LostSoul
Adventurer
The couple I play with wanted me to run this and I agreed. Here is a log of the game.
1. Wherein I do a lot of work
I didn't really like the computer-game aspect of the module - where going to a certain location would trigger another "act". This seemed to cut out a lot of opportunity for the players to make meaningful decisions. I wanted to put that back in.
I started by asking myself questions. What were the goals of the NPCs? Given their resources, how could they achieve them?
[sblock=One Question]
That wasn't getting me anywhere. I decided to focus on why Lareth was the Champion. That, too, proved fruitless.
My questions unanswered, I turned to Greyhawk lore, especially Maldin's Greyhawk.[/sblock]
This led me 1000 years into the past...
[sblock=My Revised Greyhawk History]The Suel arch-mage Xodast the Doom-Bringer came to possess The Codex after discovering it on the Rock of Bral. Through it he created the Bringer of Doom. Xodast realized the power of his creation and kept it safely hidden. Destroyed by summoned fiends, the Codex was left hidden within his castle.
In 5031 [-484 CY], a series of border skirmishes led to war between the Empires of the Bakluni and Suel.
In 5058 [-457 CY], the soothsayers and augurs of the Oeridians prophesied that a great curse was soon to befall the both Empires. Their peoples began to move east past into the Flaness.
In 5069 SD [-446 CY] the divinations of the Mages of Power of the Suel Imperium warned them of the Rain of Colourless Fire. The Mages sought The Bringer of Doom to destroy the Baklunish Empire in an Invoked Devastation before this could happen.
The Mages alerted their Emperor Zod Ad-Zol. He wished above all else for the safety of his son Zellif, and commanded that he lead his people in exodus while Zellifar Ad-Zol remained to continue the war. He did not explain his reasons.
Zellif was seen to be fleeing the war. Zod Ad-Zol's honour was impunged and internal strife wracked the Imperium.
In 5087 [-428 CY] the auguries of the Bakluni Padishah Ramif foretold a great doom brought against his people by the Suel: the Invoked Devastation. He focused all his research on stopping the cataclysm. This led to his discovery of the Codex in the ruined Tower of the Brooding Mage - Xodast's ancient seclusium.
Padishah Ramif asked his god Dorgha Torgu, now known as the Outcast of the Gods, how he could use the Codex. Dorgha Torgu was "[swayed] by the evil counsel of ... that alien thing called an Elder Elemental God". Dorgha Torgu told Ramif to take the Codex to the one place where it would be safe - Tovag Baragu, that which is and is not - and upon its pages was the key to defeating the Suel.
The Padishah Ramif knew that "any person reading its 99 damned pages [was] 99% certain to meet a terrible fate" and he weighed this cost with the doom of his people. Within he discovered the Rain of Colourless Fire and vowed to use it if the Invoked Devastation ever came to pass.
In 5094 [-422 CY] the Mages of Power found The Bringer of Doom. They determined to call the Invoked Devastation by opening Bringer of Doom. This, they hoped, would end both the war and stop the Rain of Colourless Fire.
They opened it and waited.
Padishah Ramif was safe within Tovag Baragu - a place between time and space, both there and not-there - with the Codex. When his spies and spells told him that the Invoked Devastation was to come and could not be stopped, he cursed the Suel and called down the Rain of Colourless Fire.
When the Padishah Ramif invoked the spell - with the aid of his god Dorgha Torgu, who "bent dimensions and loosed unnatural elements" - the Door and the Gate to time and space were opened, and Tharizdun escaped his prison: the Invoked Devasation howled across the land.
Ramif knew the terrible fate the Codex bestowed upon him and shut its damned pages. The Door and the Gate were closed and the Way blocked. The Invoked Devastation ended and Tharizdun returned to his prison.[/sblock]
This allowed me to give the NPCs a goal and a plan.
[sblock=Their Goal & Plan]The Orb of Oblivion is the Bringer of Doom. When opened, it releases Tharizdun from his prison for a moment, centred where the Orb lies at the moment.
The Orb of Silvery Death allows the Champion of Elemental Evil access to Tovag Baragu. Once there, he can read from the Codex - the Way and the Key - and create the connection between the Orb and Tharizdun's prison.
