Black Orb of Evilness

[The Flying Walrus]

I'm thinking of a storyline to set my characters in. It may be a little cliched, but I'm only 13 years old and this is my first time.

Okay, so Dwarves have hit a gold vein in the hills of a nearby village. This has caused a boom in growth and miners are moving in. Unfortunately, they've hit more than gold. The PC's are sitting around the table at the local tavern when a dwarf and a human burst in, talking about skeletons and corpses rising up to attack them right after discovering a secret stone shaft. Now they say that the Boss is looking for folks that are brave enough to go and investigate. The PC's are all looking for money and bored, so naturally, they agree to help. They are not friends, but rather, they all happen to be in the tavern at the same time. The next day the boss agrees to pay each of them 20 GP per day that they explore the shaft. So there's a dungeon crawler, and after a couple days of battling large vermin and undeadlings, they come upon a large room with a strange black sphere about 1'x1' in the middle. They approach it, and find that it is able to pick up and put in a backpack, but it is extemely cold and you get a creepy feeling when holding it. It's really an artifact that was created by a necromancer to animate the dead in his dungeon to guard the vault, which lies below the level that it was found. If it is ever removed from the dungeon, the necromancer Himself will arise and go after whoever had their hands on it. Of course, he is a Lich-type of undead and is rather smart, so he uses others to try and destroy the PC's and bring back the Orb so he can rest again. Suggestions?

 

[jollyninja]

ok what if every monster they killed while they posess the sphere rose shortly thereafter as a skeleton under the necromancer's control and tried to return the orb to it's resting place? or you could have the one carying it suffer temporary con or str damage,


the plot's not really bad, i've been in more cliche campaigns and i didn't start playing until I was 18.

 

[LufiaLillystorm]

hmm

I like the idea very good job hun

One thing I would change (just because I am used to my players) is the way the dwarf is going to pay the pcs. If you say '20 gp a day' then it might stagnate teh campain. "Cheer we beet the big bad guy, lets wait a bit and THEN go back, after all. we want money"

Another idea using the Orb is that since it raises undead it because a very large burdon to the whole group. Unless skellies are compleatly destroyed they can raise again, from being so close to the 'artifact'.

Remember also that Artifacts are a bit corrupting. Instaed maybe make it a magic item. Sounds picky but makes a big difference. You also might want to add a sense of urgency. That way the players feel the need to go on. this can also add to the whole paying thing.

"Not all the men came back from the shaft. We lost a few when we were getting out. We heard some blasts but everything was goin kinda quick. So some maybe trapped down there behind rubble. After a quick head count we figure maybe 7 or 8 are missing. This kinda happens in minors work but ya know the families will be wanting to know. We all got 'insert form of id like dog tags or something' so if ya find them rotting make sure ya grab them. Help um if ya can" Or something like that. This will also give reason for the PC's to head back to surface, so they can refresh themselves before going deeper into the mines. Some may even volunteer to guide the PC's if paid....a billion options with that scenario...

I hope I helped you in some way hun

 

[LostSoul]

You want to throw in some kind of foreshadowing. "Dark times are coming" and all that kind of jazz. Maybe they can run across an old crone's hut in the middle of the woods, whom the PCs know to be a "fortune teller". Make up a bunch of crap off the top of your head, and write it down. Later on you can come up with the ideas for it all.

To draw some of the PCs into the mine, give them a little information before the game. Maybe one of them has heard about a really powerful magic item (the orb). Maybe another has heard about tons of gold that has never been discovered. Maybe another has a relative that works in the mine. (With the relative, you could have the lich possess him.)

You'll want to have the lich take a lot of time gathering its strength so that he doesn't just kill the PCs right away. Maybe his first action is to (somehow) gain a group of humanoid followers (hobgoblins, kobolds, orcs, gnolls, etc.). Maybe he can lure a cunning creature into his lair; once there, he promises great powers if the creature serves him. To show the power that he can give, he offers the creature some type of magic item. This item makes all the difference, and allows the creature to make a power grab; but its power is dependant on the lich and needs to be "regenerated" every so often.

 

[The Flying Walrus]

Hey, thanks you guys. I think I have a fairly good idea about what the plot's going to be like. I've written down some things about the Dark Orb. So far, during the night, it raises any corspes and/or skeletons within about a mile radius. It also gets increasingly heavier as you travel away from the Dungeon, and it causes your alignemtn to degrade one step towards evil every 2 months kept (DC 20 to resist). Despite all of this, it allows you to rebuke undead as an evil cleric of your level and gives you certain bonuses against non-evil enemies. It cannot be destroyed by normal means. It must be taken to Brimstone Island and cast into the portal which leads to the Abyss.