D&D 5E I accidentally revealed all of my campaign plans and secrets to a PC.... what now?

[Olaf the Stout]

A simple solution to the prince problem for me is that the prince isn't actually the first born. So in order to fulfill his side of the bargain, the King needs to track down his real first-born.

Unbeknownst to the King, he actually sired an heir as a teenager (I'll let you make up the reason as to why the King didn't know about this child).

As luck would have it, the King and the party find out about the existence of the illegitimate son at the same time as each other and it becomes a race between the PCs and the King to track down the actual first-born.

 

[Coroc]

Having read your outlining and what was revealed i recommend to add in an unknown Force.

Make it so that in now preventing (aka spoiling your plot) those sacrifices, the Party unkowingly aids another much bigger evil.

That's gona be a big surprise for them if you Play along the whole time and suddenly at the moment they think they save the world they instead doom it, by their Actions.

OR

Maybe the original ritual was not designed to revive your original Antagonist but to kill him once and for all (makes sense to eradicate his offspring)
But this got twisted over the time and no one knows. In preventing the sacrifices done, the party will instead strengthen your original villain.

 

[DeanP]

I'm in agreement with the posters who suggested swapping the roles of the king and the prince. In fact, it plays right into your hands if they've become close friends with the prince, and think the father is the "bad guy." What a kick in the gut if their friends turns out be a key antagonist? Another possibility is adding a third character, say, the queen who's a secret follower of the imprisoned god or, even better, the king is under an enchantment of the queen or somebody else in the court that forces him to act in the interest of the primary antagonist. I did something similar in one of my homebrews in which a noble king was under the influence of a Succubus who haunted him in the night, influencing his actions. Your story isn't ruined, it only requires some slight modification. It also works extremely well if you "sell" that you're continuing with the same plotline without changes because "you'd like to see the story through." Shame on them if they think, they can stop thinking.

 

[Undrhil]

EDIT: I'm a derp

Dang it. I'm a double derp cause I edited the wrong post. -sigh-

 

[Saeviomagy]

Oh, the other possibility is that the character in question is privy to a prophecy. His job (or possibly the job of whomever gave him the prophecy) is to ensure it happens / ensure it does not happen.

If the character himself knows the prophecy and is trying to fulfil it, then all the information is accurate according to the prophecy. If something in the prophecy appears to be not coming true (ie - a big bad guy is killed with the wrong weapon, the traitor is found to actually be someone else, etc), then it's the character's job to somehow make that aspect of the prophecy accurate again, by changing the world (ie - set up a different big bad guy and kill him with the correct weapon, frame the 'correct' traitor etc).

If he's trying to prevent it, then it's the big note things he wants to change. Killing the big bad guy with the wrong weapon, having the traitor pardoned etc. will all stave off the prophecy for a while. But of course the prophecy is strong, and other agents are working to make it true.

If the prophecy is second hand, then the motivations of the person giving the prophecy and the motivations of the character might differ - the origin of the prophecy wants it to be foiled, so gives an incorrect version to the character.

Finally there's the possibility that the prophecy is immutable. The things written in it will come to pass... but the result of the final battle is not written. The character's job is to mitigate the effects of the prophecy. If a great general will arise, win certain victories and join the enemy for the final battle, the character wants to make sure that as he's winning those victories, the general is crippled, or wins them at some terrible cost, weakening him in the final conflict (or make sure that some feeble general fulfils that aspect of the prophecy). If a champion will be struck down, the goal is to make sure that they are struck down in a literal, political or morale sense, not actually killed. If a terrible artifact of power will be stolen, make sure it's really terrible.

 

[Denalz]

I think your fine. The players will forget 90% of this stuff in a month or two. It'll go from "Molvek of the Armaranthine" To "Was it Molvey, or Mortey? From the what? Armageddon, Armament, or something?"

Haha! This is too true

Or they Players will run into a 'corrupted' Quora and need to protect him from the minions, and need to find a way to 'purify' the corrupted bloodline. Maybe with a special ritual, or maybe a good deed, maybe self sacrifice, or maybe a corrupt needs to fall in love/have a baby with a 'pure blood'. Keep in mind that just because the bloodline is corrupted it doesn't mean the person is corrupted or bad. So the Players will run into a kid who is corrupted but only because his father killed his grandfather before he was born, and maybe hes in love with this noble girl who just so happens to be a pure blood. but the families hate each other and wont allow it.

I really like the general idea of the heirs needing to be "corrupted" in some way in order for them to be of use to Morvek. That train of though got me to thinking... maybe they are only of use to Morvek if the have not been "corrupted". Perhaps there could be some condition that would "corrupt" the heirs and make them unusable to Morvek. This is appealing because it would give my PC's an extra possible solution to keep Morvek imprisoned. What sort of action/condition might render a person an "unsuitable" sacrifice for a blood ritual? Any ideas?

