into standing roots, arms lengthened out into overhanding branches. Broken fingers twisted out like putty to dangle in the water from overhead. The place is warm and filled with the sounds of torment. The man-groves moan and whisper. Something powerful lurks in this place, shrouded in steam, stomping between trees and breathing heavily. The trees are afraid of it, and get louder when it approaches. The PCs can hear it sculpting the trees with cries of agony and the snap of bones. A game of hide and seek, perhaps, with an unseen, terrifying creature.

Eaters

A place in which everything has a mouth, and is alive. A morass of twisted creatures, a thousand shapes, coating the ground, in heaps and carpets. All are devouring each other as rapidly as they can, but never seeming to get anywhere. Fiends with whips traverse the landscape, urging the eaters on. Crossing this should be interesting.

The Sharpnesses

A landscape of sharp-edged glass pillars. They cluster together, making passage difficult, and slice memories from those who come too close. Looking into the pillars can reveal fragments of the past of a thousand beings. Good to go through once slowly, as a setup for a later chase scene.

Acid Lakes

An outlet from who knows where vomits forth acid in streams and clouds. The occasional half-dissolved body, too. Mindless fiends dwell in the painful acid fog, feeding on the detritus. There is a constant screaming from a rack of souls tied over the outlet, watched over by by a fat, lazy, ambitious overfiend.

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Which reminds me, what about the chance of gaining an ally? Fiends are pretty much at each other's throats. Shouldn't all be a fight. Something that thinks it's too powerful for the PCs to bother might be a good conversation, and possible twist to things. Trust the fiend to help get into the end goal, trust it not to say anything when you leave? Hmm.

Reason

SJ · Dec 10, 2002

Cool!

Thanks, reason, that was really the kind of flavorful jumpstart that I needed. The Man-Grove idea is really good.

I had also worried that it can't be all combat, and I had thought a few encounters with chance inhabitants that would break the tension.

* a distorted lizard-headed man poles a skiff across the deeper area, he's not dangerous to the party, but has useful info (and a boat)

* a feral and insane beast shadows the party, taunting them with cryptic sayings. if captured or contacted, he has an item or info that can help the party w/ a later challenge.

* a hidden shrine in the shadows of a gnarled tree provides a lone beacon of light in the horrible dark. But light doesn't always mean good.

Anyway, great ideas!

SJ

Abyssal Realm Ideas?

SJ

Explorer

reason

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SJ

Explorer

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