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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MortalPlague" data-source="post: 7305716" data-attributes="member: 62721">LegacyIngredients:Feckless LeaderSea ChangeCold CalculationSon of a LichInfernal RubricFalling SkyBackground:In search of power and legacy, Barras Crole became a lich.  His son Solis was the commander of his wyvern riders, a band known as the 'Falling Sky'.  The wyvern riders rained down chaos and destruction, swooping from the clouds to burn fields and raid caravans.  They made their lair in a mountaintop fortress, inaccessible except by a long climb up a sheer cliff.The last few months, Barras has become wise to his son’s weakness.  Solis is not the capable leader his father imagined him to be.  The lich has taken steps to eliminate him.  It would be a waste to simply kill the whelp.  Instead, Barras made a pact with the Archdevil of Cold, promising his son’s soul in exchange for an infernal commander for the Falling Sky.  And he has hired the PCs to enact the ritual unawares.Adventure:The PCs meet a well-dressed lady who is secretly an agent of Barras Crole.  She offers an opportunity to slay Commander Solis of the Falling Sky.  She gives them a thin leather bound tome written in infernal.  The tome has diagrams showing how to bypass the magical wards and alarms of the Falling Sky’s fortress.The Falling Sky dwell in a mountaintop fortress, with only sheer cliffs to reach it.  But with the tome in hand, a secret passage can be found.  Scrawling the right rune on the right rock opens a tunnel, which leads up, through the mountain, towards the fortress.There are a series of wards that must be deactivated before the fortress can be breached, each with a certain rune to break it.  Once this is done, the PCs will be able to get inside without detection.These last months, the Falling Sky has become a shadow of its former self; their commander hardly sets foot outside his quarters.  His men wonder if he has gone mad, or fallen ill.  Some of the wyvern riders are content to just drink and gamble, while others fight and brawl in the great halls.The PCs find Commander Solis in his chambers with half a bottle of wine remaining.  His walls are decorated with trophies of past battles, but he is halfway drunk, and bereft of armor and weapon.“Did my father send you?  Has he tired of me?”Should the PCs pause, Solis will tell them of his father, the powerful lich Barras Crole.  Solis has become weary of all the violence done in his father’s name, and will welcome death.  But the PCs have been deceived; the infernal tome they have been following did bypass the wards, but it also arranged the runes in a ritual circle.  Should Solis’ blood be spilled, his soul will be claimed by the Archdevil of Cold, sealing a bargain made by the lich that will place an ice devil in command of the Falling Sky.What Happens Next?The revelation that they have been hired by a lich should cast some doubt on the proceedings.  The PCs can kill Solis, which will summon an ice devil, who will attack the PCs on sight.  The PCs can leave Solis be.  Or they can sway Solis to their cause; he has misgivings about his deeds, and is drinking away his sorrows.  But he knows where his father can be found, and he could be persuaded to turn against Barras.  He will be particularly swayed if any of the PCs suggest it could lead to his redemption.A Note On Arcana:If any of the PCs are well trained in the arcane arts or in summoning rituals, or if they speak infernal, they may recognize the runes for what they are.  This should be a challenging task, though as the PCs place the runes, it will become easier to recognize the pattern.  This may make the PCs aware that something is not right before the even reach Solis.  This is not a problem; they will presumably still try for Solis, perhaps imagining him to be responsible for the runes.  And upon meeting him, he will tell them about his father.</blockquote>

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