Help me with my plot

[Vraille Darkfang]

The Devil you know......

Give the vamp the upper hand, big time. (Like all the corpses in the land rise up to do her bidding). Everything looks lost. No ONE side has enough power to overcome the vamp queen's power. However, together......

Force the PC's to make an alligence with the diabolist to save the world (after all, if vamp wins, no world left to try to take over). Some sort of hidden device from the dawn ages that contains the power to 'return to dust' all the undead that have been freed. In order to get their, the PC's need help from the diabolist, diabolist needs help from the PC's.

Plus, son't turn the King into a Vamp Spawn, make him into a real vamp. Their are lots of vampires that fight their evil tendancies. If teh king's a vampire proper the PC could always try to 'save' him some way. This could be like Jandar Sunstar (of FR & Ravenloft fame) who constatnly fough the evil in him or go the Angel route and come up with some ritual/item that gives the king his 'soul' back.

Perhaps the only creature powerful enough to destroy the vamp queen is the 'ancient evil' the diabolist is trying to summon. An 'all hell breaks loose' idea would be that the PC's not only have to FREE the ancient evil, they have to convince it to fight the vamp queen as its top priority. Then, whoever wins, the PC's have to take out the winner while he's still weak.

Just an idea

 

[cincinnati reds]

Insofar as the King and vampirism goes, I think I'm going to take a page from Vampire:Masquerade mythology and say that if a vampire is destroyed, all the vampires they created become mortal again. Really old vampires will become mortal and immediately die.

That way if the PCs kill Grybek they can return the King to mortal form. Also gives me some strong motivation for why Grybek went rogue against Alexei - he just wants become mortal again so he can die - we'll say that if he's destroyed as avampire his soul will remain in limbo forever but if he dies as a mortal he has a chance to go on to the Heavens.

Also makes for a good way for the PCs to "rescue" the Kingdom from the undead threat at least - destroy Alexei and all her vampiric minions are destroyed, which in turn destroys all their spawn, etc - a nice domino effect, and then all that'll be left to do is "mop up" the zombies and ghouls.

Of course, this effect won't be common knowledge, forcing the PCs to do some research on it.

Having the FavSoul's mum kidnapped by bandits up in the Rim Lands is a good idea too - I'll have to see if I can't run with that.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

As a player? Try to find a way to channel solar energy around me. That and build an army using this item and the hidden citadel as the start.

As a DM? The vampires are going to be expanding exponentially as they continue to spawn. Winter is very helpful for that. I'd probably wonder if the Church of Pelor would start teleporting in high-level strike squads to help. That and is there anything the *vampires* fear? Perhaps there's something worse that they are trying to gear up to defeat. Could be muy interesting.

(You're a Reds fan? My company's HQ is there. Like the new stadium a lot!)

 

[Runesong42]

item o' power

I would strongly convince the PC's to make a second crack at the 'impenetrable fortress'. I would make the fortress itself be the "item of power" the PC's are trying to retrieve.

For example, IMC, my high-ranking Priestess of Taelisha (Goddess of Light and Healing) fell into an alliance with Dwarves, who, in exchange for mining rights, earned a boon and had a small citadel created. Taking inspiration from Disney's old cartoon "Gummi Bears", I decided I wanted the construct to have a large tower in the centre, upon which would b placed a "laser".

This "laser" is essentially a giant lens which "can send out a message or burn with its beam" by focussing sunlight (or moonlight, perhaps) and creating a large beam. She had long-term plans for using it to communicate with other tempes as she gained land and created new citadels.

I thought to further expand on the item by possiby petitioning the Goddess to create a minor (or perhaps major?) artifact that would duplicate an item I found in an old Dragon magazing called The Light Of Reason. In short, it was a lamp that, when lit, would create some sort of protective ward againt evil over a 100 mile radius or something to that effect (I think it was like a massive 'curse' versus evil or something similar).

And, if you want to go REALLY fantastic, why not have the citadel be abel to change shape an become one giant animated construct, like a walking "tank", or perhaps giving it the ability to fly?

