Adventure in Sigil?

[Saagael]

I DM a 4e group that is on the brink of reaching Paragon status. So far, they haven't done any planar adventures and I and looking to rectify that. I'm planning on having my players thrown (quite literally) into Sigil, and then have to struggle to get back to the Material Plane, where all the action is happening. The only catch (and currently where I'm at a dead end for ideas) is setting up an adventure that starts and ends in Sigil, and revolves around the players trying to get back home.

I would love for the players to stumble upon Sigil during some crisis. My first idea is that there's a new plague of sorts that's got the Lady of Pain blocking all portals to the city, causing riots to break out due to fear for starvation. This has the bonus of immediately affecting the players, since the portals are blocked, yet they managed to use a portal to arrive in there. What if someone saw them enter, and informed a more powerful being? My idea here is that Estavan, the head of the Planar Trade Consortium, learns of their arrival and asks them how they entered, and hires them to figure out what's going on (more specifically, he wants them to find a working portal, regardless of whether they solve the plague mystery).

This is where I start drawing blanks. What plague is running rampant in Sigil? The players have to first find out what it is, perhaps where the ingredients originated, taking them to the source, which leads them to the manufacturer, and then to the mastermind of it all. I would love for Mephistopheles to ultimately be behind the plague, since he's the BBEG in my campaign. The Archdevil is trying to overthrow Asmodeus by harvesting souls on the Material Plane to create an army. Perhaps this plague was meant to drive Cagers to the Material Plane for harvesting (250 thousand creatures is pretty tempting). However, I think that idea is fairly shallow and not worthy of one of the most prominent schemers in existence.

The only problem with my purposed idea is that blocking off all portals will mean I can't send the players to the Shadowfell or Feywild (as I had thought that ingredients for the plague/cure might be located there). Is there a clever way around this, or have I plotted myself into a corner?

Would anyone like to help me fill in the blanks? I'd really love to make this adventure be a memorable one.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Plagues are tricky in D&D because they're so easily solvable with magic. Heck, in 3.5e it's conceivable that a (DM could rule that a) single Wish could wipe out the plague in the city. That's not in 4E of course.

If you don't mind stealing from literature, there's a book called Omnifix. Here's the general plot (in spoilers):
[sblock] Aliens created nanogens (diseases) that in one case caused humans to lose their limbs and slowly deteriorate and in the other case die at roughly age 30. In one or both cases, the change in these humans would create a byproduct which could be harvested to produce enzymes that would allow others to effectively live forever. That is certainly on a grand scale because the aliens attempted to infect every human on the planet and killed 60% of the human population. It would be worthy of Mephistopheles and certainly Sigil is the best place to instigate such a plague because it's the nexus of EVERYWHERE. [/sblock]

 

[Saagael]

Plagues are tricky in D&D because they're so easily solvable with magic. Heck, in 3.5e it's conceivable that a (DM could rule that a) single Wish could wipe out the plague in the city. That's not in 4E of course.

Luckily I don't have to deal with that since I'm in 4e, and the players haven't touched, and probably won't touch, divination rituals for a while.

If you don't mind stealing from literature, there's a book called Omnifix. Here's the general plot (in spoilers):
<snip>

That sounds reasonably workable if I twist it around a bit. Mephistopheles doesn't need a longer life-span, since he's practically immortal... Hmm... The end result of the plague would be that it aids the Archdevil in harvesting souls, and nothing immediately jumps to mind. I'll think on it though, thanks.

 

[Infiniti2000]

A couple more pertinent points, in case it helps:

[sblock] It was a huge ratio difference. A lot of people have to die in order to increase the longevity of just a few people. And, it has to be replenished (as cells die), so you need a neverending supply. Some humans tried to manipulate this for themselves, but obviously only for a VERY select few. So, it was the death of a lot for just a few. That's why the aliens came here, so they didn't have to sacrifice so many of themselves. They'd much rather sacrifice humans. [/sblock]

So, now we just need something that Mephistopheles would really want. What does a devil want or need? What are they afraid of most? Angels? Paladins? Maybe it could help in harvesting souls, but not sure how. Maybe someone dying from this plague is automatically harvested by Mephistopheles regardless of their religion. So, that paladin can pray all he wants, but he's gonna end up in the 8th level of Hell!

Or, maybe it's some sort of massive ritualistic siphon on Asmodeus's power? Oh, wait, let's get even more fantastic. It's a massive ritual that will swap the two levels of Hell, making Mephistopheles the top archdevil by default! There might be some power that goes with the level of Hell you own.

