The Children of Death
Their father flies through the skies,
As beneath, the world dies.
From his slumb'ring breast they sail,
And from every house the women wail.
The world heaves as they strike,
And from the craters spreads their blight.
In their time, they awaken,
Dreaming of lives torn and souls taken.
They walk and whisper and lean into the wind,
While mad prophets mumble of a world's sin.
Death slumbers in His icy tomb,
As His hungry brood fall from its womb.
For a hundred generations Death's comet drifted between the worlds of distant stars,
And for a generation of man, His wayward Children shall reap ours.
-found on a roughly 2000 year-old tablet from the ruins of Aerkhan. Discovery by Reevus Chim, renowned halfling author of To Awaken Death; An Archaeologist's Guide to the End Times.
A 4th Edition D&D adventure for 4-6 20th level adventurers. This adventure makes a great transition to Epic levels.
In this adventure, the PCs contract a mysterious disease, track down the powerful comet-spawned undead monstrosity that created it, track it to the dungeon where a loan-lich has captured it, break into his dungeon and kill it.
While there, they free an imprisoned golem-maker who presents them with a decision: "procure" the lich's weapons to power a giant golem and divert the comet away from the world OR use the golem-maker's connections to a certain goddess to awaken Death and convince him to steer his potentially civilization-ending comet away from the world.
On a mechanical note, whenever a skill challenge or check is referred to, the DM may use whatever system they are comfortable with to resolve it (straight role-play, skill checks, DMG 1-2 skill challenges, Stalker0 systems, etc). The difficulty just gives a rough idea of how hard the challenge is(for setting DCs, attitudes, or what have you). Most DMs handle skill interaction a bit differently, so what I have listed is guidelines.
-Introduction-
Dark omens are writ in the entrails of every augury, bleak words are spoken in the proclamations of every prophet, and hushed, fearful words reach every ear.
Winter has come in the middle of summer. The sun dims. A silver comet has appeared in the skies and with it prophecies of doom from the tongues of ancients of every race. The very stars fall in the comet's wake and rumors speak of unstoppable walking horrors that the falling stars awaken.
Even the gods are fleeing to their domains in the Astral Sea, taking many of their greatest servants with them while the common priest and paladin wonders if the divine powers they use to shield their flock from the dangers of the untamed world will soon fail. The world itself seems to near its doom, but if a band of heroes could somehow reverse it, their names would resound in the epic legends of the ages.
-Background-
The Town of Nostradus
Nostradus is a small town that can be situated almost anywhere in the game world where a number of neighboring towns might form a small kingdom. The town itself is situated around a two-hundred foot tall pinnacle of black rock known as the Ancient's Tower that juts up from the flat plains(see below). Aside from the Tower, the other major distinguishing feature is the sprawling metal scrapyard and the large metal building called Patchwork's Foundry just outside of town(see below). The town circles the Ancients Tower, its buildings and roads largely constructed from the rocky debris of the tower, giving the town a dull, bleak look.
The population's attitude is grim at best, apathetic at worst. Winter came a full month before harvest and their crops were devastated. The local priests that aren't calling for repentance have either given up hope and abandoned their temples or are preaching empty words of hope they don't really believe. Trade has almost completely stopped due to the early winter, plagues, and the rumors of Death's Children(see below) roaming the wilds.
To top it all off, a plague called the Sleeping Death has struck the town, visibly ravaging those who contract it while they sleep. Many in the town have taken to not sleeping in an attempt to slow down the disease, leaving them sleep deprived and exhausted. The disease is nearly always fatal.
Death's Children
Death's children are powerful undead creatures that form out of the interaction of the slumbering primordial energies of Death and the raw materials of the comet in which he rests. After formed, they initially slumber with Death, but as the comet nears a world, pieces of the comet break free and fall to the world, some containing Children.
After striking the world, they eventually awaken and begin killing in whatever form their particular manifestation of Death happens to take. The party encounters several over the course of the adventure, the most important of which is the Sleep Taker, who kills primarily by creating the disease Sleeping Death.
The others are the Dreaming Martyr that attacks the PCs in their sleeping/meditating dreams if they take an extended rest and the Scythed Piper that the PCs face on the way to Nostrodus, and the Grim Keeper who they encounter if they open the wrong cell in the Ancient's Tower.
Mechanically, all are level 21 Solos.