Lareth is simply the destined champion.
Knowing what their goal is, I can easily say that their goals have not yet been met - they don't have either Orb. It will take time to create the Orb of Silvery Death, and time to find the Bringer of Doom (buried within the Dry Steppes).[/sblock]
A little history on one of the more important NPCs:
[sblock=The History of Lareth the Beautiful]Lareth was born some 40 years ago, a child of an incestuous ritual designed to bring about the Chosen One, the Opener of the Way, the Key and the Gate, Umr at'Tawil. He was a perfect specimen of humanity - strong, tough, beautiful, and possessed of an indomitable will. He was raised by a small group of cultists on the Wild Coast who taught him how to channel these abilities and to cast aside all weakness.
From "Dissertation on Sepulchral Twilight: A Monograph on Astrological Mysteries", by Voivod Joanna, CY 550: "When the world cowered under the great eclipse of 543, I turned my astrolabe towards the skies and the stars. What did I see but something that has never before been recorded - an event that may not have taken place since the Invoked Devastation: the conjunction of the constellations of Life, Death, and Time. I fear that these signs mark an event that will change the very world in which we live - and not for the better..."
The cultists lost their hold on Lareth when they were assaulted by a group of bandits. They were slain to a man, but Lareth, still a child, was spared. Even then he exercised control over men's emotions. The bandits were hard men, but Lareth was harder, and he thrived in the unforgiving environment they had given him.
From the diary of Rube, bandit leader: "Today we found a small monastary filled with crazed men and women. They seemed to be focused on raising a child. We slew the men - and the women, too, sadly, for they were driven mad by their unholy worship and not fit for labour in the field or the harem. I was going to kill the child but stayed my hand. If these maniacs were so interested in him, he might prove to be valuable in some way. Time will tell."
Lareth began to believe that his powers came from within himself, not from any outside power. He worshipped himself as a fallen god. He began to convince the weak-willed bandits that he was a messiah, that he would lead them to glory and salvation.
At the tender age of 15, Lareth slew the bandit leader and took control of the group for himself. No one challenged him.
Lon Droga, Spymaster of Fax, in a report to the Council of Fax, 558 CY: "And in other matters, it seems that some of the highwaymen who have been so cunning of late have taken up some new kind of worship. They venerate a man - or a boy - called 'Lareth the Beautiful'. He has their complete loyalty. Bribes fail to move his men, force does not scare them, and even in death they do not betray him."
In the following years, Lareth's infamy grew. He was feared by all civilized men and those outside the law. Men and worse flocked to him, honouring him, worshipping him. He was a legend of pain and death and cruelty along the Wild Coast and the Pomarj.
Scrawlings found on a cave wall in the Pomarj, written in orcish: "Lareth is the doom-bringer, the maker of pain, the way and the key. He will make our enemies pay in pain and blood. Their children's children will cry the lament of Lareth the Beautiful."
It did not take long for his reputation to reach the ears of Hedrack, at that time the High Priest of the rebuilding Temple. Hedrack met the young warlord and offered him a place of prestige in the Temple's organization. Lareth accepted and became the New Master of the Moathouse near Hommlet. Lareth ruled with an iron fist, terrorizing the people of Hommlet and the Kron Hills. He had developed his own cult of worshippers, a flock of fanatics who were willing to do his every whim - to kill and die for him.
Excerpt from the Journal of Hedrack, High Priest of the Temple of All Consumption: "In my time as supreme commander of the Temple, I saw no greater servant of evil than the one called Lareth the Beautiful."
It was during this time that Lareth investigated the legends about him. He discovered his heritage, and the prophecy that he was destined to fulfill. From the moathouse he spoke: "I am and will be the Chosen one. I am the Way and the Key, the Opener of the Gate. I was born when the stars were right, and I will be there when they are right once more. When that glorious day comes, I will be exalted above all man and beast, a god on Oerth. I have seen it."
In a daring strike, Canoness Y'Dey struck down Lareth, crushing his skull in. Lareth lay dead and the legends about him dissolved. His growing cult of followers disbanded and disappeared into the hills of the Pomarj.
From the diary of Y'Dey, humble servant of St. Cuthbert and Canoness of Hommlet: "Lareth is finally dead. I dealt the final blow myself. Even I was surprised to find that he was mortal. His reign of terror is ended."
