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Iron DM 2016 (The Complete Game Thread!)
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<blockquote data-quote="Rune" data-source="post: 6920363" data-attributes="member: 67"><p><strong>Championship Match: Deuce Traveler vs. Rune</strong></p><p></p><p>Ancient Curse</p><p>Moonlight Serenade</p><p>Hate Story</p><p>Sanctioned Kidnappings</p><p>Dirty Laundry</p><p>Awakened Behemoth</p><p>Unstable Cargo</p><p>Sail of Stars</p><p></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong>With Strange Aeons...</strong></span></p><p><em>A System-Agnostic Sword and Sorcery Adventure. </em></p><p></p><p>Destruction slumbers beneath the waves. Its twisting dreams break mortal minds. It lures its faithful toward monstrous devotion. Within the city walls, destruction festers in another form. Driven by an ancient curse, hatred breeds revolt. Enter the PCs, caught between the schemes of two wicked factions. </p><p></p><p>Imprecation is a coastal city-state on a gulf called the Depthless Basin. It is a bustling trade city and a likely stop for adventurers in transition. Across the center of the Basin a stretch of sea is never touched by breath of wind. Within, a twisted tower of dark malice claws at the heavens above. </p><p></p><p> <strong>Hooks: </strong> </p><p></p><p>There are numerous means by which adventurers can be entangled in unfolding events.</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">They could be hired by a noble house to find their missing daughter. <br /> <br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">They could be hired to recover an expensive gown stolen by a washerwoman. <br /> <br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">They could be overheard or accused of illegally asking questions about the city's curse. <br /> <br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">They could be suffering from maddening dreams and be sought out by cultists. <br /> <br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">They could be commissioned by local clergy to root out a blasphemous cult.</li> </ul><p></p><p><strong>What's going on: </strong> </p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">In ancient days, Odium the Abhorrent, a practitioner of darkest sorcery, laid a curse upon the king of that age and all his line. This curse is inscribed onto a large lead tablet and set prominently into the castle's wall for all to see. It reads: <em>"Save the City as ye might; daughters fed into the night. Beast that dreams below appeased; even spared, none shall be pleased. All for naught; your line must fall. Flame and fury, eating all."</em> By decree, no one in the City may speak of the curse. But no king has dared remove or cover the tablet, because its maker is said to still live and watch over Imprecation.<br /> <br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Despite being illegal to relate, the tale of the curse's origin is well-known and oft-repeated in the City, though never in the open. It tells of an ancestor to the current king who married a woman already betrothed to a man of darkest sorcery. The sorcerer cursed the King and all his house. The nature of that curse varies with the telling, but its results are unambiguous. Every generation, some dark purpose compels the current King to steal away the daughters of Imprecation's noble houses, though some kings try to hide it. The dissemination of this story foments a hatred for the King among those who hear it told. Some of this hatred is natural, but some is a supernatural manifestation of the curse. Odium the Abhorrent is skilled in mind-controlling magics and uses the story to sow the seeds of bloody rebellion against the King.<br /> <br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The King has hired an independent agent to secretly kidnap the daughters of the City's noble houses and sacrifice them to the sea. This tradition, passed to him by his fathers, is intended to spare the City from the awakening of a massive monster, said to be slumbering beneath the waves. The sacrifice does not truly help the City; it is merely a cruel compulsion of the curse. Imprecation's guards do not know about the King's involvement of the kidnappings, but he has ordered them to quash any investigations, nevertheless. <br /> <br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Unbeknown to the King, his agent is really Odium. The sacrifices are not intended for the sea. Instead, they are actually taken to his dark tower across the Basin, where they fuel rituals that unnaturally extend the sorcerer's life. He lures them in the guise of a would-be lover, come to serenade them in the night. Moonlight is best for this; Odium has long since given himself to the Powers of Darkness and moonlight is now the only light by which he can look fair. His serenade is actually a powerful spell of mind-controlling, strengthened by including in its casting some personal token of the victim's. This token is often acquired well in advance through the use of subtle magics, guile, or stealthy minions. <br /> <br /> The victims are chosen from among the nobility for four reasons: Fostering