Help me with my plot

[cincinnati reds]

What I'm doing here is mining for ideas for my current campaign - I've blown the setting wide open here, and would like to hear anything that pops into your mind. I'll give you a brief synopsis of what's going on in my campaign, and if you can think of anything that sounds cool or interesting to drop in to it, let's hear it.

The game is about 50% "storytelling" 50% "gamist."

Okay, thus far:

The Kingdom of Lys has been invaded by undead armies pouring into the land through planar rifts between the Prime and a demiplane ruled by an ancient vampiric necromancer that the PCs inadvertently released back in the beginning of the campaign. Currently it is the dead of winter, with poor communication between settlements, so few people know what's going on elsewhere in the land. Rumor says that the dead have been returning to life and forming 'occupying forces' that are keeping the living around, but cowed - basically keeping them as a self-perpetuating source of food.

Lys' armies have been severely weakened from fighting off incursions from one of their neighbors all summer. The invading Kingdom, Argrieve, says that Lysian forces kidnapped the daughter of the Argrievan King. Right now Lys and Argrieve are at an unsteady peace brought on more by the weather than by any sort of accord.

The King of Lys is little more than a figurehead - people rally around him, but the true power in the Kingdom (read as: power of taxation and military might) rests in the hands of the Eastern Duke and the Western Duke, neither of whom like each other or the King much.

The Eastern Duke has just died of old age, and his son has taken his title. This new Duke, Alaric, is a diabolist who wants to raise an ancient bound evil ("The Adversary") from its eons-long bondage and has no qualms about summoning devils to help him. Luckily, he only has a few at any one time, but he does command the armies of the East.

The vampiric necromancer, Alexei, has command of the King's castle and has ousted the King - she thinks that taking out the King is the masterstroke she needs to accomplish to seize control of Lys, though in reality, of course, the King holds little power.

The PCs, however, have helped the King escape from the castle during the invasion, and were sent on a quest by him to find and establish control of "The Hidden Citadel" - a long unused "impenetrable fortress" from which he can begin to raise an army and begin a campaign to free his land. The PCs have found this Citadel, but not taken it. They were forced to flee after Alaric sent some of his minions into the Citadel as well to retrieve an item of power hidden there (he found the citadel's location by scrying on the PCs - whom he has a history with).

The PCs have returned to the King to find that one of Alexei's lieutenants - a vampire named Grybek, who hates her and has "gone rogue" - has found the King while the PCs were away and turned him into a vampire spawn. The PCs fled.

Now, they have access to a Wizard's Tower, though the Wizard has vanished and does not look to be returning anytime in the future. They have a few allies in the nobility scattered throughout the Kingdom, and a few enemies as well, but the occupying forces of the undead are everywhere. The nation is broken into a thousand fragments, and people such as Duke Alaric, who should be leading the people to reclaim their land, would rather help it be destroyed so as to make his own personal goals easier.

If you were the PCs in this situation (7-8th level, no real political power, though they are fully aware that power is available right now to anyone who can seize it by helping restore Lys), what would you do?

If you were the DM, what would you do?

Your valuabler input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
cincinnati reds

 

[cincinnati reds]

Also, please note that everything vaguely described above is just as vague in my notes - I leave the details open so that I can mold them into whatever will make for a better game as is necessary. To wit, the "item of power" in the Hidden Citadel could be anything, the occupying undead armies can be as nasty or toothless as need be to make the game more entertaining - I'm a "reactionary" DM, and until the PCs actually come in to contact with something it remains non-defined.

So anything above can be twisted, molded, shaped like clay into whatever is going to make the game as a whole more entertaining for my players (and myself, of course).

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

I be thinking about how to fight diabolists and vampire necromancers. Not a good combination! I think I'd try to find someone I could trust to seek advice from - if it was a 'default' setting, then a senior cleric of Pelor might be good.

Do the PCs know they were scried on? If so, then I'd take precautions to avoid that, or at least have a scry proof area to discuss plans in. The above mentioned cleric might be able to help with that.


Beyond that, the people need a leader. I'd consider looking towards:

Un-vampire spawning the king. Although he sounds like a bit of a waste of space anyway. If not un spawning then I'd definitely destroy him - too dangerous to leave around.

Consider the Duke of the West - not sure what he's like, but can he be worse than a vampire or diabolist.

Seizing power myself. Could one of the PCs wield the power of the hidden citadel?


As a DM, I'd be asking 'What do the undead want?'. Is it just to rule and spawn? Do they have some sinister overall goal in mind?

The big uber ritual could be a good way to go. Perhaps the vampire is trying to ascend to godhood - needs to be done at the right time and place, involves 1 or more McGuffins and thousands of sacrifices (why people are being kept alive).

Also, how does the vampire necromancer feel about the PCs. To cut them a break I'd say she now sees them as irrelevant - will ignore them unless they intrude on her plans again.

What can the wizards tower do? Will it be able to help the PCs out?

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Frankly Argrieve is starting to look like the good guys.

Inconsequenti-AL has a good point about curing the king. According to "da roolz" I'm not sure that can be done. So you'll have to tell your players if it can or can not in your campaign.

You have many, many bad guys. As a DM you now have to hold back on introducing more. The good guys are down, now you have to make way for some victories. Unless the goal of the campaign is to make the PCs die in the rain, alone and unremembered.