The Ancient's Tower
The Tower is believed to once have been a massive tower that partially collapsed in some ancient cataclysm. Over the centuries, the descendants of the local Earl, Josen Farington, have excavated much of it, far more than they needed in fact, but the sturdy black granite they excavate has become a primary trade good for Nostradus. Recently, the Faringtons – like many of the neighboring lords in recent times – have fallen deeply into debt to self-titled Lord Komē the Immortal(see below).
Lord Komē's personal touches largely consisted of transforming the upper part of the Tower into his own dungeon, filled with cells and bloody torture rooms. The very upper levels contain warded cells for his most dangerous prey. These cells are denoted by a ornate arrow symbols and glyphs of silver inlaid into the wood of the doors and the stone of the walls around them. The doors are ritualistically enchanted and reinforced so they are practically unbreachable unless they are touched with lightning(from any source) – at which point they open immediately.
The rest of the dungeon has hundreds of prisoners, some locked away in cells, others chained to walls, many still alive after being racked, flayed, or simply bled. Almost all have the Sleeping Death.
Patchwork's Foundry
The building is made from bolted and/or welded bits of scrap metal from Patchwork's scrapyard. It has three large smoke stacks that are always burning while Patchwork(see below) is present. On the scrapyard and roof of the foundry are a veritable forest of lightning-rods of all shapes and sizes. Patchwork uses a ritual to trap the lightning that they draw and animates his golems with it.
Dozens of small golems constantly roam and sort the scrapyard while others guard it against potential thieves and yet others live entirely inside the Foundry itself, helping Patchwork craft more golems. Despite their rough, cobbled-together appearance, his golems are extremely well-made and reliable and until recently, Patchwork made a decent living selling them.
Patchwork
Patchwork is a human male in his thirties with a talent for metalwork and golem-crafting. When in the Foundry, which was passed down to him by his father, he always wears threadbare and often-patched overalls held together here and there by wire. He has stylish blond hair, a charming smile, an often not-so-charming belief that he is the gods' gift to women, and is generally irrepressible.
When not pursuing females of whatever race or filling orders for golems, he works on his secret project – the massive Patchwork-family golem that his father started building in a large cavern beneath the Foundry and that Patchwork has been tinkering with and building since he could walk. It is roughly humanoid, 80' tall, tremendously strong, and can fly – or could if he could find a lightning power-source small enough and strong enough to power it. Aside from women, nothing catches his eye and interest like the flicker of lightning.
At the start of the adventure he is in prison for failing to pay his “taxes” to Komē, due in-part to the recent lack of business, purchasing the finishing parts for his massive patchwork golem, and his recent ill-fated trip to track down the demigoddess Eros and seduce Her before She leaves the world for good. He contacted her, managed to arouse her interest, and set up a meeting point. When he returned from the trip to check up on things before setting off to meet Eros, he was taken by Komē's mercenaries and thrown into Komē's dungeons for not paying his “taxes”. While there, he contracted the Sleeping Death as Lord Komē dragged the magically-bound Sleep Taker past him.
Lore Komē the Immortal
Lord Komē inherited a decent amount of wealth when his father “mysteriously” died and Komē took over his father's business. He sold the business and used his ambition, cunning, acumen, and more than a little intimidation to create a thriving moneylending business. Over time, he expanded to the point where nearly any loan made within several days travel of Nostradus was made through him. Most major businesses and almost all the noble families in the area deeply in his debt. Several let him openly rule their lands, others sold them to him to pay off their debts, and the rest are little more than puppets. Regardless, his opinion of himself is great enough that he now calls himself a “lord” and his loan payments “taxes.”
Komē's real ambition had little to do with money or land, however. He used his vast profits to acquire several powerful magical items – especially a powerful bow and a quiver of rare and extremely powerful lightning arrows – he hired powerful mercenaries to guard him and protect his hold on the nearby kingdoms, and, most recently, he paid an exorbitant sum to an other-planar cabal to turn him into a lich and also grant him additional tremendous powers. The rituals that did so were expensive , made even more so by the size of his phylactery – the entire Ancient's Tower.
After the ritual, he appended “the Immortal” to his name and began to indulge openly in his previously secret sadistic fetish – hunting down and capturing “prizes”, various intelligent creatures that he hid away and frequently tortured. After taking over most of the Ancient's Tower from the Faringtons, he turned the higher levels into his own personal dungeon.