hatred of the king among the nobility is designed to drive their political ambition toward eventual revolt. Once the nobility has spent its fury, the clashing houses will leave a power vacuum that Odium intends to fill. Additionally, watching the steady decay of civility has brought him much amusement over the centuries. Most importantly, the quality of the sacrifices matter; the bluer the blood, the more years of stolen life he gains through his ritual. <br /> <br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The mind-controlled victims are stowed as cargo on a small sailing ship, docile and inactive. There are four of these. A fifth is also stashed away with them, but the spell cast upon her is already beginning to fail, because her capture was a mistake. The young woman is not the intended victim. She is a servant--a washerwoman named Stella--who foolishly "borrowed" and donned a very costly gown that she was only supposed to clean. The gown is stitched with a thousand fragments of fallen stars, collected at great expense. It seems to make the wearer more light and graceful. At night, it sparkles with such brilliance that Stella's captor could not distinguish her from his intended victim from outside the window. Thus, the personal effects incorporated in the casting of the serenade were of no use in empowering its effect. <br /> <br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The harbormaster has a record of all docked ships in the harbor, except one. None of the logged ships are passing over the center of the Basin. No known ship can. The undocumented ship, Umbra, is bound for Odium's tower and, therefore, must. Belowdecks, his docile victims have been stowed as cargo in the hold. <br /> <br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">In order for Umbra to sail across the windless center of the Basin, it must use a special sail. The sail is sewn with many fragments of fallen stars and glitters with their light. Under starlight, the fragments reach toward their brethren, pulling upward as if to get away. Clever manipulation of the sail converts that lifting force into forward momentum and allows the ship to move. <br /> <br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Umbra is crewed by Odium's minions. Odium has chosen to remain in the City to watch the fulfillment of his ancient curse. His victims are to be stored in his tower until he returns. <br /> <br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The slumbering beast does exist, though its awakening is only tangentially related to Imprecation's sacrificed daughters. The beast is a monstrously colossal mass of scales and tentacles with eyes of void; a traveler from beyond the stars. Beneath the sea, at the windless center of the Basin, it secretes its alien dreams into minds too weak to withstand them. Some few such broken people work in secret congregation to awaken their patron. A Cult of the Behemoth. Soon, very soon, the stars will be right. The rituals will call out. A sacrifice shall be made. The Behemoth shall rise from the depths and destruction shall reign.</li> </ul><p></p><p><strong>Events in the City: </strong> </p><p></p><p>The following events are designed to occur in balance with each other. When the PCs interfere with (or aid) one of the listed events, they should discover evidence of another occurring in their absence. Not all of these events need to happen in order, but some are necessarily sequential. </p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A shopkeeper is arrested for telling the story of the curse. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Dark and alien dreams plague one or more of the PCs. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The noble houses begin hiring mercenaries. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A cultist disembowels himself in the center of the city. A message is scrawled in his blood: <strong>"THE AWAKENING IS NIGH"</strong></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Members of the city guard go missing in the Noble district. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Cultists of the Behemoth coerce a deckhand to allow one of their number to stow away aboard Odium's ship. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The noble houses clash in open revolt against the King. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Umbra sets sail with the kidnapped victims. This will only happen at dusk, as a large portion of its voyage must be done by starlight.