Help needed with my near epic level campaign (My players, stay out!)

[Lordnightshade]

Ever since 3e first came out I have been running this campaign, and we are just now reaching epic levels. As we move into this new realm of the game I am finding that my preparation time has increased a bit. Mostly because I am really running almost everything from scratch, creating the story, locations, all myself as opposed to using modules to provide that for me.

Sometimes I can only get so far before my ideas dry up, and this is where I need your help. If you are a player in my campaign I expect you will not read any further as there are some huge campaign secrets contained in this post and you will not want those ruined for you.

Currently the party has traveled to the Abyss on an important mission.

Mission Overview/Objective: Sneak into the palace of an evil demigoddess of love (Anomaly’s her name) on the 69th layer of the Abyss and steal the statue of a woman from her garden of screaming who is actually an ancient heroine who was turned to stone long ago and is pregnant with the child who will supposedly save their world with it’s blood.

They must escape with the woman (turning her back to flesh from stone would probably be the easiest way) and she must be allowed to have her child.

Location: The Palace is located on a huge floating island of rock on the 69th layer of the Abyss.

Description of Abyssal Plane: *Caution objectionable material containing a disturbing sexual theme (Hey, this IS a description of a place in the Abyss, it has to be disturbing!)

LAYER THE SIXTY-NINTH, the Orgasmic Sea. (Was the Crushing Plain), Interdicted.
This layer was once teeming with so many chasme, manes, and larvae that they completely obscured the landscape and had to constantly crawl over one another, least they suffocate beneath the writhing hordes. The God of hate Ire figured this was the perfect place to banish his contemptuous daughter Anomaly as punishment for working against him.

Anomaly was left there, to suffer a supposed eternity of fighting to not be crushed beneath the mass of disgusting worm like fiends. Yet, her father had underestimated her abilities, and her resourcefulness. Her power grew, unnoticed by the other powers of the Abyss, for they all ignored the 69th layer, to them it was nothing more than a worthless pit of worms, but to Anomaly it was home. Over time, the chasme, manes, and larvae began to change, affected by Anomaly’s twisted mind they became an undulating mass of men and women of every imaginable race engaged in grotesque sexual and perverse acts, piled on top of each other to an unfathomable depth. Anomaly called this the Orgasmic Sea.

Anomaly’s palace is built upon a huge island of rock that floats above her Orgasmic Sea, drifting on gentle winds filled with the thick stench of sex. Her Palace is home to scores of incubus and succubus, and their charms work redoubled while on this layer. Anomaly is the only ruling force on this layer. There are other floating islands of rock above the Orgasmic Sea and some of them contain portals leading to other layers of the abyss. There is a theory that these floating islands of rock were originally meant to torment the fiends sent here for they remained always just out of their reach, promising to save them from the writhing masses if only they could reach them.

What I want:
- How can I make the palace of the EVIL demigoddess of love extra disturbing and at the same time have a “love” theme?

- What challenges should they face while attempting to accomplish their objective?

- What moral and ethical challenges can I hit them with?

- What type of politics should they/could they get involved in to help them or hinder them in accomplishing their task?

- How can they avoid the notice of the demigoddess (who knows of them), or failing that, how could they hide from her that they want to steal a statue from her?

- There is a very powerful Marilith in charge of the palace security, what kinds of possibilities does she present, as a challenge? Politically? Other?

I need your ideas, so brainstorm for me!

 

[Leopold]

LOve theme? Check out Alice in Wonderland the video game. i am sure that warped and twisted mentatlity will work well. If not go search for some information on Warhammer god Slaanesh. You will find all sorts of twisted articles on 'love' with chaos..

 

[Velenne]

I think it would be downright twisted of you to have one of the PC's ex-lovers (if they have any) down here.

All of the door handles should be phalic symbols of one type or another (thank you Melanie Rawn!) that the intrepid heroes have to use to get from room to room.

Don't forget the darker sides of sex: Fetishes! Ewwwww.... I don't want to imagine the entire halls devoted to one type of hellish fetish or another.

Places where the PC's darkests lusts are drawn out and played out before them to tempt them into staying....for just a little while of course. >

Wouldn't it be rat-bastardly if they turned the heroine back, but the energies of the plane have turned her (but not her child) into a half-fiend and she doesn't want to leave?

Ewww I could think of more but..... EEWWWWWW I FEEL SO VIOLATED!

 

[mroberon1972]

Remember: Everything in moderation.

Remember: Everything in moderation.

Love can follow many paths to evil:

Lust (your already working for this one...)
Control (You are MINE. You do what I say.)
Obsession (And I'm never letting go!)