When the comet appeared in the skies, he set out to find more exotic prey; the Children of Death(see Children of Death, above). He has captured several, including the Sleep Taker, and imprisoned them in the highest chambers of the Ancient's Tower(see Ancient's Tower, above).
Physically, he appears as a tall, gaunt man with burning blue eyes and thinning silver hair. His skin has not yet decomposed since his lich-dom, but looks stretched over his skin. He always carries his great bow and his quiver of lightning arrows. Personality-wise, he is sarcastic, sadistic, and cruel. His is highly intelligent, but his recent immortality has left him fearlessly arrogant to the point of hubris. He literally doesn't even fear the gods and believes that now that they are leaving the world, there is nothing left in the world that could even hope to face him.
His recently created “family crest” flies on banners all over Nostradus and the Ancient's Tower. It is divided into four quadrants of black and yellow, bearing the comet, a tower, a lightning bolt, and a drop of blood.
Mechanically, he is a level 25 Solo.
At the start of the adventure, he is out hunting for another Child to add to his collection, but returns to Nostradus not long after the PCs break into free Patchwork(see below).
Hooks:
1) The PCs have all caught the Sleeping Death. This is recommended as it alone should get them motivated to track down the Sleep Taker, but if not, feel free to consider either of the two hooks below as well.
2) As an earlier quest reward the PCs may have been given a small but useful scrap-built golem as a reward. It has broken down and they find that Patchwork is the creator (and, of course, that he lives in Nostradus). Alternately, an NPC might have purchased several of Patchwork's golems that have since destroyed or have broken down and they would like the PCs to take them (via bags of holding or the like) to Patchwork to have them repaired.
3) Any divine characters are aware that their gods are withdrawing from the world/fleeing from the comet(see note below) and as such the PC are in danger of losing their powers if the comet is not somehow diverted. Any divination rituals will reveal (vaguely) that Nostradus holds a potential key to sending the comet away.
Note: The Gods fear of Death – Death's icy tomb was found by the gods floating through creation not long after creation Was. It was already ancient. One foolish god awakened Death and sought to challenge Him and Death destroyed the god utterly with a just a touch. Since then, the gods flee to the Astral Sea whenever Death's Comet nears their worldly domains, just-in-case Death wakes.
-Bullet Point Adventure Summary-
0. Hooks
1. Players travel to Nostradus.
2. Reach Nostradus, learn of Lord Komē's capture of Children of Death and of Patchwork being taken to the dungeons of the Ancient's Tower.
3. Assault/infiltrate the Tower to kill the Sleep Taker and free Patchwork.
4. Return to Patchwork's Foundry, learn of Patchwork's family golem and of Patchwork's chase of Eros, then come up with a plan.
5a. Get Komē to attack them and/or come up with plan to steal arrows and do so
6a. Use pilfered arrows to activate Patchwork's Golem, then use it to divert Comet and/or kill Lord Komē
5b. Follow Patchwork to Eros.
6b. Travel with Eros to Death's Comet so Eros can try her hand at seducing Death, awakening him, then convince Death to take his Comet elsewhere.
-The Adventure Begins-
1. A Plague on Both Your Houses
The PCs have all caught the Sleeping Death in whatever town or city they are in. Divination rituals and/or Moderate Arcana, Religion, or Heal checks will reveal that the disease cannot be cured until the original creature is killed. (Note, this can be incorporated into the investigative skill challenge below if desired).
Note: If the PCs take an extended rest at any point, they will face the Dreaming Martyr(see Wake the Dead encounter). Also, remember to resolve the effects of the Sleeping Death:
<Recovery: Not possible while the Sleep Taker lives.>
<Initial effect: The creature loses 1 healing surge that cannot be gained back by any means while the Sleep Taker lives.>
<Each Worsen result: The creature loses 1 healing surge, as with the initial infection. If the creature drops to 0 healing surges, it dies and cannot be raised while the Sleep Taker lives(see Sleep Taker encounter).>
Improve DC: -, Maintain DC: Endurance 30 or more, Worsen DC: Endurance 29 or less.
An Easy investigative skill challenge in the town or appropriate ritual will reveal that the first person in the city to catch it came from a small nearby village a few hours away.
