How would a Demon Queen defend her palace?

[Epametheus]

Make the fortress alive and aware. It's not VERY aware (probably has 4's for its mental stats), but it is miserable, must obey its mistress, and reacts poorly to anyone that causes it pain.

In other words, casting area effect spells will hurt the fortress and provoke it to retaliate against those who hurt it. It's okay if the demon queen or her subjects harm the fortress -- it must obey her, after all -- but if the PCs start fireballing or holy smiting, they're going to have to worry about stuff like the floor trying to crush them against the ceiling, or psuedopods coming out of the wall to beat them down. Trying to navigate the fortress by disintigrating walls is not a safe option.

Random creepy stuff...
A dungeon full of magically animated torture devices that are imbued with sentience?
Tapestries of flesh containing the tormented souls of the "donors?"
Failed sentient weapons (as in they're crazy as hell)?
Some variant flesh golem made from the body parts and spirits of vanquished enemies ("we are legion")? A flesh golem made from baatezu and tanar'ri parts should be fairly nasty.
Some sort of breeding ground for "common stock" -- after centuries of selective breeding, the mortals here are physically perfect, but are little more than animals. This is to provide a reliable source of souls that are practically blank slates.

 

[Azure Trance]

How large will you make the fortress? Will you actually map it or make it more encounter based?

 

[Endur]

Abyss vs. level 20 characters

I'd use all the BOVD stuff.

I'd also use tons of simulacrums, since there is no limit to what you can make simulacrums of or how many you can control.

Think combined Tomb of Horror/Ravenloft/Return to Temple of Elemental Evil. Auto-kill, auto-alignment change magic items and altars.

And I'd use all the major super-powerful spells from the strategy games like Heroes of Might and Magic. i.e. anyone slain turns into an undead creature. etc.

Demon possession attempts on a regular basis, etc.

By the time the adventure is over, the players should be begging to flee the Abyss. And they'll hear the Demon Queen's mocking laughter.

Tom

 

[incognito]

fleshing out a creepy palace in the abyss

yeah, fleshing

I have three tidbit's for you - and it seems you have other contributors 2, now that we've started this thread rolling.

1. Hanging in four ropey strands are a series of human, humanoid, and mostrous human severed hands, some whithed, some more fresh, and still dripping blood. if the characters walk thorugh the doorway, creepy stuff happens
a) The hands simply feel the characters faces, or finger thier weapons, or items carried in hand
b) One of the hands, per strand, pick pockets one or more items from the characters as they pass through
c) For a more magical effect, One of the hands, per strand, plucks a magic spell off the characters, holding it in the hand a a spell wiht touch range, able to be "planted" on a chaotic evil "outsider"

2. A Queen Formain (always lawful Neutral) in a strange device that at once seems to be restraining her, and at the same time sustaining her. Three huge fluid filled tanks sit unevenly spaced around her, filled with a distubing, amorphous, softly glowing substance (actually advanced chaos beasts, completely restrained in the tanks). it is clear that there are fluid lines that begin in the tanks and end in the queens abdomen.

the queens spell casting abilities, are supressed by the device. She can use her spell-like abilities to influence anyone who comes in the room, but they cannot affect the device that restrains/sustains her.

Every d4+1 rounds, with a sicky plop, a wrinkeld egg is expelled from the queens birthing canal. one round lated, a sickly warrior 'formain' emerges, who stats are identical to a typical formain, except that it is chaotic neutral, and subject to the domination of <insert evil sub-villan here>'s mind charm spells.

This experiment failed becasue the warrior broods are unstable, they degenerate into a putrid goey mess after a short while (rounds? minutes?). It is particualrly disturbing to the Queen because her offsping are being warped by chaos, and perishing at a horrendous rate.


3) Two demons in a room, with old waltz music playing from an intique recorder (the piano looking thingy) in the far corner. One, a pit fiend, the other, and advanced Vrock. The Pit fiend has flayed the Vrocks skin from it's hide and is wearing it. the Balor is dancing around the room crazily, enjoying the torment of it's weaker demon companion. the Vrock, alive but at 1/2 HP is crying out horribly, piteously - and every now and then picks up a chained human or demi human slave and dashes it's head againest the pitted iron floor, causing it's head to softly explode brain tissue all over the floor.


