Trit One-Ear
Explorer
Hey readers,
I'd love some thoughts/reactions/insight to this plot I'm creating as the next adventure for my long-form campaign. It's a bit long, so thank you in advance for anyone who's interested enough to read the whole thing! Now that I'm writing it all out, it sounds like... a lot of things happening at once. Please let me know if things are overly convoluted, or any other thoughts you have.
PLAYER MOTIVATIONS: My party is currently island hopping, seeking out 6 temples, one dedicated to each of the chromatic dragon types (I have created a 6th type for my setting.) They have been directed to an island a ways from the main city they frequently return to, believing it to be location of the Temple to the Blue Dragons. Upon arriving at the island, however, they are involved in a murder mystery. They will have to help find the murderer to appease the leonin keepers of the temple to allow visitors to access it.
HISTORY OF THE TEMPLE: Aeons ago, the mightiest dragons each built a temple to the dragons of their color, each serving a purpose based on the wishes of their creator. The blue dragon found a cliff-faced island, with arid grasslands making up the majority of the top. In the center, however, was a lush oasis. The dragon rearranged the waterways in the oasis, and claimed the central lake area as the location for its temple. Its temple was fairly simple - a stone building with a few rooms, mainly reserved records of the brilliance of the dragon and their allies, and a collection of items/inventions made by their followers. Over the years, the few defenses failed, but the most deadly remained - if a person failed to attune to the altar within, the entire lake bed was flushed with a magical honey, thus preserving the attacker and adding them to the blue dragon’s collection. The idea was the blue dragon’s followers would regularly return to attend to the temple, resetting the trap (magically dismissing the honey), and capturing those caught within, but it has been centuries since that has happened.
The last time the altar was triggered, an angel was escorting a group of holy warriors to the temple. They wished to claim the dragon’s power to serve their god. However, their agent failed, and triggered the trap. The angel, acting quickly, protected their companions allowing them to escape, but it itself was captured within the honey. It has remained there for centuries, unable to escape.
The presence of the angel has altered the honey over time. Before, just a magical hazard, the honey now carries some of the holy power of the angel. Several generations ago, a tribe of leonin have inhabited the island. When the leonin tribe discovered the lake, they did not explore the depths, instead building a culture based around the powers given to them by this infused honey. Not long afterward, a tribe of gnomes also made this island their home. While the leonin live upon the top of the island, the gnomes have made their homes within the caves within the cliff faces. (These gnomes have evolved into a semi-hive-mind society due to reasons I won't get into here.) The two tribes over time have developed a society together, though classism causes conflict occasionally.
THE MURDER MYSTERY: Players arrive looking for the temple, and find the two villages preparing for a large celebration. A joining ceremony (effectively a wedding) has been planned between two prominent figures in each village. This marriage will hopefully strengthen connections between the tribes. As the PC's begin to learn about the unique situation upon this island, a great uproar disrupts preparations. The High Priest of the leonin, who was to officiate the ceremony, has been found in his tent, his throat slit by a stone knife left beside the body. Both tribes begin to accuse each other. It is not long before the heroes are asked to intervene as neutral third parties.
There are several leads they might investigate. Unfortunately, the high priest didn't see his murderer, so Speak with Dead etc. are of little help. (The priest also does not desire to be resurrected, as they wish to receive their reward in the afterlife for their lifetime of holy service.) There are other leads however:a group of gnome rebels has begun to organize against the "ruling class" leonin.Both the groom and the bride are marrying for political reasons, not love, and have their own ex-lovers who might be jealous.Some of the higher-up leonin harbor traditionalist beliefs, and do not want a gnome/leonin unity to jeopardize their traditions or control.And lastly, good old greed: A gnome attendant to the High Priest has gone missing, along with the priest's holy scepter.I have a cast of NPC's and encounters ready for the heroes as they question citizens, investigate leads, explore the island, etc. What they eventually discover however, is much more sinister...
THE MURDERER: Rumors of the magical honey springs have spread across the surrounding islands. A powerful Ulitharid, Gruduvex, learns of its existence, and delves deep into the history of the island to learn the true nature of the honey lake. They concoct a heretical plan - use the honey springs to birth new tadpoles, eventually becoming an Elder Brain that resides within the pool. Their theory - if powerful necromantic magics can make alhoons (mind flayer liches), perhaps the celestial magics of the pool will create a less despicable powerful variant of mind flayer.
Gruduvex takes a small number of mind flayers with him, and establishes a hidden colony in the base of the towering island. Here, they create a number of intellect devourers, with the goal of enthralling the two tribes of the island. However, they learn of the impending “joining” ceremony and worry the use of the lake in the ceremony might alert the natives to the presence of the angel trapped within. Not wanting to take any risks, and fearing the natives might free the angel should they learn of its existence, Gruduvex captures the sister of the groom, feeds her to the intellect devourers, and uses her to sabotage the ceremony plans. When that does not prove to be enough, they murder the elder overseeing the ceremony to buy themselves more time to complete the creation of more intellect devourers and to establish stronger control over the tribes. In order to protect their plans from being discovered (especially from the hivemind gnomes), they equip the sister with a Ring of Mind Shielding, which is likely to be how she is eventually discovered. Meanwhile, they have been making thralls out of the aquatic chuul that lurk in the waters below the island to defend the fledgling colony.
Once the players discover the groom's sister's true nature, they will be able to discover the Ulitharid colony below the island and confront the true villain of the story.
PHEW! Made it! I find doing murder mysteries in D&D especially hard, but really satisfying when done right. I'm comfortable, with enough prep, to play big sections of this fast and loose, as my party and I have been playing together for 8+ years, but with all the moving pieces, I'd love to hear any issues or flaws I may have overlooked. Also, if anyone has experience running murder mysteries for D&D, I'd love to hear your advice!