After the second fall of the Temple, Hedrack discovered Lareth's corpse, and, thinking that Lareth might yet have a part to play, Raised him from the dead and left him in the ghost town of Nulb. Horribly disfigured, Lareth went insane with anger and resentment.
Writings in the journal of Nietheri Proscuran: "I believe Lareth the Beautiful still lives. After much searching, consulting with sages and seers, prophets of all kinds, and spending too much god-damned gold, I discovered his tomb. The blasted skeleton is fully intact! It can't be his, if Y'Dey's story is true. And that bitch is as likely to lie as Iuz is to let a virgin she-elf leave his bedchamber with her maidenhood intact. The secret of his power has not died with him."[/sblock]
One question answered, two remain. Lots of work left.
1. Wherein I do a lot of work
I didn't really like the computer-game aspect of the module - where going to a certain location would trigger another "act". This seemed to cut out a lot of opportunity for the players to make meaningful decisions. I wanted to put that back in.
I started by asking myself questions. What were the goals of the NPCs? Given their resources, how could they achieve them?
[sblock=One Question]
Goal #1 : Find the Champion of Elemental Evil.
Goal #2 : Release Tharizdun from his prison.
Goal #1 . How would they do this?
Commune. They would cast Commune until they were able to narrow down who the Champion is (or is to be). They have not yet discovered who the Champion is, so the answer they are getting must be "Unclear".
Why "Unclear"? That would make sense if the Champion (Lareth) were dead, but he was Raised. And if all they needed to do was Raise him, it'd be easy for them to figure it out via Commune or Divination.
Goal #2 : Release Tharizdun from his prison.
Goal #1 . How would they do this?
Commune. They would cast Commune until they were able to narrow down who the Champion is (or is to be). They have not yet discovered who the Champion is, so the answer they are getting must be "Unclear".
Why "Unclear"? That would make sense if the Champion (Lareth) were dead, but he was Raised. And if all they needed to do was Raise him, it'd be easy for them to figure it out via Commune or Divination.
That wasn't getting me anywhere. I decided to focus on why Lareth was the Champion. That, too, proved fruitless.
My questions unanswered, I turned to Greyhawk lore, especially Maldin's Greyhawk.[/sblock]
This led me 1000 years into the past...
[sblock=My Revised Greyhawk History]The Suel arch-mage Xodast the Doom-Bringer came to possess The Codex after discovering it on the Rock of Bral. Through it he created the Bringer of Doom. Xodast realized the power of his creation and kept it safely hidden. Destroyed by summoned fiends, the Codex was left hidden within his castle.
The Codex of Infinite Planes: The Codex holds "the keys to instant physical transference to any one of the other planes and alternates of any world or universe." It is the Way and the Key. "...and the two strong slaves lifted it [the Codex] from the back of the Beast. Thereupon I commanded the Brazen Portals to be brought low and they were wrenched from their hinges and rang upon the stone. The Efreet howled in fear and fled when I caused the page to be read, and the Beast passed into the City of Brass. Now was I, Tzunk, Master of the Plane of Molten Skies. With sure hand I closed Yagrax's Tome [the Codex], dreading to -"
The Bringer of Doom: A manifestation of Tharizdun's prison.
The Bringer of Doom: A manifestation of Tharizdun's prison.
In 5031 [-484 CY], a series of border skirmishes led to war between the Empires of the Bakluni and Suel.
In 5058 [-457 CY], the soothsayers and augurs of the Oeridians prophesied that a great curse was soon to befall the both Empires. Their peoples began to move east past into the Flaness.
In 5069 SD [-446 CY] the divinations of the Mages of Power of the Suel Imperium warned them of the Rain of Colourless Fire. The Mages sought The Bringer of Doom to destroy the Baklunish Empire in an Invoked Devastation before this could happen.
The Invoked Devastation: The manifestation of Tharizdun escaping his prison. Entropy on a vast scale, a black wind howling across the land causing everything to break down and die. "For He escaped his Prison for the shortest of instants, and wrought death on a world."