Note: At any point until the PCs reach Nostradus, the DM may pit the PCs against the Scythed Piper, one of the Children of Death. The fight takes place in a large road-side mass grave near an abandoned town(see Skythed Piper Encounter).
At the village, they find the last survivor dying in the middle of the street. She utters: “a horrible, lurching, wispy creature staggered through town and touched little Millie... they all started dying in their sleep... twisted, wretched deaths...” If the PCs make a successful Hard Heal, Diplomacy, Bluff, and/or Intimidate check, they can get her to hold on long enough to point out the direction the creature headed off to (the road to Nostradus) before she dies, her body contorting hideously as she does.
Otherwise, PCs can attempt to track the Sleep Taker (Moderate Perception checks). If all else fails, an exhausted-looking young women gallops up the road that they can talk to. She is fleeing to a bigger city, looking for a cure for the Sleeping Death. If they ask, she is fleeing “what's left of Nostradus and that monster Lord Komē” and hoping there's a cure in a bigger city. She will not talk long as she's anxious to move on to the city.
The PCs may travel the remaining 25 miles to Nostrodus by whatever means appropriate to them.
2. The Prophecies of Nostradus
When the PCs arrive at Nostradus, they will find the people somewhere between desperate and despondent and they are generally fatalistic. An old man staggers through town babbling about the end of the world. Those few townsfolk that don't have Sleeping Death are mostly holed up in their houses to keep from catching it.
Players looking for information enter an Easy skill challenge. Failure draws attention to the PCs and encounters in the Ancient's Tower will be slightly harder(see In the Halls encounters).
* Several young women affirm that Patchwork is easily identifiable when mostly-naked by his tattoos, but blush and won't say what the tattoos are - or where exactly they are.
* Patchwork is a renowned womanizer that supposedly went off to chase after the demigoddess Eros. He supposedly hasn't returned yet.
* Patchwork, and his father before him, were said to have some secret project at the Foundry, but no one has ever determined exactly what it is.
* Patchwork's Golems are “world renowned” and people come from all over to have him build them.
* Lord Komē isn't actually a lord, but the real Lord, Lord Farington is deeply in Lord Komē's debt and so gives him practically free reign in Nostradus.
* Lord Komē arrived with a group of strange figures in robes that magically flew all over the outside of the Ancient's Tower. Not long after, Komē started calling himself “the Immortal” and is rumored to have gained dark powers.
* There used to be rumors that Lord Komē kidnapped local villagers, but now he blatantly takes whoever he wants into the dungeons of the Tower. None ever return and rumors say he does terrible, bloody things to them and even eats the bodies.
* Lord Komē has an array of powerful mercenaries that do his bidding and protect him, but on his own he carries a massive bow with lightning arrows, and can fly through some unknown means.
* The Comet is a prophesied sign of the end of times and even the gods are fleeing the world to escape what's coming. It is said Death itself slumbers on the comet.
* The Children of Death are the means by which the Comet's doom will destroy all civilizations.
* The Sleeping Death has struck ¾ of the villagers. Many people take herbal concoctions to keep themselves awake since it only seems to get worse when you sleep.
* Lord Komē has moved on from kidnapping villagers to capturing the Children of Death and even they never return from the dungeons of the Ancient's Tower.
If the PCs head to Patchwork's Foundry, they find a note pinned to the front door that reads:
“Taken to the Ancient's Tower for failure to pay Lord Komē's taxes.” If the players try to break in, they are warned to stop by several of Patchwork's guardian golems. If they persist, the guardian golems battle them(see Patchwork's Scrapmetal Mishmash encounter). If they do break in, they see simply the inside of the foundry unless they make a DC 35 Perception followed by a DC 35 Thievery check to find and activate the hidden catch that opens the door to the cavern beneath the Foundry where Patchwork's massive family golem is.
After they have spent some time gathering information and/or searching the Foundry, they are approached by Lord Farignton – a disheveled, balding middle-aged man with once-fine but now threadbare clothing. He leads the PCs to a secluded place and pleads that they find a way to eliminate Lord Komē, not only because of the terrible things it is said he does, but because he has taken over the Ancient's Tower, converted it into a massive dungeon, and is practically ruling Nostradus. Lord Farington and others were planning to band together and take him out, but not long after Lord Komē began calling himself the Immortal, some tried and he killed them all single-handedly.
