Challenging my high-lvl group (NPCs and monsters; my players shouldn't read this!)
- Thread starter Piratecat
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The_Warlock
Explorer
No problem! Glad to help.
Spatzimaus
First Post
Amazing, activity on this thread after all this time...
Using the "official" story as detailed by The_One_Warlock, I think the answer is obvious: Zerthimon was originally going to AGREE with Gith. The players are responsible for convincing him that his values are worth standing up for, and making the Pronouncement of Two Skies.
What they need to conveniently fail to mention is that following his morals will result in an incredibly destructive civil war that will keep his race from ever really being anything other than a footnote in the Planar Handbook, and will probably be responsible for more deaths than anything short of the Blood War. If he let Gith run with her idea, though, there'd eventually be a Gith Empire; sure, someday there'd probably be another slave rebellion, but overall the race would advance more.
Depending on how much divination magic you let Gith have access to, this could be a REALLY hard sell.
The argument was on "the Blasted Plains". If I were a gith (either type), that place would be sacrosanct, off-limits to everyone else. It WAS the site of the final major battle against the Illithid, after all.
In a unified, warlike Gith Empire (where Zerthimon hadn't opposed Gith), it'd probably be maintained in its original state. But in the zerai/yanki split, neither side would bother with that (or tolerate if the other side did), and it'd probably be completely overgrown, with nothing remaining of the original structures.
Are these the same Horrible Evil Worms who we previously discussed the Spira-hollowing properties of?
My first instinct was to say it'd be filled with stuffed animals, bright colors, and a TV showing episodes of Barney or the Teletubbies (possibly Veggie Tales, if you want to get REALLY scary). But of course, the worms can't see.
I guess it'd depend on exactly WHY he was raising them. Is it for a specific goal, is it because he just thinks they're cute, or is he basically an employee of the adult worms (if any)?
Using the "official" story as detailed by The_One_Warlock, I think the answer is obvious: Zerthimon was originally going to AGREE with Gith. The players are responsible for convincing him that his values are worth standing up for, and making the Pronouncement of Two Skies.
What they need to conveniently fail to mention is that following his morals will result in an incredibly destructive civil war that will keep his race from ever really being anything other than a footnote in the Planar Handbook, and will probably be responsible for more deaths than anything short of the Blood War. If he let Gith run with her idea, though, there'd eventually be a Gith Empire; sure, someday there'd probably be another slave rebellion, but overall the race would advance more.
Depending on how much divination magic you let Gith have access to, this could be a REALLY hard sell.
The argument was on "the Blasted Plains". If I were a gith (either type), that place would be sacrosanct, off-limits to everyone else. It WAS the site of the final major battle against the Illithid, after all.
In a unified, warlike Gith Empire (where Zerthimon hadn't opposed Gith), it'd probably be maintained in its original state. But in the zerai/yanki split, neither side would bother with that (or tolerate if the other side did), and it'd probably be completely overgrown, with nothing remaining of the original structures.
Are these the same Horrible Evil Worms who we previously discussed the Spira-hollowing properties of?
My first instinct was to say it'd be filled with stuffed animals, bright colors, and a TV showing episodes of Barney or the Teletubbies (possibly Veggie Tales, if you want to get REALLY scary). But of course, the worms can't see.
I guess it'd depend on exactly WHY he was raising them. Is it for a specific goal, is it because he just thinks they're cute, or is he basically an employee of the adult worms (if any)?
thatdarncat
Overlord of Chat
Is this related to what we were investigating in the Gencon game?
The_Warlock
Explorer
Piratecat said:
Ok, I don't have the OLD issue number of the Dragon magazine that first made my evil DM's heart fall in love with the evil that was illithids, but the article was something along the lines of The Sunless World.
If this was a "Capital" of the ancient illithid empire, you want something that would allow both the illithid and their slaves to function passibly well in terms of terrain, climate, and light, while not causing discomfort to the illithid masters.
Thus, a world with a massive but dim red sun. Everything is constantly tinted red. Bright enough for most humanoids to function in, but much gentler to illithid eyes. A generally damp world, many marshes, perhaps lowland seas, and disturbingly sharp mountains, some blasted from the war, others generally intact, and carved with disturbinging serpentine and tooth-like projections.
What plants survive would likely appear black, or perhaps have a violet hue, needing different chemicals to absorb the red light.
There would be very little difference between night and noon in the habitable space of the world - similar to a confused arctic spring - it's almost always "daylight" except for perhaps 2 to 4 hours or darkness, but the sun never rises more than dusk levels of illumination above the horizon.