I'd love some thoughts/reactions/insight to this plot I'm creating as the next adventure for my long-form campaign. It's a bit long, so thank you in advance for anyone who's interested enough to read the whole thing! Now that I'm writing it all out, it sounds like... a lot of things happening at once. Please let me know if things are overly convoluted, or any other thoughts you have.
PLAYER MOTIVATIONS: My party is currently island hopping, seeking out 6 temples, one dedicated to each of the chromatic dragon types (I have created a 6th type for my setting.) They have been directed to an island a ways from the main city they frequently return to, believing it to be location of the Temple to the Blue Dragons. Upon arriving at the island, however, they are involved in a murder mystery. They will have to help find the murderer to appease the leonin keepers of the temple to allow visitors to access it.
HISTORY OF THE TEMPLE: Aeons ago, the mightiest dragons each built a temple to the dragons of their color, each serving a purpose based on the wishes of their creator. The blue dragon found a cliff-faced island, with arid grasslands making up the majority of the top. In the center, however, was a lush oasis. The dragon rearranged the waterways in the oasis, and claimed the central lake area as the location for its temple. Its temple was fairly simple - a stone building with a few rooms, mainly reserved records of the brilliance of the dragon and their allies, and a collection of items/inventions made by their followers. Over the years, the few defenses failed, but the most deadly remained - if a person failed to attune to the altar within, the entire lake bed was flushed with a magical honey, thus preserving the attacker and adding them to the blue dragon’s collection. The idea was the blue dragon’s followers would regularly return to attend to the temple, resetting the trap (magically dismissing the honey), and capturing those caught within, but it has been centuries since that has happened.
The last time the altar was triggered, an angel was escorting a group of holy warriors to the temple. They wished to claim the dragon’s power to serve their god. However, their agent failed, and triggered the trap. The angel, acting quickly, protected their companions allowing them to escape, but it itself was captured within the honey. It has remained there for centuries, unable to escape.
The presence of the angel has altered the honey over time. Before, just a magical hazard, the honey now carries some of the holy power of the angel. Several generations ago, a tribe of leonin have inhabited the island. When the leonin tribe discovered the lake, they did not explore the depths, instead building a culture based around the powers given to them by this infused honey. Not long afterward, a tribe of gnomes also made this island their home. While the leonin live upon the top of the island, the gnomes have made their homes within the caves within the cliff faces. (These gnomes have evolved into a semi-hive-mind society due to reasons I won't get into here.) The two tribes over time have developed a society together, though classism causes conflict occasionally.
THE MURDER MYSTERY: Players arrive looking for the temple, and find the two villages preparing for a large celebration. A joining ceremony (effectively a wedding) has been planned between two prominent figures in each village. This marriage will hopefully strengthen connections between the tribes. As the PC's begin to learn about the unique situation upon this island, a great uproar disrupts preparations. The High Priest of the leonin, who was to officiate the ceremony, has been found in his tent, his throat slit by a stone knife left beside the body. Both tribes begin to accuse each other. It is not long before the heroes are asked to intervene as neutral third parties.
There are several leads they might investigate. Unfortunately, the high priest didn't see his murderer, so Speak with Dead etc. are of little help. (The priest also does not desire to be resurrected, as they wish to receive their reward in the afterlife for their lifetime of holy service.) There are other leads however:a group of gnome rebels has begun to organize against the "ruling class" leonin.Both the groom and the bride are marrying for political reasons, not love, and have their own ex-lovers who might be jealous.Some of the higher-up leonin harbor traditionalist beliefs, and do not want a gnome/leonin unity to jeopardize their traditions or control.And lastly, good old greed: A gnome attendant to the High Priest has gone missing, along with the priest's holy scepter.I have a cast of NPC's and encounters ready for the heroes as they question citizens, investigate leads, explore the island, etc. What they eventually discover however, is much more sinister...
THE MURDERER: Rumors of the magical honey springs have spread across the surrounding islands. A powerful Ulitharid, Gruduvex, learns of its existence, and delves deep into the history of the island to learn the true nature of the honey lake. They concoct a heretical plan - use the honey springs to birth new tadpoles, eventually becoming an Elder Brain that resides within the pool. Their theory - if powerful necromantic magics can make alhoons (mind flayer liches), perhaps the celestial magics of the pool will create a less despicable powerful variant of mind flayer.
Gruduvex takes a small number of mind flayers with him, and establishes a hidden colony in the base of the towering island. Here, they create a number of intellect devourers, with the goal of enthralling the two tribes of the island. However, they learn of the impending “joining” ceremony and worry the use of the lake in the ceremony might alert the natives to the presence of the angel trapped within. Not wanting to take any risks, and fearing the natives might free the angel should they learn of its existence, Gruduvex captures the sister of the groom, feeds her to the intellect devourers, and uses her to sabotage the ceremony plans. When that does not prove to be enough, they murder the elder overseeing the ceremony to buy themselves more time to complete the creation of more intellect devourers and to establish stronger control over the tribes. In order to protect their plans from being discovered (especially from the hivemind gnomes), they equip the sister with a Ring of Mind Shielding, which is likely to be how she is eventually discovered. Meanwhile, they have been making thralls out of the aquatic chuul that lurk in the waters below the island to defend the fledgling colony.
Once the players discover the groom's sister's true nature, they will be able to discover the Ulitharid colony below the island and confront the true villain of the story.
PHEW! Made it! I find doing murder mysteries in D&D especially hard, but really satisfying when done right. I'm comfortable, with enough prep, to play big sections of this fast and loose, as my party and I have been playing together for 8+ years, but with all the moving pieces, I'd love to hear any issues or flaws I may have overlooked. Also, if anyone has experience running murder mysteries for D&D, I'd love to hear your advice!