 

[Ds Da Man]

Being a player, I would begin by making raids on vampire/undead army to free people and begin establishing an army. I would also begin to establish a base of operations, so potential followers could be trained as an army. I would also seek any spellcasters to join the cause.
I would also seek out clerics of good religions, sending riders to other areas to enlist the help of good churches and paladins/knights wanting to help the cause.
I would also start trying to make it look like the demonists were making attacks against the vamps, and vise-versa.

Being a DM i would have the vampiric minions keeping and collecting living prisoners as cattle.
I would allow the PCs to begin to build their army, all the while the Diabolists and undead were warring, having the small landowners fall in with the PCs. Mass Battles ahead!
Maybe as clerics and spellcasters are brought into the army, some of them know various legends of powerful magics that can only be used by good. Then have it come to a head, and battle the thing out in a vicious triangle. Then bring in new PC, in the world the heroes left em.
Have fun and good luck!

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

Tell us about your players' backgrounds, motivations, and alignments. It's really hard to help you with the direction of the game without a better understanding of where the players are coming from with this.

 

[cincinnati reds]

We have established all the "bad guys," so to speak. What the PCs have going for them in this is that the diabolist and the necromancer's goals are directly at odds with one another - though the PCs don't know this yet, it will keep the populace "awake and afraid in their beds at night, with the covers pulled up over their heads" while the two BBEGs srruggle with one another. That should give them some breathing room to make strikes against the enemy.

Insofar as the PCs and their motivations go:

We have a Rog3/Wiz5 looking to go Arc Trickster - he is CN, and just wants power. He's a greedy little guy who's primary goal is to get land and title in some way or another.

A Favored Soul 7 (Kord) who acts as a scion of the diety. She is CG, and wants to rid the land of evil and also find her mother, who was separated from her last week - the PC had sworn fealty to Alaric way back in the day and he came looking to cash in - she said no and there was a big battle, she was killed (and subsequently raised) while her mother fled into the wild with two of her men-at-arms.

The two other player are bringing in new PCs this week and I'm not sure where they're going with them.

The BBEGs are still solidifying their power bases. Alexei (the Necro) was once a barbarian queen who fell in love with temporal wealth and that "dirty city living" many centuries ago, and she wants to rule over all that again - that's her motivation, I think.

Alaric (the diabolist) just thinks the Kingdom should be his and if he's got to awaken ancient evil for more power, traffic with devils, etc., he'll do it. I think maybe he's getting in over his head, and will destroy himself (with the PCs help, at least) from dealing with forces Man should not be dealing with. He's the flawed guy in way over his head.

I like the ascending to godhood idea for the vampire. That may put her at odds with the Vecnish clergy, providing the PCs with a potential, though highly unsavory, ally.

The only thing in the Wixzard's Tower that I've introduced so far is a Mirror of Mental Prowess. What else could be in there that the PCs could put to good use? Basically, what kind of resources would they need to have access to to realistically be able to combat this growing tide of evil?

I also think that I'll put some other NPCs in the Tower - a high-ranking Cleric of Pelor for one. While the master of the tower is away, his apprentice is there (and he's in love with the favored soul character, which is why he's helping out the PCs, really). What kind of personages could have come to seek succor and assistance from the (vanished) master of the tower - he was one of the most powerful magi in the land, and had his fingers in everything but never wielded any direct power because he didn't want to have to deal with the responsibilities of it - but he had many "allies."

Any other thoughts? Should the PCs go in search of allies, what sould they find? And how can I subtly give them an idea of who to go calling on and who to stay away from?

Again, thanks for all the responses so far.

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

Do we know what's happened to this PC's mother? Any details about her already set out?

 

[cincinnati reds]

Do we know what's happened to this PC's mother? Any details about her already set out?

Nope. Just that I'd prefer it if she doesn't die "off-stage" without the Favored Soul having a chance to intervene - that PC's father already "sold his soul" to Alaric, and I just think it would be cruel for me to kill her mother off as well.

The mother, Talia, is just a sweet middle-aged woman (the FavSoul is only 16 years old, IIRC) who worries about her daughter (only child) and has no idea why her husband left one day and never returned.

The players know what happened to the father (we have a secondary party - same players, different PCs - running in the same setting/timeline in which they had to fight him). That's not terribly important to this thread, though (I don't think).

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

Thanks.

If I were you, at this point I'd work in possible ways of developing the characters towards their objectives and tie that into a new plot thread. Fortunately the tools to do this are already written into the characters.

Example: Through overhearing a conversation between two NPC's the characters learn of trouble in a nearby part of the kingdom. A group of bandits has taken over a small keep and are holding hostages for ransom; one of the hostages matches the description of the missing mum, although it isn't certain that it's her. Meanwhile the local Baron/Lord/whatever has decided to award title to the small keep and its estate to any adventurers who can clear out the bandits.

All is not as it seems; the bandits turn out to be in the employ of one of the BBEG's and working towards one of his designs - the hostage may or may not turn out to be one PCs' missing mum, at your option - and the title to the small keep comes encumbered with debt and some unpleasant feudal obligations.

Assume that the PCs will gain title to the small keep but any associated income will be useless in the short term because of debt and there will be a need to recruit more soldiers. This lets you put a future plot hook into place when one of the residents of the PCs' newly-acquired land has a problem and comes to his or her Lord for help...