How do I get my players out of this mess?

[Aazenius]

I'm DMing a game in a modified Forgotten Realms. My players are all 12th level. Here is what happened...

Shar, goddess of darkness, discovered a way to extinguish the eternal flames of the sun, plunging the world into total darkness. The gods of good were shocked and dismayed that Shar had done such a thing, and went to work trying to find a way to reverse it. Some of the gods of good assembled armies of celestials to bring down punishment on Shar. But as it turns out, Shar is in league with Cyric, and Bane. A loose alliance, but one that accomplishes their goals. And so a war errupts across the planes.

Now back on Toril, cities are in chaos, and a horrible cold is sweeping across the land. After a few days, lakes are freezing over, plants and creatures of all kinds are starting to die off. Powerful wizards of good, neutral and evil, are researching ways to bring back the suns elemental flames.

Naturally some of the dark races are taking advantage of this darkness to invade other kingdoms.

My players have been travelling with an elf with strong ties to Evermeet. The elf, was assisting them in trying to locate an artifact called a sun stone, which could be used to ignite the suns flames once again. However, while out on their travels, the drow attacked the elven kingdom, with the help of a drow demigod, who has managed to unite the waring houses into one army, to kill off the elves once and for all.

The elf wizard, receives a telepathic message from the palace that he is needed to help defend the kingdom. So, he tells the players he must help his people, but naturally the players want to help. So they teleport back to the elven kingdom (using an old elven portal, and some modified elven magic). When they get there, everything is in chaos. Magic is everywhere. The air is statically charged.

Here is my problem... should I have Ao intervene, re-ignite the sun, and punish Shar, Cyric and Bane...? or should I let things play out until the world is nearly destroyed? or??

I am not sure how I should handle this... I think I have dug myself a hole that I can't get out of...

 

[blargney]

If you want them to undertake a long quest to set things aright, there's the option of time travel. Send them back a few months or a couple of years, then they have to arrange for the sun to be ignited shortly after they were sent back in time. If they complete the quest early, send them on another mission to hold back an invasion force.

Paradox avoidance is essential, so plan for them to have some near-misses with themselves in order to add a little tension. You could have some members of the church of the god of Time come after them, a run-in with a time elemental, all sorts of fun things. I saw a module at my local gaming store that might interest you for a plot such as this: The Tide of Years. There's also an old Dungeon magazine that had a tomb of time or something like that. You could easily use either of them as a jumping-off point for any time travelling quest.

Hope this helps!
-gralb

 

[Aazenius]

Time travel... interesting. I like that idea. I like it a lot. Here are some thoughts though.... maybe you can help me.

I'm guessing that a few deites may time travel to stop Shar, before she even attempts to extinguish the sun...

Most likely some powerful epic level NPC's may also try to time travel to the past to try and keep certain events from happening...

So with this in mind, how do I place the focus on a small group of yet unknown hero's (my players).... who don't have the power of gods, or epic hero's. How do I make them into the hero's that save the world, without the world ever knowing it... except the gods, and a few epic leveled NPC's...

This is a great opportunity for some interesting encounters... I just need to find a way to pull it off....

Right now, the characters are about to fight the drow, who are invading the elven kingdom... I need to think of a way for them to meet up with an individual who can wisk them off to two years in the past. He needs to meet them while the drow are fighting the elves... maybe for a more dramatic flair... maybe the drow manage to kill the elf queen. This would also make going back in time more pressing...

Any ideas on how to make this all work?

 

[Sixchan]

Because there is war amongst the gods, Time Travel may be impossible for them to do due to not having the resources to fight each other and change the past.
Similarly, all the Evil gods, while not time travelling, will be keeping a close watch on Elminster, Khelben and every other heroic NPC because if anyone's gonna go back in time, its them, right?
So theoretically, a few lower level people might slip through the net.

 

[blargney]

I'm guessing that a few deites may time travel to stop Shar, before she even attempts to extinguish the sun...

Most likely some powerful epic level NPC's may also try to time travel to the past to try and keep certain events from happening...

I'd strongly suggest not going this route. Make a rule that deities simply can't do any messing around with time. Imagine if all the evil gods modified time whenever something happened that they didn't like... not pretty.

As for the epic level NPCs, let them try to change events. They'll quickly find themselves being ripped apart by a paradox storm, only succeeding in making matters worse. What's already happened has already happened, and nobody can or has the right to change it. This is why the PCs' mission is so crucial. They aren't changing events that have already taken place, they're simply buying themselves some extra time to undertake a mission that will change the future.

So with this in mind, how do I place the focus on a small group of yet unknown hero's (my players)....

Right now, the characters are about to fight the drow, who are invading the elven kingdom...

Have you read the origins part of the FRCS? Essentially, the sun was created by making a direct link to the Plane of Fire. The Sharites have found a way to block all planar travel to and from the Plane of Fire. Maybe something like a group of cleric/rogues that managed to pull a sneak attack powered-up Dimensional Anchor on Kussuth. This severed the link to the Sun.

The elven wizards have conducted extensive research and found a clue that could save the world from its plunge into darkness. "When the Light fails, feed the All-Consuming his own Tail." Legend Lores reveal the Tail to be a piece of magma that contains the last essence of Pure Flame that remains on Toril. Its pure light cannot be deceived by the shadows, and will show the way to the Plane of Fire.

