Some Ideas, if you please.

[Ryan Koppenhaver]

Excellent idea. A massive army of elite 1st level kobold Wizards with greater slaying arrrows and wands of true strike. Too low level to be worth any experience, of course.

And for treasure, how about every single item from DMG pp 231-235?

 

[WizarDru]

OK, so Ryan's suggestion got me thinking: when I first saw Tainted, I didn't think Psionics, I though Oriental Adventures. That started me down the path of thinking of the ShadowTaker in different terms, and right now, I'm debating whether or not to make him a Shugenja or Wu Jen, instead of a cleric or wizard. Suggestions in this regard are welcome.

I have decided the first area of the Crypts (technically, the first Crypt) will be called 'the Cistern', and will be the original structure that the ShadowTaker captured. I've decided that the timeline will essentially be that the ST escaped the Invoked Devastation and Rain of Colorless Fire, fleeing northwards. When he failed to subjugate the refugees, he fled to the base of the desert, to a temple/outpost. This outpost he cleansed (read: killed its prior inhabitants) of it's clerics of Pelor, set there to guard Pelor's Pyre, a magical fire that rises out of a crack in the earth, deep underground.

As he expanded the outpost, the ST has added multiple crypts as a defense, and introduced (at great personal cost) actual 'cysts' of demi-planes in the way...preventing direct travel through to his inner sanctum, The Furnace. Currently, these are the crypts I've imagined:

• The Cistern (entrance/temple)
• The Bestiary (access to holding area for the Taken)
• The Forge (where the ST creates his terrible items)
• The Furnace (ST's Inner Sanctum, location of Pelor's Pyre)
• The Collapsed Temple (location of a secret inner-temple of Pelor, and location of some powerful artifacts of Pelor)

Questions, thoughts, criticisms? Wow me, gang.

 

[WizarDru]

Other things I'm planning to use:

I've invented some variant Ankhegs, called Ahnkargs, which I'll probalby use on the approach to the crypts, as the first line of defense. They're basically advanced and somewhat nastier, but still basically just ugly bugs, and should be a cake walk for the meepites. The idea is to set a lowered threshold for what they'll face, and then slap them with a more appropriate challenge, to see if they can be lulled into confidence for a while. I don't think it'll work, but it'll be fun trying.

I'm going to use some classed Greater Barghests, currently one with 12 levels of Rogue, another as a Psion Egoist, and I haven't classed the other four, yet.

I'm considering using some beasties, particularly Onis, from the OA sourcebook, as they'll defintely be unknown quantities to the players, and that always puts them on their guards. I'm sure I'll be using some Gaki (i.e Hungry Ghosts), as well.

The Trap for T&T with the teleport to terminal velocity trap is another one I'm sure to use.

 

[Nifft]

Dead Magic?

How about Dead Astral areas? No Astral travel in or out, no Astral Constructs in that area, etc. Further in, no Etherial plane contact. No blinking, Ghostform, etc.

What's distorting these normally co-existant planes? A pinching of the Prime into the demi-planes you mentioned above, perhaps -- or a twisting of the Prime into the Shadow Plane. Perhaps the Shadow Taker wants to move Pelor's Pyre into the Shadow Plane, to deny its light forever to the mortals of the Prime. When the party finds Pelor's Pyre, it will be in a mildly Negative Dominant zone.

Shadow travel will be possible to & from the area, which is how the ShadowTaker travels, but expect it to be VERY dangerous.

-- Nifft

 

[WizarDru]

How about Dead Astral areas? No Astral travel in or out, no Astral Constructs in that area, etc. Further in, no Etherial plane contact. No blinking, Ghostform, etc.

And this is exactly why I ask for ideas. This is simply great. It removes a lot of different abilities at different times and in different areas, fits the logic of the crypts, and what I really love about it is that it's something that isn't immediately noticable, until someone attempts to use their item or spell to do it. It will keep them guessing, which is good.

What's distorting these normally co-existant planes? A pinching of the Prime into the demi-planes you mentioned above, perhaps -- or a twisting of the Prime into the Shadow Plane. Perhaps the Shadow Taker wants to move Pelor's Pyre into the Shadow Plane, to deny its light forever to the mortals of the Prime. When the party finds Pelor's Pyre, it will be in a mildly Negative Dominant zone.

Shadow travel will be possible to & from the area, which is how the ShadowTaker travels, but expect it to be VERY dangerous.

Considering that the ST's history, and his current known allegiance, this works extremely well. If the players play their cards right, they'll learn the true identity (or rather, nature) of the Shadow King, and why he was and was not the Taker's original master. The idea that he's ready to move Pelor's Pyre off-plane before Dravot and his companions can get to it is even better. It adds urgency and incentive.

Dravot has already realized that the party needs more power if they're to handle the ever-increasing threat of beasties they've been facing...and that Zira was questing after one such artifact, the Light of Reason...a lamp lit from the fire of Pelor's Pyre. The idea that they could lose it if they wait too long makes the adventure more ardous, as they can't afford to retreat and rest much, if at all.