</li> </ul><p></p><p><strong>At the Harbor: </strong></p><p></p><p>At this point, sufficient investigation likely will have led the PCs to Odium's ship. Events from this point on will play out much differently, depending on their actions (or inaction) at the harbor. </p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If there is a cultist aboard Umbra and it departs without the PCs, the cultist completes the cult's sacrifice and awakens the Behemoth. The ship and all souls aboard are lost and the Behemoth advances upon Imprecation, where only a unified defense and the efforts of mighty adventurers can hope to repel it. If the city falls, Odium will keep his distance from the Behemoth and eventually establish a new tower elsewhere in the world. <br /> <br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If Umbra departs without PCs or cultist aboard, the Behemoth is not awakened. Instead, the victims are taken to Odium's tower, where they will eventually fuel his life-extending rituals. If the PCs find a way to forestall revolution in Imprecation, the uneasy peace may last a generation. Yet, as long as the curse remains unbroken, revolt looms ever in the future. <br /> <br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If the PCs prevent the ship from sailing entirely, not only is the Behemoth not awakened, but the "borrowed" gown can be returned to its owner and the kidnapped women can be returned to their families (assuming they survive the disabling of the ship). If revolt has not yet broken out, the fallout from returning the victims could either forestall or hasten it. Stella will regain control of her mind within hours, but it will take weeks for the nobles. During this time, Odium will certainly seek to recapture the women. Additionally, the PCs now have earned his enmity.<br /> <br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If the PCs find themselves aboard Umbra when it departs, things will get a little crazy:</li> </ul><p></p><p><strong>On the Windless Sea: </strong></p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If the PCs fight and defeat Umbra's crew before it reaches the center of the Basin, events will play out much as they would if the ship never departed from Imprecation. However, if there is a cultist on board, he will do everything in his power to prevent the ship from changing course. <br /> <br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If the PCs go belowdecks (or are hiding there), they have an opportunity to discover the stowaway cultist, if there is one on board. Additionally, they will find the captive cargo standing nearly catatonic in the hold. One of these women--Stella--regains her mind a few hours after departure, just as Umbra reaches the center of the Basin. When she regains consciousness, a volatile fury engulfs her; she emerges from the hold with explosive violence, intent on seizing control of the ship and wreaking vengeance upon her captors. This will go much better for her if the she has the PCs' aid. <br /> <br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If there is a cultist aboard, he will use the chaos around him to sneak up the rigging and cut a crippling gash into the sail of stars, thus completing his brethren's rituals with a sacrifice of ship, crew, and cargo to the Behemoth below. The Behemoth awakes. <br /> <br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If the Behemoth wakes, it attacks the crippled ship. The Behemoth might be driven off through the might of the adventurers, but the ship's limited mobility makes victory much less likely. Chances may be improved if the sail is patched, but the only material on board that would be of use for this is the gown worn by Stella, who is disinclined to relinquish it. <br /> <br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If Umbra makes it all the way to Odium's tower, many more minions await, as well as profane ritual rooms, arcane libraries, and exotic macabre collections. Eventually, of course, Odium the Abhorrent also will be there. <br /> <br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Once the PCs return to Imprecation, whether victorious or not, they will find the City either on the brink of revolt, or already in its throes. Of course, if Odium is vanquished, the PCs may just fill the resulting power vacuum themselves.</li> </ul></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Rune, post: 6920363, member: 67"] [b]Championship Match: Deuce Traveler vs. Rune[/b] Ancient Curse Moonlight Serenade Hate Story Sanctioned Kidnappings Dirty Laundry Awakened Behemoth Unstable Cargo Sail of Stars [size=5][b]With Strange Aeons...[/b][/size] [I]A System-Agnostic Sword and Sorcery Adventure. [/I] Destruction slumbers beneath the waves. Its twisting dreams break mortal minds. It lures its faithful toward monstrous devotion. Within the city walls, destruction festers in another form. Driven by an ancient curse, hatred breeds revolt. Enter the PCs, caught between the schemes of two wicked factions. Imprecation is a coastal city-state on a gulf called the Depthless Basin. It is a bustling trade city and a likely stop for adventurers in transition. Across the center of the Basin a stretch of sea is never touched by breath of wind. Within, a twisted tower of dark malice claws at the heavens above. [B]Hooks: [/b] There are numerous means by which adventurers can be entangled in unfolding events. [List][*]They could be hired by a noble house to find their missing daughter. [*]They could be hired to recover an expensive gown stolen by a washerwoman. [*]They could be overheard or accused of illegally asking questions about the city's curse. [*]They could be suffering from maddening dreams and be sought out by cultists. [*]They could be commissioned by local clergy to root out a blasphemous cult. [/List] [B]What's going on: [/b] [List][*]In ancient days, Odium the Abhorrent, a practitioner of darkest sorcery, laid a curse upon the king of that age and all his line. This curse is inscribed onto a large lead tablet and set prominently into the castle's wall for all to see. It reads: [i]"Save the City as ye might; daughters fed into the night. Beast that dreams below appeased; even spared, none shall be pleased. All for naught; your line must fall. Flame and fury, eating all."