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Captured by ghosts (My players keep out, please!)
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<blockquote data-quote="Henrix" data-source="post: 4634949" data-attributes="member: 3587"><p>I need your help, fellow DMs, EN worlders, all!</p><p></p><p></p><p>Last session my players (well, their characters, really) went off in a totally different direction than I had intended. They decided to go explore some old ruins, the Gardmore Abbey.</p><p>The abbey has a short description on p.206 in the 4e DMG. Essentially it's an old monastery dedicated to Bahamut, abandoned due to them having found a dark artifact, which got the place invaded by evildoers. Or so the story goes - it might not be true.</p><p></p><p>I fully intended to scare them off by showing them a couple of ghosts (they had a bad run-in with such a beastie a little earlier). I don't want everything they meet to be 'leveled' to a sporting encounter - some things are too tough to fight (and perhaps best left to later), in particular as they're still level one.</p><p></p><p>Anyhow, as things often go when PCs are around, they didn't fall for it. They didn't try to fight their way out of it, or run away, but stood meekly and just did as the first ghost to approach them asked them to. Which was, after a few blanked out split seconds on my part, to take them into custody. The ghost was, after all, the ghost of a guard patrolling the abbey.</p><p></p><p>So, they were taken in front of the orderly, who tried to ask them what they were doing there, and, pointedly, if they weren't there for the treasure. Now, one of the characters, an eladrin wizard, had been talking incessantly about the chance of finding a treasure there, and when the orderly asked about it, he couldn't keep his face in check (that was what the player wanted, by the way). So he concluded that they were there to rob them, which he couldn't have.</p><p></p><p>I've played the ghosts as morose shattered beings, and my intention is that they are somehow cursed to this bleak existance, probably by the 'artifact' or in any case the cause for the abbey's downfall. (Another of the players asked if there were nothing they could do for them, but the orderly just said, in a raspy voice, that there was nothing anyone could do for them - doubtless he's wrong, but that's what they think.)</p><p>I don't think the ghosts are Evil. Nasty customers, yes, and not above leaving people to starve to death in their dungeon, but more sad, cursed souls who, very deep inside them, are devotees of Bahamut.</p><p></p><p>And that's where we parted for the evening, in a nice cliffhanger.</p><p></p><p>So, where in the abyss do I go from there? </p><p>The PCs have gotten themselves good and surrounded (not by my intention, mind you) and will have a hard time getting out. (There was some hopeful mention that the guards might just be minions as we wrapped up. So that's out of the question.)</p><p></p><p>I'm thinking of just throwing them in a deep dungeon (literally), without waepons and stuff, but with the leavings from earlier stupid gits (a.k.a. 'PCs'), and let them find an unknown way out. Perhaps beat them unconscious first, so that they have no idea of the way in. (I've always wanted to do a Daggerfall/Oblivion kinda thing. I might even use the first dungeon map from Daggerfall, which might tickle one or two of them.)</p><p></p><p>But I'd like them to learn something about the abbey, the 'artifact' and the curse on their way out. Something they can come back to later. Something that can let them help the poor cursed sods. Perhaps something that ties into KotS, Thunderspire, Pyramid of Shadows, or something else entirely.</p><p></p><p>The problem is that I'm somewhat stumped. Not to mention down with an awful fever. <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/worried.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":-S" title="Uhm :-S" data-shortname=":-S" /></p><p></p><p>Any ideas on how to make this memorable?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Henrix, post: 4634949, member: 3587"] I need your help, fellow DMs, EN worlders, all! Last session my players (well, their characters, really) went off in a totally different direction than I had intended. They decided to go explore some old ruins, the Gardmore Abbey. The abbey has a short description on p.206 in the 4e DMG. Essentially it's an old monastery dedicated to Bahamut, abandoned due to them having found a dark artifact, which got the place invaded by evildoers. Or so the story goes - it might not be true. I fully intended to scare them off by showing them a couple of ghosts (they had a bad run-in with such a beastie a little earlier). I don't want everything they meet to be 'leveled' to a sporting encounter - some things are too tough to fight (and perhaps best left to later), in particular as they're still level one. Anyhow, as things often go when PCs are around, they didn't fall for it. They didn't try to fight their way out of it, or run away, but stood meekly and just did as the first ghost to approach them asked them to. Which was, after a few blanked out split seconds on my part, to take them into custody. The ghost was, after all, the ghost of a guard patrolling the abbey. So, they were taken in front of the orderly, who tried to ask them what they were doing there, and, pointedly, if they weren't there for the treasure. Now, one of the characters, an eladrin wizard, had been talking incessantly about the chance of finding a treasure there, and when the orderly asked about it, he couldn't keep his face in check (that was what the player wanted, by the way). So he concluded that they were there to rob them, which he couldn't have. I've played the ghosts as morose shattered beings, and my intention is that they are somehow cursed to this bleak existance, probably by the 'artifact' or in any case the cause for the abbey's downfall. (Another of the players asked if there were nothing they could do for them, but the orderly just said, in a raspy voice, that there was nothing anyone could do for them - doubtless he's wrong, but that's what they think.) I don't think the ghosts are Evil. Nasty customers, yes, and not above leaving people to starve to death in their dungeon, but more sad, cursed souls who, very deep inside them, are devotees of Bahamut. And that's where we parted for the evening, in a nice cliffhanger. So, where in the abyss do I go from there? The PCs have gotten themselves good and surrounded (not by my intention, mind you) and will have a hard time getting out. (There was some hopeful mention that the guards might just be minions as we wrapped up. So that's out of the question.) I'm thinking of just throwing them in a deep dungeon (literally), without waepons and stuff, but with the leavings from earlier stupid gits (a.k.a. 'PCs'), and let them find an unknown way out. Perhaps beat them unconscious first, so that they have no idea of the way in. (I've always wanted to do a Daggerfall/Oblivion kinda thing. I might even use the first dungeon map from Daggerfall, which might tickle one or two of them.) But I'd like them to learn something about the abbey, the 'artifact' and the curse on their way out. Something they can come back to later. Something that can let them help the poor cursed sods. Perhaps something that ties into KotS, Thunderspire, Pyramid of Shadows, or something else entirely. The problem is that I'm somewhat stumped. Not to mention down with an awful fever. :-S Any ideas on how to make this memorable? [/QUOTE]
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