I mean, given the set up, the character could be an avatar of Molvek himself, a surviving Amaranthine, a member of a cult who worship the Amaranthine, Molvek or any other god, an apprentice to a powerful diviner etc etc.

Originally I planned for my PC's to gain much of the backstory from a mage at the Arcane Order (located in the city they are currently traveling to). I liked this ideas because they would have to work for the information first since mages in the Order have no reason to want to help my PC's right now. That being said, I really like the idea of a surviving Armaranthine or maybe a cult devoted to the Armaranthine being responsible for revealing the information. I have been throwing around the idea of introducing a surviving Armaranthine NPC, but I hadn't decided what role I wanted that character to potentially fulfill. An antagonistic role seems most obvious as I feel most of the Armaranthine would sympathize with Morvek's vengeful motivations.... but, I can also see a potential Armaranthine character condemning Morvek for his reign of terror. I originally envisioned the Armaranthine as a docile and pragmatic race, so it might make sense that one would judge Morvek harshly despite his obvious justifications.

You could give it a twist by making the royal bloodline a decoy. Perhaps a secret society exists among the elves who realized the descendants of the Quora Tal are the key to releasing Morvek. They seeded the story that the royals were descendants of the elven sorcerer, while keeping the true bloodline hidden. Even the King would not know the truth of this (thus making the potential sacrifice of his son even more tragic). Eventually the PCs somehow discover the truth of the matter and now have to deal with the secret society, which might be less than cooperative.

This is an interesting concept. I guess I wonder if Morvek would be able to see through the ruse. I guess that depends on how I'll decide he is hunting downt the heirs in the first place, and if it will be the same method my PC's use. Any ideas on that?

If not an intentional decoy, it may be a good idea to a have a secret 6th member of the Quora Tal. But that makes even less sense as far as Morvek being ignorant on the matter.

At any rate, for the vast majority of the campaign the players thought that they were acting to thwart the plans of the evil god, but in actuality they were unwittingly carrying out the plans of one of the patron gods who had become corrupted and was trying to ascend to greater power by eliminating the hero gods and finally destroying the evil god.


Along the way, the party may get some clues that something is off. If at some point they show that they no longer believe the lies, then the corrupted god immediately acts to slay all of the Quora Tal that were placed under his protection, and the race is on to find the last of them. But in this case the decision is more difficult! Do they preserve the last of the Quora Tal and thus maintain the possibility that Morvek can still be released from his banishment, or do they allow the corrupted god to reach the last of the Quora Tal and ascend to what unknown heights his fevered mind has imagined?

As for the prince, you might consider making having his father instead call in the priests of this corrupt god, whereby the priests can perform divinations that then reveal the lies that the god wants the party to believe.

This is a really interesting concept. I like it, but I'm confused on one point. Why would Morvek being defeated cause a patron god to ascend to ultimate power? What is the connection? And just to clarify, this Patron god who is playing both sides, is he an original god, or is he one of the people who ascended to godhood after sacrificing himself to imprison Morvek?

Just curious, what happens if one (or all) of the Quora Tal bloodline dies or becomes otherwise inaccessible (Sequester)? Does it become impossible for Morvek to realize his plans, or...?

Yes, it then becomes impossible for Morvek to free himself. Which is why my players would have the choice to kill off all the heirs as a potential solution to the Morvek problem. Not very paragon though. I need to think up some alternative solutions that offer the same amount of security/finality. Any ideas?

A simple solution to the prince problem for me is that the prince isn't actually the first born. So in order to fulfill his side of the bargain, the King needs to track down his real first-born.

Unbeknownst to the King, he actually sired an heir as a teenager (I'll let you make up the reason as to why the King didn't know about this child).

As luck would have it, the King and the party find out about the existence of the illegitimate son at the same time as each other and it becomes a race between the PCs and the King to track down the actual first-born.

This is a great idea. Although I sort of used it with the very first heir that my party found that alerted them to this whole thing. In my game's case, they found a father with two sons. Morvek's agent had been trying to capture the adult son for years but after she collected some of his blood she suddenly quit trying to capture him and instead set her sights on the younger brother. My players asked themselves why the elder son's blood didn't work and they weren't quite sure. They will soon learn that the blood needs to be of the first born and the adult son was actually the product of his mother's secret adultery.

Do you think using your idea is too similar to what I have already done?

Maybe the original ritual was not designed to revive your original Antagonist but to kill him once and for all (makes sense to eradicate his offspring)
But this got twisted over the time and no one knows. In preventing the sacrifices done, the party will instead strengthen your original villain.

I like this idea, but I guess my question is: why didn't the original ritual do it's job and kill him once and for all? And why would Morvek now be trying to hunt down the heirs? I suppose he might hunt them down to kill them so that they can't complete the ritual.... but why is he still alive to hunt them down in the first place?