 

[Saagael]

So, now we just need something that Mephistopheles would really want. What does a devil want or need?

Therein lies the problem of my adventure idea. However, I think I've found a way around it that I like quite a bit better. If I were to go with this "plague" idea (which already sounds forced and not very creative), the players would inevitably be the ones to find a cure and solve the problem, thus saving Sigil. I really don't want their first adventure in the Cage to revolve around them saving the place; they could save a city in the Material Plane, it's not really special.

No, what I'd really love to do is make the players actually worried that they might not get home, or that getting home is going to be dangerous and hard. It's safe to say Mephistopheles has spies in Sigil, and since the players have foiled some of his minor plans already, it's also safe to say he's keeping an eye on them.

Enter a cabal of Neogi slavers hired by Mephistopheles to capture the players and get rid of them. The slavers were just told to get rid of the players, but the players could bring a lot of money since they're good adventurers.

At this point, I'd like the Neogi to transport the players to another plane for re-sale; perhaps the Shadowfell, where they are then sold to a cult of Orcus for sacrifices (the group has had bad run-ins with Orcus in the past, it'd be neat to bring that back). From there it's a series of fights back to the Neogi to get their gear, where they find out a devil was behind the PC's capture (thus it's foreshadowing, because the players don't yet know Mephistopheles is the BBEG).

Does this sound better, or more engaging than a plague? I'm worried that an adventure like this will turn out to be mostly role playing and few skill challenges, with not a lot of combats. So far I see 1 for when the PCs are captured, 2 if they beat the first group. Then maybe another 3-5 as they're escaping the Shadowfell. That's not as thorough as I'd like to be, though. Are there any ideas for how I can lengthen or improve the time the players spend in Sigil as captives, and make it more engaging (rather than "You're stuck in a cell, then put in cages, then carted through a portal to the shadowfell"). Perhaps the players are first sold to the owner of a gladiatorial ring, but after they kill several of the monsters there, the're sold back, then carted to the Shadowfell.

Any ideas on that front? How would you make being a slave interesting?

 

[Soel]

In a 2e campaign I ran, the players were duped into bringing a plague into Sigil so that it could spread throughout the multiverse. The plague was of an antimagical nature and it suppressed the casting of spells. It would be a different beast in a 4e game, though.

 

[Infiniti2000]

A plague doesn't sound forced. Trying to make the players slaves sounds forced. First of all, it can't be a guarantee success. If it is, you'll likely end up killing one or more PCs or it will really look like railroading. As a PC, I would fight to the death to avoid slavery at the hands of the neogi. Or, flee. So, no I don't think that path will work well at all.

If you're main goal is to make Sigil block its portals, there are other choices than plagues. For one thing, I'm not convinced that Sigil would give a crap to protect others so far that it would quarantine itself. Another option is that something important to Sigil itself is stolen. This could be an artifact or something, and doesn't even need to be magical, could simply be some historical document wherein the treaty amongst all the Powers were signed to maintain peace. The guards lock down all portals, all teleportation magic is blocked, etc. The PCs want to leave and the most expedient route is finding the thief(ves). Clearly, this has a lot of opportunities involving roleplaying and/or combats. Others might want to leave and there could be wild accusations everywhere with guards simply throwing everyone into the slammer. Want an enemy in the slammer? Accuse him! Think McCarthyism here.

Another way to seal the city is simply beseige it or attack it! Mephistopheles might simply take matters into his own hands and use brute force. Maybe he (or someone else like Orcus) is not attacking the city directly, but instead trying to get someone. "Send out the chairman or the city suffers." Of course, this has problems in terms of peace treaties and such, but those could be RP opportunities for the PCs, too.

 

[Saagael]

First, I apologize for flip-flopping on my ideas so often: Mostly, I'm trying to bounce ideas around and brainstorm possible adventure hooks. I hope that's appropriate for this forum.

My main goal is to make everything that can go wrong, go wrong for the players as they try to get home. That way they're not saving a city, rescuing a damsel, finding an artifact (even if the end result is them going home, the adventure is still about solving the problem). I'd like the adventure to be finding a way back to the Material Plane. So the big questions here are: what would the players need to do to get out of Sigil, and how can I make what the players do go wrong.

My first attempt at making things go wrong was getting the players captured. The players might still find themselves the targets of a slaving group (and it'd be there choice to pursue those slavers), but they won't be captured, just harassed a few times.

At the same time, when the players purchase a gate key, the vendor will have been bought off by spies, so the key will take them somewhere else that's more dangerous. Maybe they get framed and have a run-in with the Sons of Mercy

How else could their trip go wrong?