Hope this gets the creative juices flowing.

 

[blackfeather]

i know this isnt realy on topic.

i was wondering, i created a new thrwead in the story section. it's called ice relm. i was wondering how to get players to come and join. it's brad new.m i put it up to day. acually this morning. how long do you think till they come?

 

[fett527]

OK, I didn't read your post, I just saw you're username! I'm a huge Reds fan! Post here sometime and share the love:

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=126835

Not much has been posted lately, but I will definitely be hitting it once the Reds get on track (like getting good pitching and good hitting in the same game).

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

I also like the idea of having the PCs "join" one of the evil forces, just so that they can defeat the other evil power and then turn on their "ally." A little cliche though, and it's an obvious ploy that the BBEG would somehow have to miss/underestimate.

The other suggestion I would have is that there's always someone waiting in the wings to fill a power vacuum. The dukes are probably obvious candidates, but there's usually others who have similar designs on power but lack the capability to seize it. That's where the PCs could come in. Maybe the king has children who could claim the throne; maybe one of them doesn't even know it. Maybe one of them is a PC. Who knows. But there's never a shortage of people who would like to assume power.

 

[shametoy]

Just a suggestion..

A good idea so far has been to get the diabolist and the vapires fighting (guerilla warfare can be loads of fun!)

I am not a big fan of the "find the up until now unknow artifact that can save the day" type play.

My suggestion is that the players realise they need an army to defeat the vampires. The only person who has one or can build one is the diabolist duke. The players should find a way for the duke either to undergo an alignment change so that he agrees to help them, or to manipulate him into aiding them without his knowledge. This could be very interesting for play.

- Find an artifact that can force an alighnment change and get his support.
- Launch guerilla warfare attacks against both armies while building up a grass roots resistance movement.
- The players approach the duke to gain his aid. The duke goes along with the idea of being a great leader for his people (to consolidate his power, build an army and protect himself against the vampires) and is slowly changed by the experience and thus gains a new alignment.
This can be a powerful story. Not only must they then worry about the vampires, but what about the demons he was in league with? They have invested much in his venture and will not appreciate his change of heart.
If the demons find out, what would happen? Does he reveal this new manner to the demons and destroy them, or does he try use them against the vampires (this could be pivetal to destroying the vampires) while trying to hide his new found alighnment.
- The players join the dukes forces to destroy it from within. Working hard to come the dukes attention, they work to become his trusted servants. Many in his organisation will resent these upstarts, but having the dukes ears gives them a position of power. At this point you can even resort to the point above (convincing the duke to pretend to be good and build an army - it could sound like brilliant advise)

 

[cincinnati reds]

My suggestion is that the players realise they need an army to defeat the vampires. The only person who has one or can build one is the diabolist duke. The players should find a way for the duke either to undergo an alignment change so that he agrees to help them, or to manipulate him into aiding them without his knowledge. This could be very interesting for play.

- Find an artifact that can force an alighnment change and get his support.
- Launch guerilla warfare attacks against both armies while building up a grass roots resistance movement.
- The players approach the duke to gain his aid. The duke goes along with the idea of being a great leader for his people (to consolidate his power, build an army and protect himself against the vampires) and is slowly changed by the experience and thus gains a new alignment.
This can be a powerful story. Not only must they then worry about the vampires, but what about the demons he was in league with? They have invested much in his venture and will not appreciate his change of heart.
If the demons find out, what would happen? Does he reveal this new manner to the demons and destroy them, or does he try use them against the vampires (this could be pivetal to destroying the vampires) while trying to hide his new found alighnment.
- The players join the dukes forces to destroy it from within. Working hard to come the dukes attention, they work to become his trusted servants. Many in his organisation will resent these upstarts, but having the dukes ears gives them a position of power. At this point you can even resort to the point above (convincing the duke to pretend to be good and build an army - it could sound like brilliant advise)

I love this. You should be a player in my game.