Whaaaat??? Skin of my teeth!
Great entry, MortalPlague! I felt like my entry was so much less epic than yours. I love a good “trick the players into completing the ritual” bit. I kind of wish I’d thought of it.
As for mine, a lot of the criticisms were addressed before the edit from 750 to 675 words. I wound up cutting things that weren’t absolutely necessary. My intent was that the beggar woman was Lorcan’s real mother, so good catch there. She left the child with the innkeeper, who revered the Lich and was one of the few in the village who wouldn’t kill the child outright. Indeed, no one else but those two knew and Lorcan knew of Lorcan’s heritage, for his safety.
The Mayor was in his thirties, and his father was one of the men who destroyed the Lich, but he grew up coasting on his father’s glory, never gaining anything because of his own merit. He’s incompetent and he knows it, he’s just good at convincing people otherwise.
As for the end...fair enough. I was a bit rushed for time and space to do anything more epic. The fight itself would be up to the DM, but it should have something more at stake. I did want to leave it up to the DM as to what happens to Lorcan. Did it succeed? Is he the new Big Bad?
Now the ingredients, I’ll admit I used them as guideposts. I’ve touched on the Mayor. The transformation was equally the Lich’s transformation as well as Lorcan trying to complete the ritual. It is a little weak as I look at it now. I wasn’t sure how central each ingredient had to be.
Cold calculation was the experiments on the villagers. Originally, I’d made a possible hook being someone one or more of the PC’s had known, a young girl. It got deleted. Now that I’m thinking about it, getting a letter where she talks about her boyfriend, Lorcan, and an unrelated feeling of unease because of disappearances, asking for help, and when the group gets there, she’s gone, and at the end it’s her on the altar, Lorcan preparing his girlfriend as the final sacrifice. Bonus points if she’s pregnant, and he knows it. Oooh, that could be why his father failed. The previous adventurers stopped the Lich before he could sacrifice Lorcan’s pregnant mother....which means there’s a chance the unborn baby would become like Lorcan....
Yeah, not enough room, but it would be epic.
I love me some Book of Vile Darkness. It’s a huge artifact to give a level 1-4 party, but figuring out what to do with it, and surviving its influence, could get them to level 20. It opens so many doors. I don’t know why more DMs don’t hand out these artifacts.
This was surprisingly fun, despite the hurried manner in which it came about. Once I started writing, the story just told itself. I just had to fit it within 675 words.
I’m looking forward to round two, and will give it more attention. Heck, maybe I can make it relate to this first entry, and I’ll have the start of a new campaign!
Sent from my iPad using EN World
Great entry, MortalPlague! I felt like my entry was so much less epic than yours. I love a good “trick the players into completing the ritual” bit. I kind of wish I’d thought of it.
As for mine, a lot of the criticisms were addressed before the edit from 750 to 675 words. I wound up cutting things that weren’t absolutely necessary. My intent was that the beggar woman was Lorcan’s real mother, so good catch there. She left the child with the innkeeper, who revered the Lich and was one of the few in the village who wouldn’t kill the child outright. Indeed, no one else but those two knew and Lorcan knew of Lorcan’s heritage, for his safety.
The Mayor was in his thirties, and his father was one of the men who destroyed the Lich, but he grew up coasting on his father’s glory, never gaining anything because of his own merit. He’s incompetent and he knows it, he’s just good at convincing people otherwise.
As for the end...fair enough. I was a bit rushed for time and space to do anything more epic. The fight itself would be up to the DM, but it should have something more at stake. I did want to leave it up to the DM as to what happens to Lorcan. Did it succeed? Is he the new Big Bad?
Now the ingredients, I’ll admit I used them as guideposts. I’ve touched on the Mayor. The transformation was equally the Lich’s transformation as well as Lorcan trying to complete the ritual. It is a little weak as I look at it now. I wasn’t sure how central each ingredient had to be.
Cold calculation was the experiments on the villagers. Originally, I’d made a possible hook being someone one or more of the PC’s had known, a young girl. It got deleted. Now that I’m thinking about it, getting a letter where she talks about her boyfriend, Lorcan, and an unrelated feeling of unease because of disappearances, asking for help, and when the group gets there, she’s gone, and at the end it’s her on the altar, Lorcan preparing his girlfriend as the final sacrifice. Bonus points if she’s pregnant, and he knows it. Oooh, that could be why his father failed. The previous adventurers stopped the Lich before he could sacrifice Lorcan’s pregnant mother....which means there’s a chance the unborn baby would become like Lorcan....
Yeah, not enough room, but it would be epic.
I love me some Book of Vile Darkness. It’s a huge artifact to give a level 1-4 party, but figuring out what to do with it, and surviving its influence, could get them to level 20. It opens so many doors. I don’t know why more DMs don’t hand out these artifacts.
This was surprisingly fun, despite the hurried manner in which it came about. Once I started writing, the story just told itself. I just had to fit it within 675 words.
I’m looking forward to round two, and will give it more attention. Heck, maybe I can make it relate to this first entry, and I’ll have the start of a new campaign!
Sent from my iPad using EN World