Campaign plot advice needed!

[Gilladian]

I prefixed this with 3.5e, but it is really fairly edition agnostic. I've started a new campaign, and I've built a situation that I need to figure out.

Historically, 100 years ago, in the campaign world, a small kingdom was attacked by an evil temple, which dominated a region just outside the kingdom's borders. The kingdom and temple warred, the temple was destroyed, and the evil overthrown. The kingdom tried to claim the area, set up a barony there.

Ten years later, the baron died in a civil war elsewhere in the kingdom, and the barony failed. The king never appointed a new baron (supposedly for his own political reasons). For the last 90 years, this small, fertile river valley on the edge of an expanding and healthy kingdom has remained ruler-less. No other power has moved in, no Lord has tried to claim the region, etc...

Plainly, something has had control of the area, protecting and sheltering it.

The villagers are apparently (or maybe not?) unaware of whatever it is. But a year, or maybe two years, ago, things changed. This year a group of archaeologists arrived in town, and are now exploring the ruins of the old evil temple. And nothing is stopping them, which would have happened in the past. Did happen, a few times.

So what was protecting the region? Fey? A dragon? Something else entirely? And what happened to it? Why did it withdraw its protection? Or did it die/was injured/incapacitated? If so, who did it, and why?

If you want to read about the region on my wiki you can go here: http://vishteercampaign.pbworks.com/w/page/69425128/Cold Comfort Ford
Thanks for any ideas, advice, suggestions, etc...

Oh, and this is an E6 campaign, so it doesn't have to be super-powerful, just interesting!

 

[Kinak]

The first thing that hops to mind is that the ghost of the old baron was watching over his people. It could be that the last of the people alive during his reign finally passed away, releasing him from his oath. Or Death just finally came for him.

On a darker note, perhaps he knew the king had sent him away to get killed and struck a bargain with the god of the temple. Now that the god's end is fulfilled, the baron has become his undead servant.

Taking the other side, the god of the temple may have been protecting the area because it still holds his greatest center of worship (the temple, but also very possible a hidden cult). Now that a new temple has risen elsewhere in the world, he's withdrawn his protection and the cult will become increasingly zealous in an attempt to get it back.

Which isn't to say the god in the temple was a full god or anything. Could be a minor demon or fae or dragon, but just enough to protect the region it calls home. Imps and Quasits are actually great for this, especially with a few class levels.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[Gilladian]

Hmmm... interesting possibilities... I like the idea of going back to the baron, somehow. Maybe not the baron, but the baroness... since everyone KNOWS the Baron died far away and wasn't really ever a "part" of the barony; he hadn't even finished his castle. But maybe his Baroness was a local. Or something. I'll think on that.

I don't think it is the temple. The archaeologists are temple cult members, come back from another locale to hunt for a book of prophecy that was left behind during the sack of the temple. The evil cult now grows somewhere else, and is interested in reclaiming their lost heritage.

I'm wondering if it isn't something that allied itself with the Kingdom army briefly, and then when the Barony failed, took the region over. Now something has happened that has caused its protection to fail/weaken. A ghost MIGHT work, but I have already established that there's nothing of interest in the old ruined baronial keep (which as I said, was never a completed structure).

However, it is known that there are some fey in the region, and there are salt mines under the village. Something could live there or in the river, etc...

 

[MrAndrewJ]

In a very system agnostic way.

Regardless of whatever is truly happening there, the place's reputation would help barons decide not to claim the land. "The Lord of that evil place" might chase them away.

A very classic take could be as simple as an evil aligned dragon in deep catacombs beneath the temple. It's simple, offers an excuse to utilize huge dungeons, plus tried and true. Maybe too tried and true.

Another idea: The "cleric" of the temple may not have been human or humanoid a hundred years ago. The cleric might return every hundred years. There could be a backup plan that has not failed yet to bring the cleric back from death. I use the term "cleric" as leader, more than as character class. The archaeologists may accidentally awaken the restless spirit. One of them may have a family lineage linked to the temple, and is seeking to awaken the cleric. One of them may think he stands to benefit from awakening the cleric just enough to make demands - before the cleric regains full control of course. The characters in any case would need to explore other lands to research this cleric and recover the items or knowledge used to put the cleric away for another hundred years. Those Macguffins would be under threat or even in the wrong hands.