That horrifying enough for you?

edited for spelling, what twice now?

 

[Lordnightshade]

theRuinedOne, Great idea about making a place a demon can go but no one else. That gave me the idea that since demons are immune to electricity that there should be many electricity traps.

Using your orb idea, perhaps anything that touches it gets a powerful blast of electricity, but to a demon it wouldn’t be that bad. This would be easily defeated with an energy immunity spell but, that would further deplete the party’s resources as they have to make it through this with no rest.

I also like the idea of having rooms, or even whole sections of the palace that can only be accessed by teleporting, though how would I provide clues to the existence of those areas?

“Demon possession attempts on a regular basis, etc.” Excellent! Oh I just have to do this!!

 

[Kyramus]

1) A chamber of roughly 60 feet in diameter, when the party walks in, the door closes and disappears behind them. Instantly hordes of spiders and scorpions appear, rushing towards the players. The vermin are nothing more than the player's true HP. The players will most likely attack the vermin, so for each vermin they kill, they loose a certain amount of HP.

example. 2 fighters level 20 with 200hp each. there are 400 spiders that appear charging towards the players. combine this with shadow monsters and the fighters still take damage and they think it's the spiders. each spider they kill, is a hp that they loose.

2) various coffins all closed and sealed. detect evil will not show anything. detect good will emit strongly within. upon opening the coffins, Half fiends jump out and engage the group, they all have misdirection on them.

3) A hallway that seems endless with statues on both sides. detect magic will show the whole room and statues glow. Have the pc's get really paranoid about the statues seem to be looking at them, creaking noises, squeeking noises, etc. As they continue to head down, make sure you mention that their steps and voices echo from both sides. they have been passing mirrors of opposition between the statues. the mirrors are blocked by an invisible screen and all counterparts come out invisible.
They trail the part and wait for the next encounter before they join the fight.

4) two children playing marbles, glowing marbles. if the pc's interrupt them, they attack, otherwise the two children continue to play marbles with souls. The two children are intelligent iron golems, they protect the marbles. If they are talked to, they will ignore pc's. when touched, they will fight. The children iron golem each has an imprissoned efreet inside that keeps them healed each round. If the children are ever defeated, the efreet comes out and keeps fighting.

5) Three staves hang in the air. the chamber is empty but there are signs that many have passed through here. Each staff emits a strong aura when a detect magic is made. The staff's don't do anything special, but they are continained in a blast chamber. when any of the staffs are touched, they expolde releasing the energy they have stored up inside of them. roll d 20 for each staff. 3d20. add up the numbers and roll that amount in d6. for example 3d20= 30, that's 30d6. This doubles as an alarm for any awake inhabitants.

 

[incognito]

RE: the lightning

Lord,

You're only 1/2 way there with the lightning immunity idea - think like a true RBDM

How about in the room with the deamons immun eot lightningh, are advanced Shambling Mounds (vegatable garden) and Flesh Golems (the gardeners)

Demon druids with an overcast sky and call lightning, you say? Now you're cookin' with gas!

fun, fun, fun!

 

[Cheiromancer]

Tanar'ri are immune to poison. Use lots of poison gas, contact poison, cloud-kills, etc..

And golems. Golems are good. Especially if disguised as another type. (An iron golem is really a stone golem with a metallic surface, a stone golem is an iron golem that has had a thin layer of clay baked onto it).

Walls of force that demons routinely teleport across.

 

[Lordnightshade]

Hmmm a garden with shambling mounds and flesh golems... hmmmm

I do kinda like that...

 

[Lordnightshade]

Poison, yes... the palace itself could start to fill with poison gas. A few of the PCs are immune to poison too but it would be a cool environmental effect and would possibly take out a few of the PCs.

There are other creatures in the palace that could be harmed by poison (fallen celestials).

Also, the Demon Queen in question is Queen of lust, so with that in mind, what unique poison might she use?

Something that perhaps didn't kill, but made you collapse on the floor wracked with bliss. NO I got it, from the BoVD, Dreammist under the drug section... Drugs are a poison, and thus the demons would be immune to it. Though... it looks like it has no save for it's "Exotic visions of incredible beauty" that enthrall the user for d20+10 minutes. This makes it so you have a 50% chance to loose any action you attempt as described in the bestow curse spell... hmmm That may just work though...