The Mages alerted their Emperor Zod Ad-Zol. He wished above all else for the safety of his son Zellif, and commanded that he lead his people in exodus while Zellifar Ad-Zol remained to continue the war. He did not explain his reasons.
Zellif was seen to be fleeing the war. Zod Ad-Zol's honour was impunged and internal strife wracked the Imperium.
In 5087 [-428 CY] the auguries of the Bakluni Padishah Ramif foretold a great doom brought against his people by the Suel: the Invoked Devastation. He focused all his research on stopping the cataclysm. This led to his discovery of the Codex in the ruined Tower of the Brooding Mage - Xodast's ancient seclusium.
Padishah Ramif asked his god Dorgha Torgu, now known as the Outcast of the Gods, how he could use the Codex. Dorgha Torgu was "[swayed] by the evil counsel of ... that alien thing called an Elder Elemental God". Dorgha Torgu told Ramif to take the Codex to the one place where it would be safe - Tovag Baragu, that which is and is not - and upon its pages was the key to defeating the Suel.
Tovag Baragu: [Carcosa.] The centre-point at which all things meet. [The Plateau of Leng.] It is not so much a place as an idea, a frame of mind. "Far away, in the lands still barren from the Invoked Devastation, alone on a great plain, the ancient stone circle of Tovag Baragu, the Navel of the Oerth, stands in the shadows of the Sulhaut Mountains. Through its mighty arches are gateways to other places, other worlds, other times... "
The Padishah Ramif knew that "any person reading its 99 damned pages [was] 99% certain to meet a terrible fate" and he weighed this cost with the doom of his people. Within he discovered the Rain of Colourless Fire and vowed to use it if the Invoked Devastation ever came to pass.
Rain of Colourless Fire: Nuclear destruction on a massive scale. "A nearly invisible firey rain which killed all creatures it struck, burned all living things, ignited the landscape with colorless flame, and burned the very hills themselves into ash."
In 5094 [-422 CY] the Mages of Power found The Bringer of Doom. They determined to call the Invoked Devastation by opening Bringer of Doom. This, they hoped, would end both the war and stop the Rain of Colourless Fire.
They opened it and waited.
Padishah Ramif was safe within Tovag Baragu - a place between time and space, both there and not-there - with the Codex. When his spies and spells told him that the Invoked Devastation was to come and could not be stopped, he cursed the Suel and called down the Rain of Colourless Fire.
When the Padishah Ramif invoked the spell - with the aid of his god Dorgha Torgu, who "bent dimensions and loosed unnatural elements" - the Door and the Gate to time and space were opened, and Tharizdun escaped his prison: the Invoked Devasation howled across the land.
Ramif knew the terrible fate the Codex bestowed upon him and shut its damned pages. The Door and the Gate were closed and the Way blocked. The Invoked Devastation ended and Tharizdun returned to his prison.[/sblock]
This allowed me to give the NPCs a goal and a plan.
[sblock=Their Goal & Plan]The Orb of Oblivion is the Bringer of Doom. When opened, it releases Tharizdun from his prison for a moment, centred where the Orb lies at the moment.
This also allows the NPCs to have "power" as a motivation - they can use the Orb to create an Invoked Devastation and take over the world. The more insane still want to destroy the world, but others just crave power.
The Orb of Silvery Death allows the Champion of Elemental Evil access to Tovag Baragu. Once there, he can read from the Codex - the Way and the Key - and create the connection between the Orb and Tharizdun's prison.
Lareth is simply the destined champion.
Knowing what their goal is, I can easily say that their goals have not yet been met - they don't have either Orb. It will take time to create the Orb of Silvery Death, and time to find the Bringer of Doom (buried within the Dry Steppes).[/sblock]
A little history on one of the more important NPCs:
[sblock=The History of Lareth the Beautiful]Lareth was born some 40 years ago, a child of an incestuous ritual designed to bring about the Chosen One, the Opener of the Way, the Key and the Gate, Umr at'Tawil. He was a perfect specimen of humanity - strong, tough, beautiful, and possessed of an indomitable will. He was raised by a small group of cultists on the Wild Coast who taught him how to channel these abilities and to cast aside all weakness.
