Please forgive the long winded explanation. But I have the basic of the plot. I just need help with some of the connections:
I use the FR as my base setting, but none of the named PCs will have any connection to this game. This will be set in the Silver Marches, and much of it will be in the wilderness. I have begun the campaign starting with NeMorean's Vault and they are currently 2nd level in the Sunless Citadel.
Here is the overall plot that I have. The infinite planes of the Abyss have portals that connect between them, but going from one to another all the way from the bottom to the top would quite literally take forever. However once every bajillion years the portals all line up (like planetary alignments) and it is possible to step from the lowest levels to the prime material plane. This is known as "The Well". But this is not going to happen for a kajillion years or so.
A thousand years before the great Dragon Ashaldaron found a way to align these early and summon the Armageddon Beast (from Green Ronin) to destroy the world and allow Ashy to become a god. However, Orcus (Because he doesn't want anyone cutting in line), put the inspiration into the elves of Myth Dranor to craft 6 "rune weapons" that would banish Ashy to a prison plane for all time. The elves of course never knew where the idea came from, but it was to destroy evil, so why argue. They created these items and Ashy was banished and locked away.
The rune weapons (including Flamesinger from NMVault) have of course passed into the open world. The party has discovered one and will soon discover another (hidden with the "dragonpriest" in SC). They will also soon discover a snippet of prophecy that tells how the rune items will bring Ashy back, and of course Belak is working to try to gather these items so that he can do so. That will start the party on the first half of the adventure which is to gather the items so that the cultists will not be able to release Ashy.
The second part of the adventure is that Orcus capped each of the portals with a Soul Spell (from BOEM II) that can only be cast by a good aligned person. This was partly to keep Ashy from being able to do it since none of his followers would be able to trigger it. Orcus has come into the posession of several crystal shards which have the power to control demons. He will begin a quest to craft a great artifact that will allow him to control the Armageddon beast. In process he will begin trying to get the portals open and of course gather as many of these crystal shards as possible.
Ashy will be released as soon as the party gathers all 6 of the rune items. So if the party succedes, he will be released. But not to fight the party as they will probably only be 6th or so level at this point.
My problem is this. Two evils are going to be using the party to further their own ends and to combat their enemy. How do I couch these missions so that the party always assumes they are working for the side of good? I am not trying to screw with alignment here, the party is all good aligned and I am not going to try to force them to violate alignment. The information they get on the soul spells should tell them that the casting is only going to be done by a good caster and that the spells were set to prevent a great evil from controlling them. But I am not sure how cultists will be able to get them to cast them.
My eventual goal with this campaign is to get to epic levels and have the party either, A) set Orcus against Ashy and watch to see who wins. B) Orcus or Ashy wins out and the beast comes through, the party has to fight it and save the world and/or C) the party defeats one and then goes on to defeat the other.
Obviously this has a long way to go. (ouch I have taken up a lot of space) My first concern is this. I am going to have the party with posession of 2 of the items right off. To get them to gather the other, the information they will get is that if the enemy gets them Ashy can be released. This will get them to gather the items. But how do I get them to know about the portals (and spells)? I am thinking cultists who are (working for Ashy) trying to seal them with fiendish power and the party wants to stop this but I am not sure. Any ideas would be helpful.
I use the FR as my base setting, but none of the named PCs will have any connection to this game. This will be set in the Silver Marches, and much of it will be in the wilderness. I have begun the campaign starting with NeMorean's Vault and they are currently 2nd level in the Sunless Citadel.
Here is the overall plot that I have. The infinite planes of the Abyss have portals that connect between them, but going from one to another all the way from the bottom to the top would quite literally take forever. However once every bajillion years the portals all line up (like planetary alignments) and it is possible to step from the lowest levels to the prime material plane. This is known as "The Well". But this is not going to happen for a kajillion years or so.
A thousand years before the great Dragon Ashaldaron found a way to align these early and summon the Armageddon Beast (from Green Ronin) to destroy the world and allow Ashy to become a god. However, Orcus (Because he doesn't want anyone cutting in line), put the inspiration into the elves of Myth Dranor to craft 6 "rune weapons" that would banish Ashy to a prison plane for all time. The elves of course never knew where the idea came from, but it was to destroy evil, so why argue. They created these items and Ashy was banished and locked away.
The rune weapons (including Flamesinger from NMVault) have of course passed into the open world. The party has discovered one and will soon discover another (hidden with the "dragonpriest" in SC). They will also soon discover a snippet of prophecy that tells how the rune items will bring Ashy back, and of course Belak is working to try to gather these items so that he can do so. That will start the party on the first half of the adventure which is to gather the items so that the cultists will not be able to release Ashy.
The second part of the adventure is that Orcus capped each of the portals with a Soul Spell (from BOEM II) that can only be cast by a good aligned person. This was partly to keep Ashy from being able to do it since none of his followers would be able to trigger it. Orcus has come into the posession of several crystal shards which have the power to control demons. He will begin a quest to craft a great artifact that will allow him to control the Armageddon beast. In process he will begin trying to get the portals open and of course gather as many of these crystal shards as possible.
Ashy will be released as soon as the party gathers all 6 of the rune items. So if the party succedes, he will be released. But not to fight the party as they will probably only be 6th or so level at this point.
My problem is this. Two evils are going to be using the party to further their own ends and to combat their enemy. How do I couch these missions so that the party always assumes they are working for the side of good? I am not trying to screw with alignment here, the party is all good aligned and I am not going to try to force them to violate alignment. The information they get on the soul spells should tell them that the casting is only going to be done by a good caster and that the spells were set to prevent a great evil from controlling them. But I am not sure how cultists will be able to get them to cast them.
My eventual goal with this campaign is to get to epic levels and have the party either, A) set Orcus against Ashy and watch to see who wins. B) Orcus or Ashy wins out and the beast comes through, the party has to fight it and save the world and/or C) the party defeats one and then goes on to defeat the other.
Obviously this has a long way to go. (ouch I have taken up a lot of space) My first concern is this. I am going to have the party with posession of 2 of the items right off. To get them to gather the other, the information they will get is that if the enemy gets them Ashy can be released. This will get them to gather the items. But how do I get them to know about the portals (and spells)? I am thinking cultists who are (working for Ashy) trying to seal them with fiendish power and the party wants to stop this but I am not sure. Any ideas would be helpful.