 

[wolff96]

A trio of terrible traps:

1) Deep pit with a Heightened Reduce spell on it. The person who falls in is severely reduced in size and falls easily down the shaft -- which narrows down significantly before opening out into a small (5x5x5) room. When the spell wears off, the character is now too large to climb back up.

2) The reverse gravity Nickolodeon Slime trap. A reverse gravity trap that shoots the character up a large distance into a similarly levitated Gelatinous Cube (or other, worse ooze depending on the GM). This one is something of a classic, so the players may have run into it before.

3) The silenced blender. A tall column that has a Permanent Blade Barrier halfway up. One of the stones near the Blade Barrier is enchanted with a permanent Silence spell to keep anyone from hearing the Barrier.

There is a Reverse Gravity rune at the bottom of the shaft that has a duration of only a few rounds. The victim flies upwards through the Blade Barrier. Then the rune shuts off (duration expired) and the victim falls BACK through the barrier. Then the rune comes on again (is triggered once more) by the victim falling back into range. Repeat ad infinitem. Also: Note that the victim gets no saving throw for moving through a Blade Barrier... Meaning that this trap does a minimum of 2x Blade Barrier damage if they cannot somehow avoid the Reverse Gravity spell.

 

[mypetrock]

Impeded magic

There are areas in the Concordant Crossroads that deny the availability of spells of up to a given level. You could use a similar area for the Bestiary to make that area more of a physical challenge.

The forge should be in a corrupted area of Mechanus. Play up the oppressive nature of the environment on any of your chaotic players.

The farther the party gets into the Sanctum of the ST the more the Sanctum itself should become an adversary. The sanctum should be able to cast spells to target the party. Have the sanctum send a negative energy wave over the party - any levels lost increase the power of the sanctum's next attack.

There should be a significant chance that any aid that the party summons to their aid might be corrupted on the way through to their location. The corrupted summoning would arrive and attack its summoner. To prevent it from being simply dispelled, the sanctum would take control over the summoning.

mypetrock

 

[WizarDru]

3) The silenced blender. A tall column that has a Permanent Blade Barrier halfway up. One of the stones near the Blade Barrier is enchanted with a permanent Silence spell to keep anyone from hearing the Barrier.

Throw in an invisibility effect on the barrier, and we're having REAL fun. You sir, are an Evil God. I salute you. The first one is a lot of fun, too.


mypetrock: Good point: the crypts are intended to be personalized 'buffer' zones for the ST, who is more than a little defensive. He hasn't left them, physically, for more than a century, and has spent more than time than that constructing them to be generally unfriendly to them. Hmmm. Summoned creatures that are corrupted....I like that A LOT. I can apply the BoVD Corrupted template to anything that gets summoned, and make them an instant enemy of the party.

Mean? Me?

 

[wolff96]

You sir, are an Evil God. I salute you. The first one is a lot of fun, too.

Aw, Shucks.

BY THE WAY: Don't forget the falling damage they take when they hit the floor after their first trip through the blender. It's the icing on the cake. Just in case they survive two trips through a Blade Barrier.

One reason I really like the "Reverse Gravity" traps is that they are easy for the person who lives there to avoid.

From the SRD: "Creatures who can fly or levitate can keep themselves from falling."

So all it takes to avoid these super-nasty, no-saving-throw traps is a Fly or a Levitate. It explains how the villain gets around without getting killed.

Although it does mean that you shouldn't spring more than a couple of RG traps on a party -- they're very easy to avoid with one or two spells.

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Mypetrock's idea is excellent, too. If you have access to it, RttToEE has something similar. There is a percentage roll for each creature to "go bad" when summoned in certain places.

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One final trap -- this one created by an old, very evil DM I used to play under -- is great for campaigns where you keep using portals or gates.

Make each one a mirror.

Once the party has gotten used to the idea, have a Mirror of Opposition. Then have all the "reflections" be very careful to stay in front of the mirror and act like reflections until the party is close enough for all the readied actions to go off.

It's kind of obvious, but the best part was the paranoia we had at all the remaining mirror gates for the rest of the adventure.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

One thought: what if Pelor's pyre itself were dangerous? Obviously the Shadowtaker has something that protects him from its effects but it simply being in the presence of a powerful good artifact named a pyre might very well be dangerous to the less than pure (and there may still be one or two of those in the party--I don't remember Scorch's alignment; if it's not dangerous to the party, it could be a terrain obstacle that they could use to help defeat unshielded enemies). For instance, it might radiate a maximized, double empowered Holy Smite in a fifteen foot radius, maximized Holy Smite in a 30 foot radius and normal Holy Smite in a 60 foot radius and have the effect of a Holy Aura on it itelf. That's probably not too nasty for characters at the Meepites' power level--especially since most of them are good anyway--but it might be interesting to see the effects of its power radiating outward.