Campaign Writers Block - help me get unstuck

[Lord Zar]

short summary of the campaign I'm developing - BBEG is Devil lord (rules one of the 9 levels of hell) that was banished from this plane millennium ago; PCs are at about level 10 when the banishment breaks.

I have a pretty fun story up to when he returns but now am facing slight writers block and hoping people can get me unstuck. So here is what I'm struggling with

1 - when he returns he will be extremely weak in his aspect form so he will use magic to flee as the PC's fight lesser BBEG who summoned the devil... but where should BBEG escape to? Its been 1000's of years since he last was on the plane.
2 - what would be a fun way for the PC's to discover where the devil lord has fled to? I already have them meet with a covey of Hags to learn key information earlier in the campaign so I think using an oracle might be played out???
3 - What kinds of creatures should inhabit the fortress of BBEG? I want to stay away from lots of summoned devils because I do want the PC's eventually to fight the devil lord in his own plane (when they are really high level ~ 17+)
4 - How should the PC's re-banish the Devil - I was thinking of having them travel to an ancient ruin to search for the item that helps them (what should it be) and how should they learn of it's existence?
5 - Once BBEG is banished what would be the motivation for the PC's to want to fight him on his own plane (???) - maybe freeing all the souls that he's collected over the years?

thoughts and thanks in advance

 

[Immortal Sun]

1: The Devil Lord should go to some place he thinks he knows. All the better if that place has dramatically changed (either much more developed or totally devastated is fine but the former is more fun). The Devil Lord now has to go "back to basics" since he is now weak in power and out of sorts with the world to get a hang on how the new world works and now to dominate it.

2: Completely by "accident". Send them on a different quest for a while, have them hear about a strange new circus in a far away land that is doing "creepy things" and play it up like there may be a casual connection to the cult of The Devil Lord. Instead of finding the Devil Lord running the evil circus, which turns out to be less evil than implied, the Devil Lord is simply there enjoying the show.

3: Cultists are always good.

4: Well if there's an ancient McGuffin there's probably an ancient map or an an ancient book or an ancient wizard who will have the party do 3 incredibly strange tasks before he gives it up.

5: Maybe the current Devil Lord of that realm (hey somebody was running the joint) is a lot "nicer" in comparison. Maybe the party doesn't have a good reason to go there and fight him, maybe they make some kind of treaty. Ya know "No more invasions or we'll kick your butt." kind of treaty.

 

[Jacob Lewis]

 

[Imaculata]

Have the devil take control of the minion that summoned him, and empower him. After the minion is defeated, his spirit is set free, but the players will think he is dead. Allow the players to go on a different quest, while the devil regains his power and builds his fortress. Then have them find out what he's been working on many sessions later.

 

[Eltab]

The devil goes someplace he thinks is safe. Or WAS safe. The ancient fortress now has "squatters". (How would the gods of Ancient Egypt - Amon, Set, &c - react to the sprawling city of Cairo right next door to the Pyramids?)

The PCs can be led to the area by tracking down a rumor or a wave of rumors. The rumors do not have to have "Devil Lord" written all over them - perhaps his first act is to take over the local mafia, and the PCs initially hear about an especially nasty turf war.

The PCs can fight "troubleshooting" squads who are always reinforced with a low-level devil in disguise. The troubleshooters can be whatever other groups are in the area - hobgoblin platoon, a summoner wizard, swarms of kobolds, undead. Dead in Thay (in Tales from the Yawning Portal) has some examples of what I am trying to describe.

The magic item that banishes the Devil Lord should be matched up to the PCs' abilities or backstories. A Bard has to play a musical instrument (get Zelda: Ocarina of Time background music). An Infernal Warlock is handed the instruction manual to make/use the device by his patron (who is a rival of DL). A Barbarian must wallop him with the Greataxe of Power. A cleric learns of a holy Scroll of Banishing Devil Lord for 1000 Years. For fun and flavor, DL is both locked out of the Material Plane and banished to some other plane, such as a layer of the Abyss known for being host to especially dangerous monsters.

The PCs realize "if you want something done, you have to do it yourself" because
(a) they are perfectly fitted to the prophecy about the job getting done (see the personalized methods just described - but allegedly originating from a time long before the PCs were born / known)
(b) word is sent to them - as the resident experts in defeating Devil Lord - that he has defeated the Frumious Bandersnatch, the extra-dangerous other-planar being that was supposed to guard and restrict him, and is running around loose. He plots revenge, of course; you had better go deal with him for permanent before he is ready to deal with you. Bring normal Banishment (for him) and Planar Travel (for you) spells to put the fight on his home plane and defeat him utterly, slaying him for a true death.

I've been writing all this in the masculine. For a switch, the Devil Lord is female. Her strategy and tactics will be different - or maybe not?

 

[Blue]

I'd have the demon lord get away to someplace "safe" thousands of years ago that's now populated. BUT, while weak he's still a match for the non-adventurers there, and starts to spread his corruption.

So maybe in a few months the price of food is going up. Shipments aren't making it in. Turns out he took of a halfling community, and spread from there. Now he's got dozens of villages under his command. Fiendish-infested halflings will be much different than the later demons, especially if there's a way to unpossess them so they shouldn't be killed.

The farming community is just thinking one example of that's insulated fromt he rest of the world enough for him to get a foothold. It could be he takes over a church of a good religion, his infernal words persuasive and convincing them to break from dogma in small ways but ones that turn them further and further from good.

Anything corrupting good could be fun - making a known gold dragon his thrall, etc.

A completely different thought is he ends up mascerading as a the demon lord Yeenoghu and taking direct control of packs of gnolls. It gives him a fighting force, and if he looses screws over a demon - win/win. But that isn't much challenge for 10th level characters unless he starts empowering a much of gnoll warlocks.

A more level-appropriate challenge is that he spends time overcoming his weakness as the vizier to a thane of Fire Giants. They are all lawful evil, and I'm sure he can become fire giant size to fit in. Starts with that tribe taking over other tribes (single combat?), so you can put in rumors of the fire giants fighting among themselves. Then when they have enough they come into the civilized lands and start enslaving the "little ones" who have claimed so much land.

 

[Lord Zar]

Wow, thanks for all the responses.

I'm liking using circus angle to corrupt a town (maybe more in the vein of "Something Wicked this Way Comes". Though one of the first adventures the PC's will face to free a town that is being corrupted by a different force (but in real time there might be a year between the storylines). His guards will be corrupted souls that have been turned in to monstrosities (basically re-skinning monsters) kind of like the Cenobites in Hellraiser - were once human but now are definitely not.

As for rationale for entering hell... I'm thinking while the devil is free he steals the souls of those closest to the PC's (family, lovers, friends...) so PCs will want to free their souls from eternal torment.

As for how to banish - more thought needed

thanks for the idea's though.