He also lets the PCs know that Lord Komē is out of the town hunting, so if they wish to get into the Ancient's Tower, now is the time.
3. Tower Defense
At this point, the PCs should be ready to attempt to infiltrate and/or assault the Ancient's Tower. If they ask, Lord Farington can show them a secret way into the base of the tower, but they are on their own once they are inside. Alternately, they can assault the mercenaries at the front gates and fight their way in(see Bill for the Gates encounter).
Inside, the Ancient's Tower is mostly empty, dark as night, and labyrinthine. The characters must make 5 Moderate Dungeoneering checks to find their way all the way to the Sleep Taker. On the first 2 failed checks, they run into patrols of Lord Komē's mercenary guards(see In the Hallways encounters). After they fail 3 or more, even if they succeed at a subsequent Dungeoneering check, they must make Moderate Stealth checks or run into another patrol.
After they make 3 successful checks, they find the dungeons that take up the bulk of the Tower. Cells, mass and private, are everywhere. Dead or dying people – whether from torture, starvation, or Sleeping Death – litter the area; lying in cells, dead in the hallways, chained by hands or ankles to the walls, rotting in heaps. Here and there are torture rooms with all sorts of torture devices and all have a rusty grime of dried blood and a charnel stink.
After 4 successful Dungeoneering checks, they find Patchwork(whether they were looking for him or not). He is chained to a wall in a hallway they are passing through, weakened but not broken. He is wearing only a grimy, tattered loincloth. Clearly visible are the ends of four arrow tattoos, two on his on his lower abdomen and two on his thighs, all disappearing under the loincloth. If there are any female PCs that are looking at his tattoos, he winks at them and says “Haven't seen you around much, come here often?”
He grins at the PCs and says(in a British accent if the DM can muster one), “Name's Patchwork, pleased meet you. You chaps don't look like Lord Komē's usual riffraff. I'm going to go out on a limb and say you aren't supposed to be here. If that's the case, jolly good! How's about you take these chains off and let me out of this bloody dungeon!”
If set free, he says he can find his way out of the Tower on his own “since I supervised the golems that helped excavated far too much of it” and will meet them back in his Foundry.
If asked about the Sleep Taker, he shudders and points them in the right direction (+2 on the next Dungeoneering check). “Lord Komē dragged that nasty bloody thing past me a few days back. Haven't slept since 'cause of the nightmares, but from watching what happens to the poor chaps stuck in here with me when they sleep, probably a damned good thing.”
If they ask him to come with to find the Sleep Taker, he refuses. “No bloody way I'm going near that thing again. I'd rather die by falling into a fire and lighting my bloody tattoos on fire.”(with a suggestive glance to his tattoos and another wink to any female PCs).
If they fail to tell him where they are going next, he asks. When they tell him, see above.
(Deus ex machina notice) If none of the PCs have any lightning keyword powers, Patchwork stops before he leaves, pulls out a piece of metal from tucked into a fold in his loincloth and hands it to one of the PCs (female preferably) and says, “Take this, for good luck. I insist.” It is a charged lightning rod that he uses to power his smaller golems. It has 2 charges.
When the PCs finally find the top Cells, they find two identical doors, each warded with inlaid silver runic arrows and other sigils in the doors and walls. The doors and walls are magically warded and extremely tough, pretty much immune to anything the PCs can throw at them. If the PCs apply lightning from any source to the wards, the doors open. Each one holds a different Death's Child. They have a 50% chance of opening the one with the Sleep Taker(see Take Back the Night encounter), otherwise they open the one with the Grim Keeper(see Celling Your Soul encounter).
As soon as they kill the Sleep Taker, the Sleeping Death disease is instantly healed(though any lost surges are gone until an extended rest is taken). This is true for everyone in the world who has it.
If the PCs have already fought at least one patrol, they may escape from the tower afterward uneventfully. Otherwise, they encounter one patrol on the way out(see In the Halls encounter).
4. A Patchwork Plan
When the PCs return to Patchwork's foundry, they find him there, clothed in his patchy overalls and linen undershirt, goggles on his head as he tinkers with a golem.
“So, what's the plan now, chaps? Gonna stop the comet and take out Lord Komē while you're at it?”
In the following conversation, he mentions that he might have “just the tool for the job” and shows them the Patchwork family golem below the Foundry. One problem – it doesn't have a power source.