There would likely be horribly shattered plains of shattered scree and rubble where the mind magics of the two sides blasted away the vegetation and opposing troops, probably leaving crater like walls in the major areas of battle that have kept much of the swamps beyond away...except for a muddly red-brown sludge in the dim light suggestive of pulped bodies, though really just wet dirt.
Likely there would be nasty diseases and parasites in the water, and possibly in the air, left over from the rot of millions of pounds of illithid flesh craft war machines. That and scattered in places, occasional inhuman bones and skulls, and odd metal bits of illithid ancient weapons.
And at the base of a massive set of sharp-peaked concentric mountains obviously pried forth from the earth, a flattened, slag-like plain of fused and once melted plain a mile across, the from of the outer most mountains shattered and collapsed in a round pile of rubble. The remnants of a "guard tower" spike obviously lifted up after the battle as a podium of sorts. With it's tip cracked and an unremovable black stain - where the Pronouncement of Two Skies was made.
That's probably the basics of how I'd describe it.
I don't know if you are familiar with the 'War with the Chtorr' series by David Gerrold, but in a nutshell the Earth is being invaded/chtorraformed by an alien race. Most of these species are more agressive, faster growing, etc. compared to Earthly variants. If you just look at the alien plant and animal ecosystem that is being overlayed on Earth, those elements would give you a pretty good starting point for a home world. I seem to recall the reddish sun issue was a factor in this one also. And as an added bonus, the main creatures encountered were giant worms! It actually gets into their lairs, breeding and such in a couple of the books (although if I remember correctly they are not quite worms but an amalgam).
Hope it helps and good to see some new posts!
Hope it helps and good to see some new posts!
Shieldhaven
Explorer
I'm laughing my ass off about githyanki and githzerai coming from a "sunless" world. See, the names (and faint echoes of the concepts) were originally stolen from George R.R. Martin's Dying of the Light, which takes place on just such a world, in which the sun is nearly dead...
Haven
Haven
justinsluder
First Post
Oh Great One!
Do you have any requests related to your game?
And, just so no one is mistaken, I'm asking Piratecat.
Do you have any requests related to your game?
And, just so no one is mistaken, I'm asking Piratecat.
Tangent Loki
First Post
3. Describe the lair of an illithid who breeds and raises baby Horrible Evil Worms (tm).
A hole is before you, it is round and smooth bored. the walls slope down at an easy angle, the walls luminesce a faint soft amber. It is warm and comfortable. You 'move at whatever rate you move at' down the tube for what seems like hours. It empties into a tight chamber, it feels enclosed and defended. the ceiling looms a mere twenty feet about your head. The floor is soft and clay like.
in the center of the room there is a shape. Clothed in tan robes, that give the impression of a nurse-main, a body of flesh. At the top of the body is a head with writhing tnetacles. They seem doughy in the amber light.
It is crouched over several large shapes. a few rustle softly.
A voice, soothing and serene resounds through your minds.
'Have you come to see my babies?' It coos.
Have you come to feed my babies. It demand.
make a will save.
A hole is before you, it is round and smooth bored. the walls slope down at an easy angle, the walls luminesce a faint soft amber. It is warm and comfortable. You 'move at whatever rate you move at' down the tube for what seems like hours. It empties into a tight chamber, it feels enclosed and defended. the ceiling looms a mere twenty feet about your head. The floor is soft and clay like.
in the center of the room there is a shape. Clothed in tan robes, that give the impression of a nurse-main, a body of flesh. At the top of the body is a head with writhing tnetacles. They seem doughy in the amber light.
It is crouched over several large shapes. a few rustle softly.
A voice, soothing and serene resounds through your minds.
'Have you come to see my babies?' It coos.
Have you come to feed my babies. It demand.
make a will save.
Tangent Loki
First Post
Piratecat. Longtime fan and follower of the defenders of daybreak, although I haven’t read since the demise of the Ghoul king.. So this may or may not work.
First I would play up a ‘womb/stomach’ element in the design. A soft and comforting type of place. Not so alien. But the horror (if necessary’ comes when you realize that these tubes were carved out by bear hands, the flesh being clawed off by the mentally dominated, thousands of hands, and tiny finger marks, just to make a comfortable place for this master illithid. They are the equivalent of tactical world busters, and so are cared for with the utmost respect, be herr head-brain himself. )
To make a womb for its ‘children’
What it is doing is feeding the worms dreams. It is keeping them in a quasi coma sleep while they grow, teaching and nurturing.