From "Dissertation on Sepulchral Twilight: A Monograph on Astrological Mysteries", by Voivod Joanna, CY 550: "When the world cowered under the great eclipse of 543, I turned my astrolabe towards the skies and the stars. What did I see but something that has never before been recorded - an event that may not have taken place since the Invoked Devastation: the conjunction of the constellations of Life, Death, and Time. I fear that these signs mark an event that will change the very world in which we live - and not for the better..."
The cultists lost their hold on Lareth when they were assaulted by a group of bandits. They were slain to a man, but Lareth, still a child, was spared. Even then he exercised control over men's emotions. The bandits were hard men, but Lareth was harder, and he thrived in the unforgiving environment they had given him.
From the diary of Rube, bandit leader: "Today we found a small monastary filled with crazed men and women. They seemed to be focused on raising a child. We slew the men - and the women, too, sadly, for they were driven mad by their unholy worship and not fit for labour in the field or the harem. I was going to kill the child but stayed my hand. If these maniacs were so interested in him, he might prove to be valuable in some way. Time will tell."
Lareth began to believe that his powers came from within himself, not from any outside power. He worshipped himself as a fallen god. He began to convince the weak-willed bandits that he was a messiah, that he would lead them to glory and salvation.
At the tender age of 15, Lareth slew the bandit leader and took control of the group for himself. No one challenged him.
Lon Droga, Spymaster of Fax, in a report to the Council of Fax, 558 CY: "And in other matters, it seems that some of the highwaymen who have been so cunning of late have taken up some new kind of worship. They venerate a man - or a boy - called 'Lareth the Beautiful'. He has their complete loyalty. Bribes fail to move his men, force does not scare them, and even in death they do not betray him."
In the following years, Lareth's infamy grew. He was feared by all civilized men and those outside the law. Men and worse flocked to him, honouring him, worshipping him. He was a legend of pain and death and cruelty along the Wild Coast and the Pomarj.
Scrawlings found on a cave wall in the Pomarj, written in orcish: "Lareth is the doom-bringer, the maker of pain, the way and the key. He will make our enemies pay in pain and blood. Their children's children will cry the lament of Lareth the Beautiful."
It did not take long for his reputation to reach the ears of Hedrack, at that time the High Priest of the rebuilding Temple. Hedrack met the young warlord and offered him a place of prestige in the Temple's organization. Lareth accepted and became the New Master of the Moathouse near Hommlet. Lareth ruled with an iron fist, terrorizing the people of Hommlet and the Kron Hills. He had developed his own cult of worshippers, a flock of fanatics who were willing to do his every whim - to kill and die for him.
Excerpt from the Journal of Hedrack, High Priest of the Temple of All Consumption: "In my time as supreme commander of the Temple, I saw no greater servant of evil than the one called Lareth the Beautiful."
It was during this time that Lareth investigated the legends about him. He discovered his heritage, and the prophecy that he was destined to fulfill. From the moathouse he spoke: "I am and will be the Chosen one. I am the Way and the Key, the Opener of the Gate. I was born when the stars were right, and I will be there when they are right once more. When that glorious day comes, I will be exalted above all man and beast, a god on Oerth. I have seen it."
In a daring strike, Canoness Y'Dey struck down Lareth, crushing his skull in. Lareth lay dead and the legends about him dissolved. His growing cult of followers disbanded and disappeared into the hills of the Pomarj.
From the diary of Y'Dey, humble servant of St. Cuthbert and Canoness of Hommlet: "Lareth is finally dead. I dealt the final blow myself. Even I was surprised to find that he was mortal. His reign of terror is ended."
After the second fall of the Temple, Hedrack discovered Lareth's corpse, and, thinking that Lareth might yet have a part to play, Raised him from the dead and left him in the ghost town of Nulb. Horribly disfigured, Lareth went insane with anger and resentment.
Writings in the journal of Nietheri Proscuran: "I believe Lareth the Beautiful still lives. After much searching, consulting with sages and seers, prophets of all kinds, and spending too much god-damned gold, I discovered his tomb. The blasted skeleton is fully intact! It can't be his, if Y'Dey's story is true. And that bitch is as likely to lie as Iuz is to let a virgin she-elf leave his bedchamber with her maidenhood intact. The secret of his power has not died with him."[/sblock]
One question answered, two remain. Lots of work left.