Cursed ore. The archaeologists discover that the temple sits on a mine of cursed ore. The ore is incredibly strong and can fetch high prices, but using it has a cost. Smelting it, using weapons, using tools, even using eating utensils made from the material will slowly drain the user's humanity. The temple was a failed last-chance attempt to contain the evil emanating from the ore, yet the workers inside slowly turned evil and turned against each other. They left diaries and written messages and battle-scarred chambers that the PCs can find. Today, militant barons from the area could decide the ore is worth the risks. The ore will bring them power and money. Diplomacy breaks down. Civil war breaks out, aided by an ore that turns them more aggressive, hateful, and irrational. Player Characters will need to navigate the political landscape along with physical dangers.

I don't think any of these is exactly unique, but you should be able to put a spin on them tailored to your game and group.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

How about a Tulpa or Tulpas, perhaps made possible by some artifact, deep below the castle?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_planet

Instead of one person's mind being the cause of the "creatures from the Id", the artifact has linked into the subconscious of all the serfs of the barony...

 

[Omegaxicor]

I really like the ideas above, I will probably find some of them worming their way into a campaign

depending on how your world runs, are the PCs the only heroes in the world or is the evil not relevant to what happens, maybe the party should be concerned by the evil cult and the evil is just a loose-end or maybe you can work it in later when the creature returns but is injured.

Maybe the creature that protected the area protected other areas in the world that the party don't know about and is currently being attacked in one of those areas, an archeologist team are small fry compared to a full scale demon incursion with Undead armies that is happening on the other side of the world, maybe the creature defending them has been killed, either by it's enemies or another adventurer party hunting for treasure without knowing that the creature protected people.

It adds realism to the world if things happen that the players don't directly affect, though it does mean wasting good stories on groups outside the party which the party may never know about :/

 

[Herobizkit]

I'd say the whole area has been taken away to its own Demi-plane of existence.

This could involve something akin to Ravenloft's Domains of Dread, where Pure Evil makes a demi-plane possible. No one who leaves the edge of the Mists returns... but where do these people keep coming from?

This could also involve some great "Golden Power" meant to keep the town in a bubble of separate space-time. The people live on, but outside, time passes at ten times the normal rate. There is enough land, resources etc. for the town to be self-sufficient.

I always like Fey as an/protagonist. Perhaps there is a Child of Legend waiting to be born, and the Un/Seelie deemed it necessary to sequester the town until said Child comes to be.

 

[ephemeron]

My inclination would be to tie it to the destruction of the evil temple. The commander of the good army said "If we are victorious, may this land know a hundred years of peace", and the gods granted the prayer -- that sort of thing. Or "As compensation for the sufferings of war endured in a just cause, the gods decreed peace until X happens."

X could be the passage of a century again, or something that would seem innocuous or unimportant. Maybe a forgotten relic of the evil god was disturbed, somewhere else? (Kind of like how a slave stealing a cup led to Beowulf having to defend his kingdom from a dragon...) The implicit contract was between the gods and the family line of someone other than the baron?

 

[Gilladian]

Ephemeron - what you're saying strikes a chord. I like the idea of a promise or an oath that is now ended after the 100 years has passed.

I think what I'm going to say is this; King Leodegrance of Valencia brought his armies north, with a fey ally. He and the fey defeated the evil temple. The King swore that he would honor a 100 year treaty with they fey; originally the deal was that the King's Baron would rule the human folk of the valley, and the fey would control all the unfarmed/untenanted land. Part of the Baron's responsibility was to ensure that the (demi) human folk did not go beyond their set bounds. When the Baron died, the King and the fey agreed that the fey would be given complete control for the remainder of the 100 years, and that at the end of that time, the King would have the right to reclaim the region should he so desire.

So now, as 100 years from the day of the oath has just passed (this very spring), Queen Militsa has sent her first envoy into the region. Ostensibly, the duty of the envoy is to test the waters with the (demi)human villagers, to see if they are interested in rejoining the Kingdom. Actually, the Queen wants to see if the fey creature is still claiming the region, if it desires to renegotiate the claim it has on the region, or if it has left the area.

But WHAT is the fey? It could be a river-spirit, or it could dwell in the hills above the town, or something...

 

[ephemeron]

But WHAT is the fey? It could be a river-spirit, or it could dwell in the hills above the town, or something...

Given the geography, a river-spirit could make a lot of sense.

What did you have in mind for the Reflection Pool? If something there likes the occasional human (or demihuman) sacrifice, and could have extended its influence to the old battleground, that could add up to a pact with some dark overtones.