Dr.Gonzo
First Post
Ok, this is going to be a long post.
I've been running this campaign for about 7 sessions now, set in a city I made. I knew it was pretty ambitious for my first campaign, but it's been going pretty well.
The city is rife with crime, and has massive slums districts filled with gangs and stuff. The guards are all corrupt and the upper classes are happily oblivious in their nicer parts of town, while the city officials fill their coffers and ignore everything (It's all incredibly original, I know). So the city is governed by a city council, consisting of a Lord Mayor, the captain of the guard, and the heads of the city's guilds (laborer's, artisan's, merchant's and mage's).
The group has been working with a band of rebels called "The Fist of Virtue" who are gearing up for a revolution at some point, and with the help of a friendly doppelganger, they managed to learn the following information:
- The Lord Mayor (Lord Hemfrey)'s mind was completely blank, though he acts normally (suspected mind control)
- The head of the laborer's guild (Samuel Faust) has an appointment in a few days that he is keeping secret from his wife.
- The head of the merchant's guild (Guild-master Dadbo) is scared of the captain of the guard (Captain Ranekk) and the head of the mage's guild (Guild-master Salmyr).
- Captain Ranekk has evil/corruption vibes coming off him, so strong that they (conveniently) block out his thoughts.
- Guild-master Salmyr has special training that impedes mind-reading/telepathy.
The head of the artisan's guild (Guild-master De'stan) was too drunk to have his mind read at the time (they only received foggy, slurred thoughts about pork-ribs).
Some members of the group infiltrated the castle kitchens and managed to learn that the city council meetings have recently started being held in the castle dungeons (kind of unusual now that you mention it...) and the Lord Mayor has requested that they not be disturbed during their meetings.
So this is what I've got planned:
Some members of the city council have formed a cult, based around an evil magic item that festers greed and corrupts the users, and is causing them to suck all the money out of the city, which is why things have kind of gone to hell (this has been going on for the last 2-4 years).
A powerful demon *insert demon name* is in contact with Salmyr. Salmyr owes it for the power he asked of it after summoning it through a ritual. The demon channels him power through the artefact (amulet? Sword? Ring?Maybe something less cliché?), which is actually fashioned from part of the demon (like a tooth or a horn- 'pick of destiny' style). The artefact is sentient, containing part of the demon, and channeling some of it's power. The wearer gains spell-casting abilities (spells to be determined- maybe 1 or 2 spells? no higher than 3rd level. My players are lvl 4) and some psychic powers, but if the artifact is worn *or held?* for too long, the demonic energy corrupts and harms the wearer, eventually leading to demonic possession (part of the demon's consciousness inhabits your body) and your soul gets all jenky.
Salmyr(cult leader), Ranekk (enforcer), De'stan and Faust are the main cultists, and they use the amulet's power to control the Lord Mayor and keep Dadbo's mouth shut (They would kill him, but they already killed his predecessor, and they don't want too many bodies piling up as it would raise suspicion).
Salmyr is the brains of the operation, and he was the one who summoned a demon to ask for power in return for... (what do demons like? First born sons?).
To these ends, and also just for the fun of corrupting a few souls through the artefact, the demon imbued some of his power into an item and gave it to Salmyr.
Ranekk is the muscle of the operation- and as the captain of the city guard, he also carries a fair amount power. His main role is intimidating people into silence, or silencing them through more murderous means. He is covered in evil/corruption vibes because he wore/used the item for a little too long when he used it to kill the last guild-master of the merchant guild.
De'stan and Faust are just members of the cult, addicted to the amulet's power. They would both die (but would rather kill) to protect it.They don't really have any combat ability, but they are nobles and have powerful positions.
Lord Mayor Remfrey is essentially their puppet king, and has no knowledge of the cult's existence. They have been controlling him with magic and the power of the amulet. It is not obvious while talking to him, though he will always avoid talking about running the city, and attempts to read his mind will show that it is completely blank, as though running on auto-pilot.
When the group follow Faust to his secret meeting in a few days, they will follow him to the hideout of the local assassins guild (they'll need to get passed a magic door, and a golem who keeps asking for a password while he smashes them around the room).
Faust went to hire the assassins to kill Salmyr and Ranekk so that he and De'stan could have the item for themselves.
I'm not sure how the assassins would react to that, but they would probably die if they tried to fight Ranekk or Salmyr.
Things to figure out:
Do all the city council know about the demon, or has Salmyr been keeping it secret from them? Maybe they think the plan is all for money, but actually Salmyr plans to summon the demon and/or destroy the world,etc.
What is the city council's plan? What is Salmyr's plan? What is the demon's plan?
What happens at the secret meetings? Why are they in the dungeon (other than 'dungeons make a cool place for the boss battle')
Any suggestions/ opinions/ etc. would be cool.
I've been running this campaign for about 7 sessions now, set in a city I made. I knew it was pretty ambitious for my first campaign, but it's been going pretty well.
The city is rife with crime, and has massive slums districts filled with gangs and stuff. The guards are all corrupt and the upper classes are happily oblivious in their nicer parts of town, while the city officials fill their coffers and ignore everything (It's all incredibly original, I know). So the city is governed by a city council, consisting of a Lord Mayor, the captain of the guard, and the heads of the city's guilds (laborer's, artisan's, merchant's and mage's).