[/I] By decree, no one in the City may speak of the curse. But no king has dared remove or cover the tablet, because its maker is said to still live and watch over Imprecation. [*]Despite being illegal to relate, the tale of the curse's origin is well-known and oft-repeated in the City, though never in the open. It tells of an ancestor to the current king who married a woman already betrothed to a man of darkest sorcery. The sorcerer cursed the King and all his house. The nature of that curse varies with the telling, but its results are unambiguous. Every generation, some dark purpose compels the current King to steal away the daughters of Imprecation's noble houses, though some kings try to hide it. The dissemination of this story foments a hatred for the King among those who hear it told. Some of this hatred is natural, but some is a supernatural manifestation of the curse. Odium the Abhorrent is skilled in mind-controlling magics and uses the story to sow the seeds of bloody rebellion against the King. [*]The King has hired an independent agent to secretly kidnap the daughters of the City's noble houses and sacrifice them to the sea. This tradition, passed to him by his fathers, is intended to spare the City from the awakening of a massive monster, said to be slumbering beneath the waves. The sacrifice does not truly help the City; it is merely a cruel compulsion of the curse. Imprecation's guards do not know about the King's involvement of the kidnappings, but he has ordered them to quash any investigations, nevertheless. [*]Unbeknown to the King, his agent is really Odium. The sacrifices are not intended for the sea. Instead, they are actually taken to his dark tower across the Basin, where they fuel rituals that unnaturally extend the sorcerer's life. He lures them in the guise of a would-be lover, come to serenade them in the night. Moonlight is best for this; Odium has long since given himself to the Powers of Darkness and moonlight is now the only light by which he can look fair. His serenade is actually a powerful spell of mind-controlling, strengthened by including in its casting some personal token of the victim's. This token is often acquired well in advance through the use of subtle magics, guile, or stealthy minions. The victims are chosen from among the nobility for four reasons: Fostering hatred of the king among the nobility is designed to drive their political ambition toward eventual revolt. Once the nobility has spent its fury, the clashing houses will leave a power vacuum that Odium intends to fill. Additionally, watching the steady decay of civility has brought him much amusement over the centuries. Most importantly, the quality of the sacrifices matter; the bluer the blood, the more years of stolen life he gains through his ritual. [*]The mind-controlled victims are stowed as cargo on a small sailing ship, docile and inactive. There are four of these. A fifth is also stashed away with them, but the spell cast upon her is already beginning to fail, because her capture was a mistake. The young woman is not the intended victim. She is a servant--a washerwoman named Stella--who foolishly "borrowed" and donned a very costly gown that she was only supposed to clean. The gown is stitched with a thousand fragments of fallen stars, collected at great expense. It seems to make the wearer more light and graceful. At night, it sparkles with such brilliance that Stella's captor could not distinguish her from his intended victim from outside the window. Thus, the personal effects incorporated in the casting of the serenade were of no use in empowering its effect. [*]The harbormaster has a record of all docked ships in the harbor, except one. None of the logged ships are passing over the center of the Basin. No known ship can. The undocumented ship, Umbra, is bound for Odium's tower and, therefore, must. Belowdecks, his docile victims have been stowed as cargo in the hold. [*]In order for Umbra to sail across the windless center of the Basin, it must use a special sail. The sail is sewn with many fragments of fallen stars and glitters with their light. Under starlight, the fragments reach toward their brethren, pulling upward as if to get away. Clever manipulation of the sail converts that lifting force into forward momentum and allows the ship to move. [*]Umbra is crewed by Odium's minions. Odium has chosen to remain in the City to watch the fulfillment of his ancient curse. His victims are to be stored in his tower until he returns. [*]The slumbering beast does exist, though its awakening is only tangentially related to Imprecation's sacrificed daughters. The beast is a monstrously colossal mass of scales and tentacles with eyes of void; a traveler