Another possibility is adding a third character, say, the queen who's a secret follower of the imprisoned god or, even better, the king is under an enchantment of the queen or somebody else in the court that forces him to act in the interest of the primary antagonist.

My prince character does have a younger sister that I have not introduced yet. I hadn't fully decided on what to do with her yet but I was thinking that she would be well loved by her father as she is the only child the king has that he actually has any intentions of investing in. I suppose she might feel motivated to have her father turn on her brother as she could potentially become the next heir to the throne. To that end, maybe it would work better if she were a younger brother instead. I guess I just find myself wondering how a second born son could gain enough influence to effectively "convince" his father to betray his first born.

 

[Fanaelialae]

This is an interesting concept. I guess I wonder if Morvek would be able to see through the ruse. I guess that depends on how I'll decide he is hunting downt the heirs in the first place, and if it will be the same method my PC's use. Any ideas on that?

If not an intentional decoy, it may be a good idea to a have a secret 6th member of the Quora Tal. But that makes even less sense as far as Morvek being ignorant on the matter.

Well, given that he is imprisoned, I would assume that Morvek's access to the material plane is limited at best, so he most likely would be forced to work through mortal or supernatural intermediaries. That said, he would likely have knowledge of those who imprisoned him, so his agents might have information that the PCs are not privy to, which could give them an advantage. Still, the ruse might be good enough that it would throw even them off the scent initially.

For example, if the elven sorcerer was famed for possessing some powerful magic item, the secret society might have created a copy enchanted with Nystul's Magical Dweomer. It's a symbol of pride for the royals, but also secretly a mark of shame since they've never been able to make it work. If the agents of Morvek get their hands on it (perhaps because part of the King's deal with them is the revelation of the command words), they may determine sooner than not that it's a fake and be tipped off to the ruse. At that point they begin hunting for the real thing (using whatever magical and non-magical resources at their disposal). If the players get their hands on it first, careful investigation on their part may reveal that something is off as well.

 

[DeanP]

Personally, I'd keep it as the "sweet, younger sister" who's not actually so sweet, and is far more ambitious than any would suspect. I'd go so far as to make her a warlock with a pact to the imprisoned god. I imagine she'd be something like a young Queen Cercei from Game of Thrones, but with out the obvious haughtiness. Might be you could play it into a tragedy, perhaps she has second thoughts when it matters most, a moment of weakness, but she feels doomed, committed to her path because of her pact. An antagonist that you can cultivate sympathy for and even make the PCs saddened that it had to come to sword blows, spells and what not. Maybe in the very end, she even musters the courage to stand against her patron? An act of sacrificial atonement.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

My favorite part was that I could probably make it last for years due to the difficulty I imagine my players will have in just trying to find the heirs of the Quora Tal.

You're getting top notch advice from others on how to revamp your plot, so I won't speak to that. But this part popped out to me. Unless your group is dedicated enough to keep a campaign up and running for year, I recommend you pare it down so there aren't uninteresting doldrums throughout the campaign and so you don't miss the opportunity to have your big finale. I've played in some campaigns where the GM stretched out the plot to last for a long time and it eventually got tedious. And I've frequently played in campaigns that had to end prematurely for any number of reasons. I'm not saying either of these are going to happen to your campaign. But it's something to be cognizant of as your campaign continues. Best of luck!

 

[epithet]

How can someone recognize a scion of the Quora Tal? Is there a birthmark visible only with True Sight? Who would know about this mark? What can the PCs do once they have identified all of the scions? There should be something other than "stop the ritual" that they're going for.

I personally love the idea of one of the "known" heirs being a false scion, not because of the dalliance of their father but of their grandfather, now deceased. (No living witness.) The real scion was raised in a bordello, and is now a bard/pirate/highwayman/prostitute/etc. -- someone no one would suspect of having an epic destiny. Early in the campaign, the PCs interact with this scion, because (s)he has information, or perhaps has "come into possession of" a handwritten journal that leads to the identity of a completely different scion. The miscreant scion has a well made knife with the royal crest, which "is an heirloom, that is. The old king gave that to me mum's mum, for services rendered, if you take my meaning. She used to go on and on about how she was 'is favorite, back in 'er prime."

If this is a long campaign, one that lasts into the later levels where more powerful magic is available, then you can kill one of the scions without an heir. The party would then have to arrange a resurrection for the scion, and might have to first persuade the scions departed spirit to return. "Come back so we can sacrifice you" isn't a persuasive argument, but perhaps the evil NPCs have access to magic that can force a spirit to return and be resurrected, perhaps even a wish spell from an item. The PCs learn that the villains plan to use this item to rez the scion and plan to stop this from happening--perhaps by preventing the theft of the item--but are doomed to fail, meaning that they have to rescue the scion. Perhaps it isn't actually resurrection, but is instead undeath. Now your good party must work with the vampire scion (the enemy of my enemy...) to achieve whatever they can do with all of the scions collected.