“The golems run on lightning, stored in the cylindrical bases of the lightning rods on the roof. This one needs more than what the ones I've managed to make can hold. What we need is a similarly sized object that holds a damn lot of bloody lightning. On top of that, I need five of the buggers. But if that works, I figure we could fly this thing up there and just push this comet away so it goes and bothers someone else. Maybe come back and teach Lord Komē a thing or two while we're at it.”
He also brings up that he has a hidden rendezvous with Eros and they could always come along to meet with her “after I've done my part,” and see if she knows of some way to stop the Comet. “She is a bloody demigoddess after all.” If they ask how he managed to get her to meet with him he simply says, “you have to promise some pretty outrageous things to be shocking Eros, she is the demigoddess of love, mate. Let's just say I got her attention.”
While the PCs are discussing what to do, Lord Farington arrives to tell them that Lord Komē is arriving. He leads them outside and they can see Lord Komē flying unassisted towards the top of the tower, the flicker of his lightning arrows in their quiver clearly visible. Farington tells them that they probably don't have very much time to make a decision before Lord Komē comes looking for them.
Farington and Patchwork will help them come to one of the following two decisions:
a) Somehow get five of Lord Komē's lightning arrows to power the Patchwork family golem, then use it to fight Lord Komē and/or push the comet elsewhere.
If the players happen to have lightning arrows of their own, Patchwork tests them and finds that he needs “more powerful ones” (mechanically, +6 needed).
b) Use Patchwork's rendezvous with Eros to see if she can somehow help them deal with the Comet.
At this point, the plot splits, depending on which decision the PCs make (and possibly the party splits as some do each).
5a) Arrow Catchers
If the PCs decide to go for the arrows, they basically have three options.
1) Kill Lord Komē. This may be possible, but unless they can somehow sneak in an extended rest it is highly unlikely.
2) Fight Lord Komē with the intent of “collecting” 5 of his arrows, then fleeing.
3) Attempt to sneak into the Ancient's Tower, find Lord Komē's chambers(that he is possibly currently in), look for a stash of arrows and steal the necessary arrows.
Note: If at any point the PCs manage to kill Lord Komē, they may make Moderate Arcana checks. If they succeed, they determine by the manner of his death that he is a lich and will return unless they can find and destroy his phylactery. With this knowledge, if they take the time to examine the Ancient's Tower, with Moderate Arcana checks they can analyze the dweomer on it to determine that it is his phylactery and must be destroyed if he is to be slain.
Farington and Patchwork are dubious that the PCs can take on Lord Komē – since he did “somewhat casually capture two of Death's Children”. Farington does affirm that Lord Komē's arrows can still be used after they've been fired. He also has hear they have a curse on them that harms anyone but Lord Komē that tries to fire them.
If they fight Lord Komē (see Komē Gets Some encounter), presumably they will get the arrows, either by killing him and grabbing a handful before Lord Komē's body and belongings returns to his phylactery or by getting shot by/otherwise collecting 5 Lightning Arrows. If they flee to the Foundry, Lord Komē laughs and lets them. He floats leisurely after them, taunting and mocking them to come back and fight once they are inside.
If they instead try to sneak back into the tower, they must succeed at a Hard skill challenge to distract Lord Komē remaining guards, avoid them and Lord Komē, find his chambers, break the arcane wards into Lord Komē and on the chest that holds his extra arrows, then escape as Lord Komē rushes back to his chambers (warned by his rituals that his room is being broken into). On failures they run into patrols (see In the Halls encounters). On a total failure, they run into Lord Komē(see Komē Gets Some encounter).
6a) By Your Arrows Combined...
When they return to Patchwork's Foundry, they are pursued by dozens of Lord Komē's guards (and Lord Komē if he is still alive) and quickly head with Patchwork into the cavern. There, they must simultaneously place the five arrows into their respective slots, which happen to be positioned in difficult-to-get-to places around the golem. Patchwork and Farington's will help if there aren't enough PCs – aided by a couple of Patchwork's little helper golems if there really aren't enough PCs. As soon as they do, gears grind in the golem, doors open in the golem, and they can head inside to control it.