Here's where the PCs come in. Evermeet is under attack, and will be completely over-run in less than a day. The queen meets the PCs and entrusts to the party elf one of the elven nation's most prized relics. It is an artifact with a single function that can be used only once, whereupon it will disappear for all eternity. It will permit one group of people that are holding hands to use an unstable time rift to travel to a desired point in time. Without the artifact, no-one knows when or where the rift will take you.

The elves send the party because 1) they can't reach anybody more powerful and trustworthy in time, and 2) the elves all refuse to leave their homeland to the ravages of the drow. They must make the sun reappear after the moment that they travel back, but before the drow over-run the elves! The party will need a magical hourglass that will tell them exactly when the two years are up.

I would have an enemy or two polymorphed into flies that manage to tag along, in order to spice things up, and make sure they have a run-in with the Time Police!

-blarg

 

[wolff96]

Personally, I would leave Time Travel out of it all together.

It's a pain in the butt, both for players and the DM.

I would suggest some kind of quest for an artifact -- I like blargney's idea of the Pure Flame -- that they can use to either summon an avatar of Kossuth (who has been locked away somehow) or to get the attention of Ao.

Maybe it's just me, but Ao is always described as being such a remote, hands-off deity that it would take some kind of major artifact, ritual, or disaster (worse than the quenching of the sun... after all, the universe wasn't always lit) before he will take any kind of action.

This is all IMO, of course.

 

[Gundark]

here's my input

don't have Ao just fix everthing, that will be very unsatisfying to the players. It sounds like you have a good story going on here. There was a trilogy back in 2nd edition called "masters of the eternal night", "a darkness gathering", and" dawn of the overmind". in this there was a plot by mind flayers to extinguish the sun, and the players had to travel to destroy the device that was destroying the sun. You might look there for ideas. you can get them from www.svgames.com . I think that there would be forces that would be after the PCs in order to gain the artifact that the PCs have. Drow, mind flayers, and other underdark races might band together for this end. As well agents of Shar would be after the players. Use the monk order detailed in lords of darkness and to a lesser extent the FR book. Play it out have a dramatic conclusion. Like a massive army of underdark creatures spreading across the land, there is a force of good that is going to fight this force. Just when all is lost the PCs restore the sun and send the army running back for the underdark

 

[Aazenius]

I would have an enemy or two polymorphed into flies that manage to tag along, in order to spice things up, and make sure they have a run-in with the Time Police!

This could be fun! Thanks for the great ideas... you saved my game from tanking!

 

[Aazenius]

Drow, mind flayers, and other underdark races might band together for this end. As well agents of Shar would be after the players. Use the monk order detailed in lords of darkness and to a lesser extent the FR book. Play it out have a dramatic conclusion. Like a massive army of underdark creatures spreading across the land, there is a force of good that is going to fight this force. Just when all is lost the PCs restore the sun and send the army running back for the underdark

I am so grateful to this community for helping me! Great ideas here... I was actually thinking of doing something similar to this... having the armies of the underdark in place ready to wreak havoc on the surface world. I envision massive battles going on, and just as the battle climax, the sun roars to life in such a bright explosion that it temporarily blinds all creatures for a few rounds. However, the Drow, and other creatures of the underdark would immediately wilt under the suns light and be forced to flee back to their lairs.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

Is the Cure worse then the Disease?

You have a very intresting plot going on, and it would be a pity to have an "And then all was right in the land" kind of ending. Your going to want some pretty heavy consequences to hinge this plot on.

Maybe the sun does start to shine again, but faintly at first, taking 10 years to ramp up once more. Or perhaps large regions remain in darkness. Either way, having a world shrouded in darkness is should be very intresting.

But whatever you do, do not have a reset button ending, and if you can do so, avoid time travel.

Here are some ideas on how you can have your players re-ignite the sun, or at least bring light and warmth to the world.

1) Find the Artifact:
This is a good method, if a bit obvious. It serves the purpose of functioning without leaving much in the way of consequences.

2) Awaken a new Sun God
You can have alot of fun with this. Especially if the new Sun God is insane or evil.

3) Brighten the Stars
Perhaps you can have the players discover some previously unknown elven magic that will bathe all elven kingdoms in perpetual starlight that is bright enough to keep the Dark Elves away.

4) The Burning wind
You could have a fire god of some sort bless Toril with the warmth of his breath (or his 'south wind' if you like that sort of humor), which will give enough warmth to keep people from freezing to death.

Also, here are some thoughts about how you can prevent the dark elves from destroying Evermeet without re-igniting the sun.

1) Elves Surrender
The surface elves, when faced with their own extinction, convert to the worship of Lolth or Shar.

2) Intervention
The avatars of the elven gods manifest themselves and beat the hell out of the invaders. Or maybe some good dragons decide to rectify the situation.

3) Extinction
Evermeet gets torched. No big loss.

4) Victory at great cost
The Elves use their doomsday weapon (if they dont have one, make one up), and the elves survive at the cost of their elven refuge, and must now return to the main continent.

Anyway, take your pick.

END COMMUNICATION