squirmonke
Explorer
Hello again everyone!
I'm planning to start Zeitgeist soon, and one of my players is playing a 5e Hexblade Warlock. As those of you familiar with the subclass will know, the lore for it is... shaky. It's pretty underwhelming and also tied to some concepts that aren't really present in Zeitgeist's setting. So he's agreed that we should just substitute in some appropriate entity from the Zeitgeist world which has both the power and inclination to make weapons and host Warlocks.
Given his awakening around the time of the beginning of the campaign, I want to use the Voice of Rot. And then not tell the player who it is until they figure it out (I think they'll figure it out fast, they're pretty sharp). I think this is great because it lets the patron be automatically integrated into the campaign. Plus I think the Voice of Rot is just the type to anoint a warlock knowing full well they're going to have to kill it later, out of perhaps an arrogance of the type like "Only a creature blessed by me has any hope of challenging me"
In our group's games it's expected that, as a representation of the bond between Warlock and Patron that the patron will give the warlock the occasional quest, the reward for which is additional lore (re the patron's nature and goals) and an agreement not to revoke the Warlock's powers for now.
So I've been brainstorming ideas for what quests to send my warlock on as the Voice of Rot. Here's what I have so far, but I'd love to hear if anyone here has ideas, or any other suggestions of what to do or foreshadowing to put in place with the Voice of Rot as a player's patron.
Adventure:
1: No quest. I want the players to experience the fairly streamlined material in this adventure pure. We can start muddling the water with warlocks and patrons later
2: "Throw Nilassa Hume's body in Parity Lake." I think this will be good as it will establish some of the patron's interest in death and water, and should add some interesting tension around the Danoran Consulate, and maybe give me some nice fodder for the Audit in adventure 3. Plus it will give me the chance for the warlock to hear the VoR's poetic style before the encounter in the next adventure.
3: No quest. The VoR makes contact with the party here, and that's enough for this adventure
4: Not sure here, but I wonder if the VoR might be interested in something within the Crypta Hereticarium?
5: ???
6: ???
7: "One among the condemned is Catherine Romana, ensure she lives and give her my mark" I think the VoR at this point has figured out what's going on, and is planning for how to interfere with the Ob's ritual. With this action, he hopes to use Catherine Romana as a double agent, communicating with her through the Mark. I understand that the Voice of Rot is already supposed to have someone at the convocation (Abeira Stackhouse) but I'm going to cut them, since they're not ever talked about other than that they exist. He'll turn Romana to get information about what's going down on Axis Island and how to disrupt it, and in return he'll help her convince Nic to keep her around. This message comes while Nic is explaining why those people have to die (I think it's very unlikely my players will still be in the main room when this happens), and he'll explain that the "mark" to hand over is in the Absurdist's Web, which if my players are paying attention may be a good hint about Copperhat that I think they'll feel clever for figuring out.
8: Not sure if I do anything here, I don't think the VoR cares much about the visions or Kasvarina.
9: Depending on how things go, I might have VoR instruct the Warlock to find a reason to prolong the fighting between the two fey factions. When they learn that they need to go face the Voice, a simple order comes "Do your worst". I think that the Voice has kinda already accomplished his plan at this point, and is just excited to have a chance to kill the party, as he sees them as representative of the country of Risur. When the party surrenders and escapes, he probably gives the warlock a mouthful about how he's a coward and weak, and how the next time they meet, the warlock had better kill him or be killed himself.
10 - 11: Nothing. The Voice of Rot wants nothing more from the warlock but to meet him in battle and destroy him and the King of Risur to complete his apotheosis.
12: They fight, and the warlock takes the VoR's power for himself, freeing himself from the pact.
What do you all think?
I'm planning to start Zeitgeist soon, and one of my players is playing a 5e Hexblade Warlock. As those of you familiar with the subclass will know, the lore for it is... shaky. It's pretty underwhelming and also tied to some concepts that aren't really present in Zeitgeist's setting. So he's agreed that we should just substitute in some appropriate entity from the Zeitgeist world which has both the power and inclination to make weapons and host Warlocks.
Given his awakening around the time of the beginning of the campaign, I want to use the Voice of Rot. And then not tell the player who it is until they figure it out (I think they'll figure it out fast, they're pretty sharp). I think this is great because it lets the patron be automatically integrated into the campaign. Plus I think the Voice of Rot is just the type to anoint a warlock knowing full well they're going to have to kill it later, out of perhaps an arrogance of the type like "Only a creature blessed by me has any hope of challenging me"
In our group's games it's expected that, as a representation of the bond between Warlock and Patron that the patron will give the warlock the occasional quest, the reward for which is additional lore (re the patron's nature and goals) and an agreement not to revoke the Warlock's powers for now.
So I've been brainstorming ideas for what quests to send my warlock on as the Voice of Rot. Here's what I have so far, but I'd love to hear if anyone here has ideas, or any other suggestions of what to do or foreshadowing to put in place with the Voice of Rot as a player's patron.
Adventure:
1: No quest. I want the players to experience the fairly streamlined material in this adventure pure. We can start muddling the water with warlocks and patrons later
2: "Throw Nilassa Hume's body in Parity Lake." I think this will be good as it will establish some of the patron's interest in death and water, and should add some interesting tension around the Danoran Consulate, and maybe give me some nice fodder for the Audit in adventure 3. Plus it will give me the chance for the warlock to hear the VoR's poetic style before the encounter in the next adventure.
3: No quest. The VoR makes contact with the party here, and that's enough for this adventure
4: Not sure here, but I wonder if the VoR might be interested in something within the Crypta Hereticarium?
5: ???
6: ???
7: "One among the condemned is Catherine Romana, ensure she lives and give her my mark" I think the VoR at this point has figured out what's going on, and is planning for how to interfere with the Ob's ritual. With this action, he hopes to use Catherine Romana as a double agent, communicating with her through the Mark. I understand that the Voice of Rot is already supposed to have someone at the convocation (Abeira Stackhouse) but I'm going to cut them, since they're not ever talked about other than that they exist. He'll turn Romana to get information about what's going down on Axis Island and how to disrupt it, and in return he'll help her convince Nic to keep her around. This message comes while Nic is explaining why those people have to die (I think it's very unlikely my players will still be in the main room when this happens), and he'll explain that the "mark" to hand over is in the Absurdist's Web, which if my players are paying attention may be a good hint about Copperhat that I think they'll feel clever for figuring out.
8: Not sure if I do anything here, I don't think the VoR cares much about the visions or Kasvarina.
9: Depending on how things go, I might have VoR instruct the Warlock to find a reason to prolong the fighting between the two fey factions. When they learn that they need to go face the Voice, a simple order comes "Do your worst". I think that the Voice has kinda already accomplished his plan at this point, and is just excited to have a chance to kill the party, as he sees them as representative of the country of Risur. When the party surrenders and escapes, he probably gives the warlock a mouthful about how he's a coward and weak, and how the next time they meet, the warlock had better kill him or be killed himself.
10 - 11: Nothing. The Voice of Rot wants nothing more from the warlock but to meet him in battle and destroy him and the King of Risur to complete his apotheosis.
12: They fight, and the warlock takes the VoR's power for himself, freeing himself from the pact.
What do you all think?