The PCs then can use the Golem to battle Lord Komē and his mercs(see Patchwork Family Golem stats and rules). After/instead of fighting Lord Komē, they may just decide to outrun him and fly to the comet. Whenever they decide to head to the comet, read the following:
The golem rumbles and shakes as it ascends, leaving Nestradus far behind. From your shared view out the golem's eyes, you see the skies slowly fade from the fading blue of the day to pure black. The stars shine brighter than you've ever seen them and Death's Comet seems to hang suspended in the black like a massive weeping ball of ice. Pieces of it constantly break, falling around you and some shattering on the golem's thick metal skin as the Comet looms larger and larger before you. Finally, you reach it, arms extended and breaking through the thin, nearly vaporous layer on the outside to the harder ice beneath. With your combined focus, the golem strains, metal creaking as it slowly adjusts the comet's course. An hour later you sit and watch as the comet speeds away, the icy debris of its tail sparkling in the sun and tinkling on the golem like frozen rain. It is done.
The PCs may then return and deal with Lord Komē if they haven't already. If they kill/killed him they may use the golem to easily pull apart the Ancient's Tower (hopefully after they empty its sprawling dungeons!), ridding the world of Lord Komē. If they failed to make the Arcana checks to realize that Lord Komē is a lich and the Ancient's Tower is his phylactery, they will find out in 1d10 days when Lord Komē returns(when it is up to the DM to decide if Lord Komē flees to become a recurring villain or takes them on so they have another crack at discovering his secret).
They may also use it the Patchwork Golem to hunt down and kill any of Death's Children that still walk the world. The arrows power the Golem for ten days, after which they are drained to nothing and new ones are needed. The arrows cannot be removed once placed inside the golem.
If desired, the PCs can still escort Patchwork to his meeting with Eros, though she simply smiles and waves at them after Patchwork leaves the wagon, then rides into the sky.
Fin!
5b) Eros Catchers
The PCs sneak through a tunnel that leads out of the cavern beneath Patchwork's Foundry, coming out a mile from Nostradus. From there, Patchwork can lead them to the crossroads a few miles away where Eros is waiting for him.
When they arrive at the crossroads, read the following:
A luxurious, gilded round gypsy wagon with two strong white horses sits beside the barren crossroad. The rear window of the carriage is open and a young woman's voice sings the most beautiful song you've ever heard, though as you listen to the lyrics, the most stern and stout amongst you blush at what it describes.
Patchwork grins and turns to you. “If you fellows don't mind, I'll be going on ahead to, er, warm her up for you. Give me an hour or so to fulfill my promises to her and she'll be more than happy to listen to you.” Patchwork heads around to the front of the carriage, you hear a door creak, then there is a squeal of feminine delight followed by a gasp and suddenly the carriage door and windows slam shut.
Two hours later, the door opens again, Patchwork struts out, eyes wide, skin flushed, and wearing only jaunty grin, a loincloth, and his tattoos. “She's ready for you.”
When the characters enter:
Though the size of a wagon on the outside, inside it is a luxurious palace of white marble gleaming in otherworldly golden sunlight. Luxurious red cushions and flimsy silk hangings are everywhere and small fountains burble and splash. The most beautiful woman you've ever seen lays on a massive bed covered with a thick, rumpled maroon blanket stitched with gold cloth. The white silk sheets beneath are draped about her in such a fashion that they always seem to be on the verge of falling off the strategic areas they hide, but never quite do.
Eros, though pleased by her encounter with Patchwork, is a highly jaded being. She will tell the PCs of the Gods reason for leaving (fear of Death awakening and unmaking them), but that for her the world is mostly so dull anymore, so lacking in interest or challenge that she doesn't care if Death awakens. Any attempts to get her to help them will fail due to it not being interesting/challenging/etc (excepting utter PC brilliance that the DM can't refuse).
If they suggest she attempt to seduce Death, however... Note: If none of the PCs think of it Patchwork can suggest it as an off-hand comment.
6b) We Who Are About To Die, Seduce You!
She immediately brightens at the idea of such a challenge and risk and, with a delighted laugh snaps her fingers. You find yourselves crowded into her gypsy wagon, staring out the now-open front as the horses gallop into the sky. Moments later, the stars shine around you and the comet looms before you, like a massive geode crystal of burnished silver. You pass through the veil of mist surrounding the body of the comet as though you are flying through clouds and come to land on its frozen surface.
