HELP! Need adventure idea, layout, structure, etc--on short notice!

[Mercurius]

Here's the deal: I am in a twice-monthly campaign with eight people, two of whom (including myself) are co-DMs. The other guy just started DMing but we missed our last session and are in danger of missing the next (this Friday) because he's going out of state to visit his parents and a couple other guys can't make it. It looks like there will be 4 or 5 of us and I have offered to DM a short one or two session adventure with new characters, both to keep the momentum going and because we want to play D&D, goddammit.

I will (re)take the reins of DMing in a couple months once we complete the current adventure and the PCs get to 8-9th level (they're currently at 5th). I am planning on an extended "Dark Realms" (Underdark) adventure for which I figured this mini-adventure could serve as a kind of prelude, setting up an adventure hook for later on. It would be one or two sessions and be extremely deadly, with the idea being of killing off most of the PCs. I wouldn't normally plan on being so diabolical, but want to instill a sense of fear and anticipation, plus they would be using new characters so wouldn't be as attached (I am reminded of the old Vecna module--can't remember the title--in which the players play the iconic wizards of Greyhawk and are killed in the intro, with their real PCs taking over to find out what happened).

So anyways, I want a hook into my larger plot, but a plot that I haven't really figured out yet. I just know that it involves classic Underdark scenarios like mushroom forests, a drow city, an underground sea, aboleth, etc, with some kind of "ancient evil" masterminding it all and attempting to bring into the world a demon lord or greater Far Realm entity (or something like that...I haven't figured out the specifics yet). So I want the "temporary" PCs that they will make for this adventure to provide a kind of set-up for a later, more in-depth adventure.

Their current characters are 5th level so I thought I would have them make 5th level characters for this short adventure. It will only be one or two sessions, about four hours per session, so we're talking a very limited time. They would be starting out in an adventuring city that has a portal to the Undercity, which is similar to Undermountain ala Waterdeep, that the adventuring guild charges admission for and "requests" a percentage of whatever booty adventuring parties bring back. I'm thinking of having the PCs be hired by the proverbial Mysterious Hooded Stranger who either accompanies them or employs them to look for something, perhaps with a map that takes them into the Undercity but to a door that leads to the Dark Realms proper.

It may be that the only hook for the later adventure needed is that these characters discovered the way into the Dark Realms. But I also like the idea that at least one of them survives to hire, or warn, the regular PCs...maybe cursed with madness...

As you can see, I'm still trying to sort things out. The problem is that we're playing on Friday and I am very busy between now and then, with limited time to plan. I'm looking for a few things:

*Should I have them make their own characters or pre-make a party? If the latter, any ideas of a theme?

*Clarification in plot. What's the hook that gets them interested? Is it just the lure for adventure and treasure or is it something else?

*What's an interesting sequence of 3-4 encounters, 2-3 minor ones leading up to the "killer"?

*What's the connection to the regular adventuring group?

Any other ideas you have with be MUCH appreciated!

p.s. It is 4th edition, but it doesn't really matter.

 

[Gilladian]

Hmmm.... this sounds fun. Instead of having them "play out" all the hiring, exploring, reaching the underdark, try starting the game "in media res" with them fighting some awful but not too deadly monsters (giant spiders, oozes?).

When the fight's over, give them a quick "how DID we get into this?" recap. Give them an urgent mission to find something - a treasure that is being sought by other adventurers for nefarious reasons, a cure for a dread disease affecting someone they love, etc...

If you have time, pregen characters would be better for this, as you can tighten up the backgrounds. If not possible, at least insist that they all create their backgrounds from a pool of facts (they've known each other for x months, they're all or most all part of a single organization, or similar, and they all have similar alignments/outlooks).

Personally, I'd make them all be from a single hometown, and say that the folk of the town have been ravaged for years with a recurring plague. The cure is known to be a rare, expensive fungus that only grows deep in certain caves in the Underdark. Unfortunately, this same fungus is also very popular as a cuisine item among wealthy people, who don't care about a single small town's troubles.

Thus the PCs are struggling to either find the fungus, or find the deepearth market where they can purchase it, before their rivals get there. And there are forces that want to keep them away, for their own reasons (privacy, greed, hatred of surface dwellers, etc...). So the PCs must hurry, and must fight, but in the end want to make "peace" with the keepers of the fungus.

Unfortunately, perhaps the fungus grows among other plants, or is sold by someone who also makes preparations that are hallucinogenic and addictive. So failure to gather correctly, or to purchase the correct product, could result in addiction and insanity.

I'm afraid I can't help suggest actual foes because I don't DM 4e...

 

[Mercurius]

Thanks Gilladian, some really good ideas. I like this fungal idea and can imagine svirfneblin mushroom gardeners who are always imbibing hallucinogens. However, the plot you describe doesn't quite fit in with the overarching "Ancient Evil" theme. However, one thing that came to mind is maybe someone within the powerful adventurer's guild (called the Seekers, or just The Guild) commissioned the PCs to find this rare fungus which, unknown to the PCs, actually gives the person eating it access to some extra-dimensional realm of great power (the Far Realm?). So maybe some half-mad wizard is trying to gain extra-dimensional power, when in reality he is being influenced From Beyond by a Far Realm being. Maybe the fungus only works in concert with another substance (sort of like how Ayahuasca is a compound of two plants), which the wizard goes into the Dark Realms to find.

