Thinking up Signs of the Apocalypse in my Campaign

[The Red King]

there is a many bodied entity that is infecting the population.

It sends its agents to seek out new people, the agent tells the person "I have a secret for you" and whispers the true name of the entityinto their ear. That person is now infected and has joined the network of minds.

The entity does not refer to itself as "us" or "we". To its perspective, each individual is not an individual, it is the entity. So the entity's agents do not speak to each other, as there is no need to transfer knowledge. When speaking to the unaffected, each body refers to itself as "I"

To detect these infected people, you could make a lense out of a piece of amber and look through it. The properties of an amber lens will show a stream of particles travelling very fast between infected bodies. There is no central host, merely lines of traffic between every infected body.

The effect is a neural network of minds linked together. Because even a single mind has sufficient brain power to be clever, devious and powerful, killing the bodies does not offer any immediately obvious change in behavior.

Thus, if the PCs managed to catch the infection early, and wade through 100 infected down to the last 3, there would not be any functional difference in their behavior from the perspective of the current combat.

From the strategic and long term view, this massive neural network (which is basically merging and rewiring each brain's neural network into a larger one) means this system is able to process all the channels of sensory input from each body and use that data to make plans and coordinate the bodies as a force, better than non-infected entities.

This means the agents do not make mistakes because they are operating on superior intel. This can be reflected by being able to send reinforcments immediately, or to counter the PCs new direction and have agents ready to meet them because they anticipated such a move.

As noted before, the entity refers to itself as I, regardless of which body it is speaking through. The I has a goal of integrating every intelligent being. It is in competition (as in survival, not sports) with other massive entities, like the one Coce05 described.

The Leviathan lives in the deepest part of the ocean. It has been sleeping there for a millenia. So long, that it has been covered by sediment, and other lifeforms have taken up residence on his surface, unaware that he is NOT the ocean floor.

Once, the world was covered in water, and the Leviathan could feed on the lesser beings at will. Leviathan feeds on souls as much as meat. So just eating unintelligent sealife is not enough to sustain him.

Leviathan has not been idle. In his dreams, he has been working. Long ago, he saw what he needed in the depths of space. He has drawn a massive body of ice from elsewhere in the star system to this world. He has carefully set about changing its motion and trajectory to bring it into close orbit with this world. And thus begins his second stage.

The astronomers have long known about The Wanderer, a stellar body passing through the system. Records are incomplete to know that it was once a frozen moon of a gas giant. By the time observers had the technology to see it, it appeared to be a comet or some such.

In recent days, The Wanderer has grown in size and everyone has noticed it. It's tail has formed a rainbow like stream, that initially trailed away behind it. Now, the tail forms an arc that bends back to this world in a rainbow display.

As days progress, it becomes more obvious that The Wanderer has entered orbit over this world as a new moon. There is a continual rainbow streaming off of it, visible even in day time.

It has become increasingly rainy, as the sun's rays from the moon are melting it and the planet's gravity is drawing it in. Since the planet is in rotation, the rain hits in waves. It turns out that it is effectively raining everyday, somewhere on the planet, by way of this melting moon. As the planet rotates and the moon orbits, the rain simply moves, it doesn't stop unless the planet is between the moon and the sun.

With all the moisture, the people have begun to get sick, and get pneumonia. Sores appear on both sides of their neck. The sickness passes, leaving a thin line of a scar on both sides of their neck.

As months pass, the ocean levels rise, flooding of coastal cities begins. It may be noticed now, that no one who has had the Sickness drowns. The scars on their neck, it turns out, have become Gills.

A year later, the new moon has shrunk greatly in size. All but the highest points on the planet are flooded. Society has adapted, because everyone who had the Sickness has discovered they can live underwater. So, they simply rebuild their lives, in their underwater cities.

The Leviathan awakes. It is time to feed.

Both of these are great ideas.

Thanks for the input!

 

[Living Legend]

I like the idea that tharzidun is gaining power and slightly returning to his original form, and so the rules of this universe begin to break down a bit, reality begins to stretch and buckle under the influence of the far realm. Maybe they encounter a small village that is partially melted, maybe a forest that is twice the size it is on the map, maybe people they once knew never existed. You could use this to throw in all kinds of effects: today all ranges are doubled/halved, tomorrow the day lasts only two hours, the day after it snows but is warm as summer.

 

[tvknight415]

The PC's actually win against a random wandering monster without consuming half of their spells... right before engaging in four significant enounters in a row...


Hey, in some of my recent campaigns, that would be a sign of the apocalypse!

 

[TarionzCousin]

I take Mr. Cash to mean you should have a Man in Black, riding on a pale horse.

This is what he grows up to be when you name your boy "Sue."

* Earthquakes. Sounds simple, but even this natural phenomenon is rarely used in D&D games. Are these naturally occurring, or indications that Tharizdun's release draws near...

* Ash rains from the sky from time to time, though no fire seems to be occurring anywhere nearby.

Since the Lady of Pain is the axle/capstone to Tharizdun's prison, I think you should have these effects take place in Sigil.

 

[Oversquid]

This is what he grows up to be when you name your boy "Sue."

Since the Lady of Pain is the axle/capstone to Tharizdun's prison, I think you should have these effects take place in Sigil.

I'm thinking that Sigil will be a battlefield between the Lady of Pain, and the cultists seeking to free Tharizdun, but I think all of those effects should happen in every corner of the multiverse, except with stronger earthquakes around all of Outland, and so severe were those earthquakes that they shook the multiverse too.

Of course the act of the multiverse shaking will make all the other signs appear all over the multiverse, things like arcane storms, to stirring of hatred and discord.

Sigil I think will shake as the great wheel's axel shakes, but Sigil also being desolated by other forces as well.

 

[Drowbane]

Earthquakes and the like in Sigil would be a serious "hey, what the in the Nine is going on here!!"

 

[Janx]

A mountain appears in the sky, and is accompanied by a loud horn blast, that repeats every hour for a day.

Then it is silent for a day.

The a brilliant green ray of light descends from the the mountain, tracing a line across the surface of the world.

the beam is disintegrating a 100' swath at 100' deep across the planet, as it systematically destroys everything on the planet. The beam travels at a rate of 100' per round.

 

[DMH]

The darkness in men's hearts transform into imps, tear their way out and start to sabotage the works of man. They reduce everything they touch into protomatter, the stuff of the Far Realm. The protomatter itself spreads slowly, consuming anything that touches it (a human could take weeks to finally die from the conversion).