Want to go for extra ‘oh snap RBDM value?’ Good.
They kill or incapacitate the ‘mother figure’ you has long been raising these worms as DEATH INCARNATE.
World devouring crap. Upon losing their tranquil dreams they go haywire. Burning halo and all, they devour the illithid home world.
This leads to the Gith/zerth debate. (if they need to debate first maybe they are discussing possible futures in which they will defeat the illithids, because the portents seem certain that this world is doomed, and if not by the massed slave rebellion/revolt. Then by what? To which the defenders bug out to stop the worms. Or start them…)
What to do now that the illithids are scattered across the galaxy (like titan AE) they have lost their home world to these things and have to flee via spell jammers, a liftoff of millions.
So survive they need to adapt to these new worlds. The outlying colonies are all that is left and they become a waning species (hence so much need for slavery).
One wants to hunt them down. The other sees them as broken. Meanwhile the worms keep tunneling until they find a gate to the prime. Maybe it was there all along. They are going to start happily munching. How were they sealed in antiquity?
Here’s where I think I caught you… these are the same worms right?
The ones that the doom cult was going to loose the seal on?
The defenders trap them.
How? With a piece of their ‘mother’s’ soul. Something to let them dream and be content. ( but how to drop this hint should it proved to be easily missed? I as of right now have no clue. But it does make a nice Cthulhu tie in. In sunken R’ley the dead worm-lings lie dreaming. Which due to their dream presence is eventually perceived as a face, with wings that represent motion, and a single head as their single goal. A facsimilie of their once great master, their creator and their home. )
While their power wastes away (‘cuz they are like vr junkies).
How was the doom cult going to free them? Maybe part of the (unknown fx) was getting rid of the illithid’s soul.
I don’t know.
Thoughts?
Plus this lets you play up the other kind of homey-creepy. As opposed to the blood-guts and horror, or the far realms… squeak! Topple-fobbit. Erch. Rachet-rachety-clank. Hisss. Oink. Squeak….
First I would play up a ‘womb/stomach’ element in the design. A soft and comforting type of place. Not so alien. But the horror (if necessary’ comes when you realize that these tubes were carved out by bear hands, the flesh being clawed off by the mentally dominated, thousands of hands, and tiny finger marks, just to make a comfortable place for this master illithid. They are the equivalent of tactical world busters, and so are cared for with the utmost respect, be herr head-brain himself. )
To make a womb for its ‘children’
What it is doing is feeding the worms dreams. It is keeping them in a quasi coma sleep while they grow, teaching and nurturing.
Want to go for extra ‘oh snap RBDM value?’ Good.
They kill or incapacitate the ‘mother figure’ you has long been raising these worms as DEATH INCARNATE.
World devouring crap. Upon losing their tranquil dreams they go haywire. Burning halo and all, they devour the illithid home world.
This leads to the Gith/zerth debate. (if they need to debate first maybe they are discussing possible futures in which they will defeat the illithids, because the portents seem certain that this world is doomed, and if not by the massed slave rebellion/revolt. Then by what? To which the defenders bug out to stop the worms. Or start them…)
What to do now that the illithids are scattered across the galaxy (like titan AE) they have lost their home world to these things and have to flee via spell jammers, a liftoff of millions.
So survive they need to adapt to these new worlds. The outlying colonies are all that is left and they become a waning species (hence so much need for slavery).
One wants to hunt them down. The other sees them as broken. Meanwhile the worms keep tunneling until they find a gate to the prime. Maybe it was there all along. They are going to start happily munching. How were they sealed in antiquity?
Here’s where I think I caught you… these are the same worms right?
The ones that the doom cult was going to loose the seal on?
The defenders trap them.
How? With a piece of their ‘mother’s’ soul. Something to let them dream and be content. ( but how to drop this hint should it proved to be easily missed? I as of right now have no clue. But it does make a nice Cthulhu tie in. In sunken R’ley the dead worm-lings lie dreaming. Which due to their dream presence is eventually perceived as a face, with wings that represent motion, and a single head as their single goal. A facsimilie of their once great master, their creator and their home. )
While their power wastes away (‘cuz they are like vr junkies).
How was the doom cult going to free them? Maybe part of the (unknown fx) was getting rid of the illithid’s soul.
I don’t know.
Thoughts?
Plus this lets you play up the other kind of homey-creepy. As opposed to the blood-guts and horror, or the far realms… squeak! Topple-fobbit. Erch. Rachet-rachety-clank. Hisss. Oink. Squeak….
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