Just remember: Anything taken to extremes is a BAD thing!


Thank you, And good night!

 

[Anabstercorian]

The phallic door handles is a good idea, but expect players to kick down doors out of spite. Respond to this by having the area guarded by fiends who will hear the sound.

Certain areas of the palace have a magical field around them - Casters attempting to use teleportation magic in such areas must succeed at a caster level check or automatically be shunted amongst the writhing orgiastic hordes. Of course, you can always teleport back after you drop a couple fireballs to clear your path, but it's still gonna be a pain.

Amorous, non-evil fiendish ghouls and undead covered with poisonous molds that attempt to get 'close' to the characters.

Check out the last few pages of the Unlawful Carnal Knowledge thread. There are some excellent spells in there that could make an epic level parties life extremely unpleasant.

Make an arena like room trapped with the magical field of redirection, and have it start to flood with minor fiends and outsiders who are, for some reason, intensely sexually obsessed with the PC's. The sheer panic and disgust your players will experience as they try and smash through one of the walls to get away will easily be worth the grumpy looks.

Illusions of old lovers of the characters flit through the halls, laughing at them, beckoning. When the characters follow, they lead them in to extremely subtle traps - Nothing explodes, nothing blasts them. Things like carbon monoxide or lead-sealed rooms with adamantine doors. The illusions themselves are completely sincere - They never betray the characters, but are used as tools against them.

Don't forget some good old fashioned ass kicking! If everything wants to have sex with the characters, eventually they're going to be very disturbed. Throw some plain ol' angry Balor's at them. If you need to be 'lovey' about it, have them interrupt a Balor and Marilith engaged in a passionate tryst with each other and Succubi companions, who all take a brief break to snack on the characters bone marrow. An appropriately epic challenge, especially if the furniture is animated (for her pleasure) and also attacks when the characters least expect it.

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

Perhaps illusions of their loves (or, nastier, the trapped souls of their actual loves) could be there as a form of manipulation. Play up the control and obsession factors as was suggested earlier. Or give them a nice moral dillemma: The trapped soul of someone's love (or the appearance thereof) is being kept by a servant of the goddess as a slave (perhaps even the marilith). Do they keep their heads down and continue with the mission, or do they try to save said person and definitely bring attention to themselves? (Really sucks when they "rescue" Sir Bob's lady love, bringing the wrath of the place down around their ears, only to find out that she was just a very well-crafted illusion)

As for avoiding detection in the first place, perhaps you could drop some info that some form of massive orgiastic rite of the Anomaly is coming up soon on some Prime Material world or other. If they sneak into her sanctum during those, uh, festivities, her attention (and that of her greater minions) will be focused largely on a different plane. That way, as long as they don't do anything overt (and perhaps disguise themselves to avoid casual detection) they should remain unnoticed.

Perhaps they could discover while in Anomlay's palace that said rite of the goddess is actually taking place back on their own world. These really, really, sick people could be new villains, old villains with new friends, or whatever. And they could be threatening something back home which is important to the PCs. This could make them feel pressure to get home ASAP, but they are slowed in some capacity by the pregnant lady.

Ever seen Devil's Advocate? The mobile wall sculpture near the end should give you some ideas, both for the decoration of the place, and challenges the PCs could overcome from the structure itself, without necessarily involving guards who could alert others to their presence.

 

[Lordnightshade]

Phallic door handles? Hmmmm, that conjures images of some kind of cheesy porn shop. I’m trying to keep the cheese out as much as possible. I think the sea of sex will be quite disturbing to the players by itself, but I think it needs more non cheesy flavor as the sex theme is already a dangerous one when you are trying to be serious…

The teleportation shunting into the Orgasmic Sea is a good idea.

Directly assaulting the party with fiends trying to rape them is something I’m going to avoid. If any of the party partakes in the pleasures offered it will need to be of their own will. It’s much more satisfying for a succubus to corrupt a good adventurer who is willing, than to have to rape him.

Do you have a link to the Unlawful Carnal Knowledge thread?

The images of lost loves is a good idea

mroberon1972, I like what you said about Lust, Control, Obsession… but for some reason I’m not finding the feel I want for this place.

What would the house of a goddess be like? I mean sure she is the goddess of lust and sex and fetishes and all things naughty, but what would her palace be like, how would it feel to be there?

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

What would the house of a goddess be like? I mean sure she is the goddess of lust and sex and fetishes and all things naughty, but what would her palace be like, how would it feel to be there?