from beyond the stars. Beneath the sea, at the windless center of the Basin, it secretes its alien dreams into minds too weak to withstand them. Some few such broken people work in secret congregation to awaken their patron. A Cult of the Behemoth. Soon, very soon, the stars will be right. The rituals will call out. A sacrifice shall be made. The Behemoth shall rise from the depths and destruction shall reign. [/List] [B]Events in the City: [/b] The following events are designed to occur in balance with each other. When the PCs interfere with (or aid) one of the listed events, they should discover evidence of another occurring in their absence. Not all of these events need to happen in order, but some are necessarily sequential. [List][*]A shopkeeper is arrested for telling the story of the curse. [*]Dark and alien dreams plague one or more of the PCs. [*]The noble houses begin hiring mercenaries. [*]A cultist disembowels himself in the center of the city. A message is scrawled in his blood: [b]"THE AWAKENING IS NIGH"[/b] [*]Members of the city guard go missing in the Noble district. [*]Cultists of the Behemoth coerce a deckhand to allow one of their number to stow away aboard Odium's ship. [*]The noble houses clash in open revolt against the King. [*]Umbra sets sail with the kidnapped victims. This will only happen at dusk, as a large portion of its voyage must be done by starlight. [/List] [B]At the Harbor: [/b] At this point, sufficient investigation likely will have led the PCs to Odium's ship. Events from this point on will play out much differently, depending on their actions (or inaction) at the harbor. [List][*]If there is a cultist aboard Umbra and it departs without the PCs, the cultist completes the cult's sacrifice and awakens the Behemoth. The ship and all souls aboard are lost and the Behemoth advances upon Imprecation, where only a unified defense and the efforts of mighty adventurers can hope to repel it. If the city falls, Odium will keep his distance from the Behemoth and eventually establish a new tower elsewhere in the world. [*]If Umbra departs without PCs or cultist aboard, the Behemoth is not awakened. Instead, the victims are taken to Odium's tower, where they will eventually fuel his life-extending rituals. If the PCs find a way to forestall revolution in Imprecation, the uneasy peace may last a generation. Yet, as long as the curse remains unbroken, revolt looms ever in the future. [*]If the PCs prevent the ship from sailing entirely, not only is the Behemoth not awakened, but the "borrowed" gown can be returned to its owner and the kidnapped women can be returned to their families (assuming they survive the disabling of the ship). If revolt has not yet broken out, the fallout from returning the victims could either forestall or hasten it. Stella will regain control of her mind within hours, but it will take weeks for the nobles. During this time, Odium will certainly seek to recapture the women. Additionally, the PCs now have earned his enmity. [*]If the PCs find themselves aboard Umbra when it departs, things will get a little crazy: [/list] [B]On the Windless Sea: [/b] [List][*]If the PCs fight and defeat Umbra's crew before it reaches the center of the Basin, events will play out much as they would if the ship never departed from Imprecation. However, if there is a cultist on board, he will do everything in his power to prevent the ship from changing course. [*]If the PCs go belowdecks (or are hiding there), they have an opportunity to discover the stowaway cultist, if there is one on board. Additionally, they will find the captive cargo standing nearly catatonic in the hold. One of these women--Stella--regains her mind a few hours after departure, just as Umbra reaches the center of the Basin. When she regains consciousness, a volatile fury engulfs her; she emerges from the hold with explosive violence, intent on seizing control of the ship and wreaking vengeance upon her captors. This will go much better for her if the she has the PCs' aid. [*]If there is a cultist aboard, he will use the chaos around him to sneak up the rigging and cut a crippling gash into the sail of stars, thus completing his brethren's rituals with a sacrifice of ship, crew, and cargo to the Behemoth below. The Behemoth awakes. [*]If the Behemoth wakes, it attacks the crippled ship. The Behemoth might be driven off through the might of the adventurers, but the ship's limited mobility makes victory much less likely. Chances may be improved if the sail is patched, but the only material on board that would be of use for this is the gown worn by Stella, who is disinclined to relinquish it. [*]If Umbra makes it all the way to Odium's tower, many more minions await, as well as profane ritual rooms, arcane libraries, and exotic macabre collections. Eventually, of course, Odium the Abhorrent also will be there. [*]Once the PCs return to Imprecation, whether victorious or not, they will find the City either on the brink of revolt, or already in its throes. Of course, if Odium is vanquished, the PCs may just fill the resulting power vacuum themselves. [/List] [/QUOTE]
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