Eros steps out onto the bench, then onto the surface of the comet and, as she does so, motions for you to stay inside. “It is death for a mortal to even touch the surface. Remain there, I will awaken Death.”
She begins to dance and sing, a seductive, undulating dance that captivates you. The song is hypnotic, and its all you can do not to rush to her and throw yourselves at her feet. A minute later the wagon shakes and the surface of the comet ripples, flecks of disturbed ice shaken from the comet's shell like a million tiny diamonds drifting in the air.
Eros goes silent as a shadowy figure rises from the mist nearby. It resembles a figure in a deep cowled cloak, but it is hazy, its substance swirling with the dust and ice of the comet. When it speaks, the sound reverberates up through the souls of your feet and sound in your bones as the ice hanging in the air vibrates with every syllable.
-Why have you come-
Eros says nothing, but smiles and dances.
-Why have you come-
Eros hesitates and then stops.
-Why have you come-
The PCs have a chance to explain why they have come. Death has been slumbering for millennia and, in his slumber, is one of the primal forces that keeps the universe going. He is, however, unaware of the course of his comet and the creation and behavior of his Children.
It is an Easy skill challenge to convince Death to change the course of his comet: it matters little to him where it goes, so it is fairly trivial.
Death does not move or speak for a moment. The sensation is subtle, but you feel a slow shift. When you look back at the world, you get the subtle sensation of it diminishing at an almost imperceptible rate, like the movement of the minute-hand on a clockwork timepiece.
It is a Moderate skill challenge to convince Death to deal with his Children: he never intended to create them in the first place, they just formed as a byproduct of his Presence.
Death looks up and the comet rotates until the world seems to loom over you. The suspended ice and mist ripples and a voice sounds in your body. -Done-
It is a Hard skill challenge to convince Death to destroy Lord Komē. The main reasons that might appeal to Death(and that he might noticeably react to) are Lord Komē's hubris (the title of the Immortal) and/or the fact that Lord Komē is a lich(if the players have somehow determined that). Anything else is pretty much irrelevant to him.
Suddenly you are all standing outside Patchwork's Foundry. Lord Komē stands staring at it, the remains of Patchwork's guardian golems littering the ground at his feet. He slowly turns to see you, but his eyes focus on Death. Death doesn't move, but is suddenly standing before Lord Komē, as though the world moved and not Death. Lord Komē sneers as he stares down Death, but slowly the sneer fades, replaced by a slowly-growing look of horror. Then Lord Komē's eyes widen and his mouth opens in a silent scream that goes on for long seconds. A moment later Death and Lord Komē are utterly gone, leaving you alone with Patchwork outside his Foundry.
If the PCs do not succeed at the final challenge, Eros will return them instead. They may jump to 5a) and take on Lord Komē. If so, jump to that section, skipping any part related to the comet(and the Children of Death if they also succeeded at that part).
Fin.
When your players have completed the adventure, read aloud:
The sun shines a little brighter and the winter air warms. Birds chirp and the animals return from hiding. The Gods return from hiding and prayer and psalm again fill the temples. Death's Children are a quick-passing nightmare as the comet fades away in the skies. And through every city and town you pass, the people call your names; the Doombreakers, the Blight-chasers, the God Bringers.
Elements
Bloody Dungeon - The majority of the Ancient's Tower. Also, how Patchwork refers to the place. The Blood and the Tower is also on Lord Komē's crest.
Comet - The tomb of Death as he slumbers. Also on Komē's crest. Komē's name is also derived from the root of the latin word for comet.
Aggressive Moneylender - "Lord" Komē, who used the wealth gained from it to literally buy immortality and power(and neat stuff like Lightning Arrows).
Sleeping Death - Death Himself who sleeps on the Comet. Also the name of the disease the PCs are infected with and trying to cure. Also what happens to any players that die in the Wake the Dead encounter that happens if they take an extended rest.
Patchwork Golem - Patchwork is the name of the town's golem builder. Also the name of his family Golem, one possible way to eliminate the treat of the comet. Also the physical description of the scrap-metal golems Patchwork puts together.
Shocking Arrows - The arrows needed to power the Patchwork Golem, conveniently Lord Komē's weapon of choice. Also Patchwork's naughty tattoos. Also, Patchwork's "shocking Eros", the main reason they have access to the demigoddess (and yes, I know Eros was male in greek mythology, I just "re-flavored" him a bit).
