[Epic] Forgotten Realms Campaign

Mystery Man

First Post
Matt, Dave, Drew, Rob - If you're a player in my group with that name read no further. You know who I am by the link in my sig! Back! Back!!









<
<
<
<
<
<
<
<
<
<





OK, now that they're gone....


I'm about 9 levels away from an epic (per the ELH) campaign. I figure now is about the time I need to start planning. For the past 12 levels I've been sort of having this loose running plot with giants in the Realms causing a lot of trouble, Hill and Frost for the most part with a smattering of fire here and there.

Way back in the beginning Klauth (a big red great wyrm trouble maker) held an entire town hostage unless the players retrieved an item for him. This artifiact (as it turns out to have been) was a very important racial thing with the giants. Believed to be the skull of one of thier most dreaded and great frost giant jarls from the Days of Thundering. Word has got back to the major tribes in the Endless Ice Sea and now they're really, really miffed.



The Frozenfar or extreme north is a mysterious place, little is known about the numbers or even what may or may not make its home up there. So I consider it free game to do pretty much whatever I need to do to get the job done.

I'll be foreshadowing a portent of things to come very soon either thru a shared vision via a dream or an old bronze dragon npc:

Orc allies in the frozen north have been summoned, so were talking about an orc horde like no other, frost giants, eldritch giants doing ritual magic to cast ice age over and over to eventually cover most of the silver marches (that's going to start happening no matter what), xixecals, white dragons, you name it. All have been gathered, and I'm not just talking about the Realms, allies have been pulled in from other planes. Silverymoon destroyed, Alustriel used as a plaything, babies on pikes, the war between giant and dragon reigniting and destroying the north in the process. It's going to be bad. There's just no way to stop this overwhelming force.

Unless, the players recover the Skull. Sounds simple enough eh?

And that's what I want to do, take something so simple "recover the skull" and turn it into something that epic level players are challenged with. That and not giving that information away. I need a way for the players to come to this conclusion themselves.

The twist: Sarrukh

Things to consider: Screw the novels, I could care less what Salvatore has done to the north, Drizzt is a fable who may or may not exist. The only known chosen who is at least proven to be real is Alustriel. Others are fables, rumors, beings who are far away and things to be ignored. Please let there be no discussion on what the famous and powerful npc's would do. They'd be ineffective anyway.

I'm looking for lore on anything beyond the Spine of the World. I have The North boxed set, Volo's guides, Silver Marches, Savage North and Waterdeep. I'm looking some ideas on implementing some epic level encounters. Ideas on courtly intrigue, if the Federation gets wind there is surely going to be finger pointing. Do they give (assuming they recover it) the skull back? Destroy it utterly? What happens when they do either? Even better what happens if they find Klauth and he doesnt have it? :)
 

log in or register to remove this ad


Any chance I can include a Plot by Orcus Cultists to try and turn the frozen North into their own undead play ground?
 




Piratecat said:
Okay, this sounds fun and I think I have a sneaky idea. First, a question: who has the skull now?
Well, if you were a player the first most obvious place you or any other NPC would think is Klauth. Divinations and the like didn't reveal its exact location in the beginning and that's not about to change. :)
 



Okay, then... let's brainstorm.

Clearly, Klauth doesn't have the skull. Let's say he's dead. No, not just dead... he's frozen in a giant sheet of ice, his visage (along with a whole lot of treasure, (including a mess of skulls) just visible through the ice sheet. His cave is inhabited by a tribe of illusion-using lizard creatures who worship the dead dragon as a God. They use their illusions to make people think he still exists, and they are both deadly and servile. Off the top of my head, I recommend classed ophidians from the Fiend Folio.

Defrosting Klauth's corpse will reveal that it was frozen so that his freakin' huge undead zombie body would stop attacking people. Boy, that's an unfortunate thing to find out when you just plan to speak with dead or examine the treasure. . .

So where did the skull go? Divinations can lead the group around for a bit, but it's actually owned by a fairly nice, VERY important political figure in a major city. He acquired it through illegal smuggling and will not let it go for any reason. Unfortunately, this guy is a major diplomat and if he dies, so do three or four major treaties that are stopping the various warring races from completely eradicating various human lands. The PCs have to get the skull from him, but if they kill him for it there will be major repercussions.

Option: the original skull is long destroyed. It had no real powers, and was just a symbol. But try telling THAT to the warring forces...

Option: the skull is in a Thayvian museum. The PCs have to break in and get it out.

Hmm. Needs a lot of elaboration and fine tuning, but maybe it'll provide some food for thought.
 
Last edited:

Remove ads

Top