Perhaps the survivor(s) of the first party uncover the half-mad wizard's plot, who then goes into the Dark Realms in search of the second compound that will give him full access to the Far Realm (or whatever it is), so the second group follows him underground to try to catch him...

I also like your idea about starting in the midst of the action and then recapping.

 

[Aeolius]

...It would be one or two sessions and be extremely deadly, with the idea being of killing off most of the PCs. I wouldn't normally plan on being so diabolical, but want to instill a sense of fear and anticipation... an underground sea, aboleth, etc, with some kind of "ancient evil" masterminding it all and attempting to bring into the world a demon lord or greater Far Realm entity

Ever wonder what happened to the Mayan civilization? It is a question that has befuddled history. Linking many Mayan settlements was a vast water-filled underground cave system, whose sinkholes provided wells for the Mayans. Envision your PCs imprisoned by such a society. As was common in Chichen Itza, the “sacrifices” were given drink until intoxicated, adorned with heavy golden jewelry, then thrown into the well.

TPK.... Or was it?

Envision the PCs awakening during their transformation into aquatic beings, be they aquatic humans (little change), partially transformed (aboleth slaves with mucus skin), or completely transfigured (polymorphed into a kuo-toa or similar creature). To add an element of being “cursed”, introduce Taint into the game. From there they proceed to your underground sea, aboleth cities, and dire demon lords.

 

[Ainamacar]

I like the fungi/mad wizard combination, and offer that adding a twist on the mirror of opposition could be fun. For example, suppose the wizard has found/constructed a mirror that goes to another realm if the user has eaten the fungi. Unfortunately, his collection of the fungi is rapidly diminishing and the only source he knows of is in this twisted mirror realm. Creatures passing through the mirror are replaced by aberrant versions of themselves (illithid come to mind). The wizard has tried to obtain the fungus himself, but very nearly died fighting his aberrant self when he returned to the normal realm. Thus, he would prefer to get lower-level lackeys to go through so he can handle the fight.

Naturally, such knowledge is not given to the PCs. They are merely hired to go through a portal of sorts (while mildly high!), obtain the fungi, and return to the wizard. A couple fights in the mirror realm would be a good start. On return to their original realm, however, the wizard is dead ("Cursed by his own hubris") with a nice hole in the head. If this can be seen through the mirror before passing through, so much the better. When the PCs return, they are attacked by illithid versions of themselves, and must fight to the death. Finally, since this has something to do with a twisted incursion into the normal realm, the normal and aberrant version of each creature share a single soul. If the illithid version of a PC dies, life goes on as normal, but if the normal version dies it "wakes up" in the skin of the illithid it was just fighting, hopelessly compelled to continue the fight, while perhaps weakly trying to stop (things like "Wait guys, it's really me!" in the middle of combat could be kinda freaky) Some hints of this could also be given during combat, such as a PC feeling a vague pain when his counterpart is wounded, etc. And, heck, if the PC has its brain eaten by its counterpart, I think that's pretty awesome: He wakes up in the mind of the creature that is still chewing on what was, just moments ago, his own brain. Revulsion++.

At the end most of the party is probably dead (in either version of themselves) while a few remain. If it's the normal characters, some level of madness might ensue. If it's the twisted versions, suddenly you have creatures that have no idea how to deal with their new nature. They know what happened at some level, and probably have self-loathing, and a solid touch of madness anyway. Either way, the primary party can run into the survivors later, and get some hint as to what has happened. In that sense, as long as someone survives, you have a good hook no matter who wins the showdown.

 

[Mark]

HELP!

Kinda makes you miss Angelsboi.


This might help -

Underdark Dungeons -- A Bonus Underdark Web Enhancement

 

[exile]

As it happens, I am planning an underdark adventure for this weekend. The characters are attempting to rescue a former companion who has been taken by drow slavers. I'll spare background details as it is a My Realms adventure that might include spoilers for other Living Forgotten Realms adventures.

In your case you could have the PCs attempting to rescue a cleric who (with or without adventuring companions) had made her way into the underdark to face this greater evil. Unfortunately she never made it, having been captured by drow slavers en route.

The first encounter is a combat that takes place in the upper underdark. An immense chasm is crossed by a large stone bridge. The PCs must cross the bridge to continue their descent. Unfortunately, the bridge is now lorded over by an insane wizard (with lots of juicy ranged powers) and his ogre cohorts (who provide some nice melee punch). I pretty much stole this idea from an old 1st ed. adventure that appeared in Dragon Magazine (as an advertisement for the then new Dungeon Magazine). As an added touch I'm going to give the wizard a half-ogre cohort as well (maybe even make her his daughter- hey, even wizards get lonely when trapped in the underdark) with a powerful bow attack.

The second encounter is an extended skill challenge with lots of opportunities for the characters to get lost while navigating the underdark, descend sheer cliffs, swim through leech filled underground lakes, and fight off the affects of hallucinatory mushrooms.

The third encounter involves protecting a half-drow slave girl from drider hunters who believe that the girl has wandered too far from the slaving outpost controlled by her father/master, thus making her free game for a snack. The girl wants to be free and to escape to the surface. In exchange for their help, she offers the PCs vital information about the outpost.

The fourth encounter is a fight with the drow of the outpost as well as guards who have just arrived to transport the captured cleric (and other slaves) to their new home in the drow city proper.

Finally, I have a fifthe encounter planned that is a social skill challenge for when the characters have returned home. That probably doesn't fit too well with what you have in mind.

Chad