The group has been working with a band of rebels called "The Fist of Virtue" who are gearing up for a revolution at some point, and with the help of a friendly doppelganger, they managed to learn the following information:
- The Lord Mayor (Lord Hemfrey)'s mind was completely blank, though he acts normally (suspected mind control)
- The head of the laborer's guild (Samuel Faust) has an appointment in a few days that he is keeping secret from his wife.
- The head of the merchant's guild (Guild-master Dadbo) is scared of the captain of the guard (Captain Ranekk) and the head of the mage's guild (Guild-master Salmyr).
- Captain Ranekk has evil/corruption vibes coming off him, so strong that they (conveniently) block out his thoughts.
- Guild-master Salmyr has special training that impedes mind-reading/telepathy.
The head of the artisan's guild (Guild-master De'stan) was too drunk to have his mind read at the time (they only received foggy, slurred thoughts about pork-ribs).
Some members of the group infiltrated the castle kitchens and managed to learn that the city council meetings have recently started being held in the castle dungeons (kind of unusual now that you mention it...) and the Lord Mayor has requested that they not be disturbed during their meetings.
So this is what I've got planned:
Some members of the city council have formed a cult, based around an evil magic item that festers greed and corrupts the users, and is causing them to suck all the money out of the city, which is why things have kind of gone to hell (this has been going on for the last 2-4 years).
A powerful demon *insert demon name* is in contact with Salmyr. Salmyr owes it for the power he asked of it after summoning it through a ritual. The demon channels him power through the artefact (amulet? Sword? Ring?Maybe something less cliché?), which is actually fashioned from part of the demon (like a tooth or a horn- 'pick of destiny' style). The artefact is sentient, containing part of the demon, and channeling some of it's power. The wearer gains spell-casting abilities (spells to be determined- maybe 1 or 2 spells? no higher than 3rd level. My players are lvl 4) and some psychic powers, but if the artifact is worn *or held?* for too long, the demonic energy corrupts and harms the wearer, eventually leading to demonic possession (part of the demon's consciousness inhabits your body) and your soul gets all jenky.
Salmyr(cult leader), Ranekk (enforcer), De'stan and Faust are the main cultists, and they use the amulet's power to control the Lord Mayor and keep Dadbo's mouth shut (They would kill him, but they already killed his predecessor, and they don't want too many bodies piling up as it would raise suspicion).
Salmyr is the brains of the operation, and he was the one who summoned a demon to ask for power in return for... (what do demons like? First born sons?).
To these ends, and also just for the fun of corrupting a few souls through the artefact, the demon imbued some of his power into an item and gave it to Salmyr.
Ranekk is the muscle of the operation- and as the captain of the city guard, he also carries a fair amount power. His main role is intimidating people into silence, or silencing them through more murderous means. He is covered in evil/corruption vibes because he wore/used the item for a little too long when he used it to kill the last guild-master of the merchant guild.
De'stan and Faust are just members of the cult, addicted to the amulet's power. They would both die (but would rather kill) to protect it.They don't really have any combat ability, but they are nobles and have powerful positions.
Lord Mayor Remfrey is essentially their puppet king, and has no knowledge of the cult's existence. They have been controlling him with magic and the power of the amulet. It is not obvious while talking to him, though he will always avoid talking about running the city, and attempts to read his mind will show that it is completely blank, as though running on auto-pilot.
When the group follow Faust to his secret meeting in a few days, they will follow him to the hideout of the local assassins guild (they'll need to get passed a magic door, and a golem who keeps asking for a password while he smashes them around the room).
Faust went to hire the assassins to kill Salmyr and Ranekk so that he and De'stan could have the item for themselves.
I'm not sure how the assassins would react to that, but they would probably die if they tried to fight Ranekk or Salmyr.
- By following Faust and infiltrating the assassins guild, the characters will learn about the castle dungeon, as well as the secret entrance through the sewers, they will learn that Ranekk, Salmyr, Faust and De'stan are part of a secret cult that revolves around the use of an evil item.
- The item is sentient (contains the soul of a demon) and grants the wearer spell-casting abilities and psychic powers, but it cannot be worn for too long (1d4 minutes) due to the intensity of its power (wearing it for too long corrupts and harms the wearer, and can lead to demonic possession, which is bad for your soul).
- They will learn that Salmyr has been using the item to control Lord Mayor Hemfrey and use him as a puppet to further their evil goals of draining the city of its gold, etc.
- Faust only came to the assassins guild because he needed help: “Salmyr and Ranekk are out of control- It used to be about extorting the people, and sucking every last gold coin out of this place, but those guys have taken it too far with all this talk of sacrificing the whole city to the demon-lords, so that they reward us with eternal power in the underworld or whatever. That
is a bit too intense for me.” - His plan was to hire assassins to kill Salmyr and Ranekk, so that he could keep the amulet for himself.
- Something seriously big is going to go down at the next meeting; It's all been building up to this- The city will never be the same again if they succeed...
Things to figure out:
Do all the city council know about the demon, or has Salmyr been keeping it secret from them? Maybe they think the plan is all for money, but actually Salmyr plans to summon the demon and/or destroy the world,etc.
What is the city council's plan? What is Salmyr's plan? What is the demon's plan?
What happens at the secret meetings? Why are they in the dungeon (other than 'dungeons make a cool place for the boss battle')
Any suggestions/ opinions/ etc. would be cool.