Maybe there's a lot of contrasting of opposites going on? The feeling of love turned to nefarious ends? Innocence corrupted. Hopeless adoration of someone you've come to loathe. Like that girl you had a huge crush on, and you were convinced she was sweet and innocent. And then you found out she was a punchboard for the entire basketball team. You've lost anything resembling respect for her, but there's still something that draws you.

I mentioned mobile artwork before. Perhaps these play out scenes that appear sweet and innocent, and then take a turn for the insidious and abusive. One called "First love" that starts out with a young couple running through a field. They're laughing as he's chasing her and all that, but when he catches her, that first sweet kiss changes into a scene of abuse and domination. Or you could be more subtle. There are just little hints that something is wrong. Cruel faces. Moments of hesitation. That kind of thing.

 

[Lordnightshade]

Maybe there's a lot of contrasting of opposites going on? The feeling of love turned to nefarious ends? Innocence corrupted. Hopeless adoration of someone you've come to loathe. Like that girl you had a huge crush on, and you were convinced she was sweet and innocent. And then you found out she was a punchboard for the entire basketball team. You've lost anything resembling respect for her, but there's still something that draws you.

I mentioned mobile artwork before. Perhaps these play out scenes that appear sweet and innocent, and then take a turn for the insidious and abusive. One called "First love" that starts out with a young couple running through a field. They're laughing as he's chasing her and all that, but when he catches her, that first sweet kiss changes into a scene of abuse and domination. Or you could be more subtle. There are just little hints that something is wrong. Cruel faces. Moments of hesitation. That kind of thing.

Canis, you gave me a great idea! I was sitting here thinking to my self, what the hell would a bunch of succubus busy themselves with all day. I mean constantly participating in orgy’s and such is all well and good but how would they ever accomplish anything meaningful to advance their evil cause if all they did all day was sit around and have sex? They need goals just like everyone else!

So your animated artwork gave me the little spark I needed for an idea I think is great and really gives their whole existence meaning.

Imagine this:

A huge room in the palace, filled with countless scrying devices, perhaps rows upon rows of crystal balls, or crystal screens (so the PCs can witness what is happening easier)? At each screen there is a succubus who is watching someone she has chosen upon a prime world, and she is whispering to this person. One scene could be two supposed lovers chasing each other through a field of wild flowers laughing happily. The PCs would see as the lovers collapse in a loving embrace kissing each other passionately. The scene is beautiful and full of joy and young love, but then the man (who the succubus is whispering to) tries to go further than kissing, and the girl isn’t comfortable with that, so she tries to stop him, but (prompted by the succubus’s whispers) he doesn’t stop. He keeps going and eventually brutally rapes the girl. This could be one of many scenes witnessed, and would horrify the group, maybe even send the cleric on a rampage (thus bringing attention to themselves)

THANK YOU CANIS! Now I just need a bunch of scenes to describe!! Wow, so their whole purpose is to corrupt souls, that is their job, day in and day out!

Beautiful stuff!!

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

I guess you want to stick specifically to corrupting them through love, right? That's how they get in, via love, but then they twist it until it's something horrible.

Fostering mistrust between married couples, with the ultimate goal of driving one of them to kill the other (or the person they've been duped into believing had cuckolded them) out of jealousy.

Convincing a man that the only way to bring his slightly wayward son around was through beatings, beatings which have gotten EXTREMELY severe and now come with only the slightest provocation.

Feeding the depression and desperation of a poor, single mother until she's convinced that it's the right thing to drown her own child rather than let it live under the conditions they have.

They would probably also encourage things like incest. Maybe a pair of succubi (or a succubus and an incubus) working together: one whispering in a man's ear and the other whispering in his sister's, trying to break the taboo from both ends and net a pair of souls. Alternatively, you could approach it as the scrying device shows a couple finishing off what appears to be normal consensual intercourse, but once the PCs see them both clearly, it's obvious that they are brother and sister (or at least very closely related). A succubus would be saying in one of their minds, "There now, did that feel wrong to you?" or something to that effect.

Depending on the strictness of the moral code of your universe, you could also have them encouraging bestiality, voyeurism, or any other such behavior that would damn a soul on your world.

I'd avoid crystal screens, as it seems anachronistic. Maybe a variety of crystals (both crystal balls and faceted crystals) from little ones that the PCs can't see from their vantage point, all the way up to 6 foot globes and crystals as tall as a ogre. That way, you can have an enormous room, filled with devices, but the PCs can only see the really large crystals nearby. They can see maybe 5 or 6 scenes, but there are clearly hundreds of others going on, right there, that they can't see. That ought to give your cleric absolute fits. Plus, I think a scattering of crystals of all shapes and sizes fits the Abyss better than orderly rows of crystals or screens. "Switchboard of the damned. How may I direct your call?"