The Invisible King

[Older Beholder]

The Invisible King

As someone that buys the random d&d minis I've ended up with a few 'invisibles' which has inspired a background character I've intended to throw into campaigns but so far has only existed as a rumour: 'the Invisible King' said to control an army of invisible stalkers, but beyond that it's not really fleshed it out.


It's a seed that usually captures the imagination of my players, though, so I'm trying to think of ways to better incorporate it in future.
I've just got a few loose ideas, but welcome others, particularly motivations.


My first idea was that there isn't a King at all and the stalkers act with a hive mind like the Borg.


I thought about the ruler being a wizard or someone using a cloak of invisibility. Or maybe the stalkers are being infiltrated by a group of wizards using invisibility spells or magic items.


The group of stalkers take work as assassins for any that would wish to risk trying to contact the mysterious Invisible King. Said to never fail an assignment.

 

[Sadras]

(1) The Invisible King is nothing but a wizard djinni, who is either an outlaw in his native plane and therefore in hiding or is indeed a liberated Djinni enjoying the comforts of the Prime Material Plane, and in both instances the invisible stalkers are his underlings, being his slaves or willing servants.
The djinni fiercely protects his anonymity using agents to derail or hijack the PCs attempts to learn the truth.

(2) The Invisible King is a female wizard who has attained access to a portal leading to the Elemental Planes of Air making it easier to summon and control multiple invisible stalkers. How she came upon the portal is a story on its own. However the constant use of the portal has unknowingly created a tear in the fabric of reality between the two planes which is slowly widening and will eventually allow creatures native from the Plane of Air to easily slip into the Prime Material Plane and cause havoc.

A Lord of the Elemental Plane, who is in the know, attempts to take advantage of the portal fracture in an attempt to elevate its plane above the others, by unbalancing the elements within the Prime Material, thereby gaining a measure of superiority.

(3) There is no Invisible King, though there might have once been one. However the invisible stalkers that were once summoned remained trapped in the Prime Material Plane eternally serving out their duty, hunting those that would do harm to the King.

The reason for their imprisonment on the Prime Material Plane is due to the shard from Rod of Seven Parts which was used as the arcane focus to summon them. The strength of the artifact was/is so immense that when it was used to summon them, it bound them to the plane forever. The quest being to find the artifact and use it to release them, but it might not be as easy as that as the shard might have gained sentience (i.e. Invisible King) and uses the stalkers to stop the PCs.
The way to defeat the shard might be to find the journals of the original wizard who used the shard of better yet seek out the creators of the Rod of Law/Seven Parts - the Wind Dukes of Aaqa for advice or assistance.

 

[aco175]

The army of stalkers is just a few minor spells to make things look like they are there. The king is but a middling mage with a few tricks and a cloak of invisibility. He is trying to blackmail folk out of their money and use the threat of many stalkers as a ploy. There could be a trick like only 1 stalker that moves around to make it look like a bunch. Since they are invisible, nobody knows how many there really are.

 

[Older Beholder]

(1) The Invisible King is nothing but a wizard djinni, who is either an outlaw in his native plane and therefore in hiding...

(2) The Invisible King is a female wizard who has attained access to a portal leading to the Elemental Planes of Air making it easier to summon and control multiple invisible stalkers. How she came upon the portal is a story on its own. However the constant use of the portal has unknowingly created a tear in the fabric of reality between the two planes which is slowly widening and will eventually allow creatures native from the Plane of Air to easily slip into the Prime Material Plane and cause havoc.

A Lord of the Elemental Plane, who is in the know, attempts to take advantage of the portal fracture in an attempt to elevate its plane above the others, by unbalancing the elements within the Prime Material, thereby gaining a measure of superiority.

Some good ideas here on how to work it into an adventure, thanks for the response.

 

[Older Beholder]

The army of stalkers is just a few minor spells to make things look like they are there. The king is but a middling mage with a few tricks and a cloak of invisibility. He is trying to blackmail folk out of their money and use the threat of many stalkers as a ploy. There could be a trick like only 1 stalker that moves around to make it look like a bunch. Since they are invisible, nobody knows how many there really are.

I like this too, as it could work for a lower level group of PCs and could be a nice red herring to the actual real invisible king story line later in the game, perhaps mage is just using the legend of the Invisible King, thinking it a myth safe to exploit.

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=6813585]ModernApathy[/MENTION] The Invisible King is the first Air Elemental to be bound by mortal magics as a stalker...and also the first to escape the binding magic. Feeling betrayed by Akadi, and full of disgust for the mortal mages that bound him, the Invisible King has allied with Yan-C-Bin (Prince of Evil Air) to get his revenge on mages who bind elementals. One of the Invisible King's mysterious powers is the ability to bestow charms granting greater invisibility, but he loses this power and his invisibility on the Elemental Plane of Air. However, the magic infusing the Invisible King with invisibility is failing...or perhaps flawed...the more that is known about his origins (e.g. True Name, abandonment of Akadi, alliance or worship of Yan-C-Bin, weakness of Plane of Air) the more visible he becomes. His great anonymity is the source of his peerless invisibility.

 

[Older Beholder]

[MENTION=6813585]ModernApathy[/MENTION] The Invisible King is the first Air Elemental to be bound by mortal magics as a stalker.... ....(e.g. True Name, abandonment of Akadi, alliance or worship of Yan-C-Bin, weakness of Plane of Air) the more visible he becomes. His great anonymity is the source of his peerless invisibility.

Some great ideas here, cheers.
I'm going to check out some of your DM guild adventures when I get a chance.

 

[Charlaquin]

No one has seen King Karran in as long as they can remember. Some say he died years ago, and the missives he allegedly sends instructing his council of his will are manufactured by the council themselves. Others say that he fell victim to a curse that rendered him permanently invisible, or else that his disappearance was the result of a Wish gone wrong. There are even whispers that the king is addicted to Potions of Invisibility, and that he secretly employs a cabal of alchemists who work round the clock to keep him in constant supply. Whatever the truth may be, the country runs smoothly despite its king’s (if you’ll pardon the phrase,) apparent absence. This is thanks in no small part to the the fact that all who openly challenge the legitimacy of his continued reign are mysteriously silenced, blugeoned to death by assailants as unseen as the king they serve.

 

[Older Beholder]

There are even whispers that the king is addicted to Potions of Invisibility, and that he secretly employs a cabal of alchemists who work round the clock to keep him in constant supply.

Cool idea, I like the thought of someone getting addicted to a certain type of magical potion.