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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tuerny" data-source="post: 446239" data-attributes="member: 674">Dawn at the Court of the Midnight Earth KingI apologize ahead of time for the length of my post. This is the shortest I could see myself making it without cutting something important.Dawn at the Court of the Midnight Earth KingAn adventure for PCs of 7th level Background :    The conflicts of the elemental planes are as constant and never-ending, with countless battles being fought between good and evil, earth and air, water and fire. Every so often something that happens that throws the balance out of whack, sending things into chaos for some time. A thousand years ago one of these things happened. The Evening Earth King, a powerful xorn under the domain of the Court of Elemental Earth, found a mystical, yet fragile mechanical clock known as the Mechanical Clock of Urmushan that promised to increase his power twofold. Despite the protests of his loyal, dao servant Moluch ibn Taifar, The Evening Earth King tapped into the power of the clock, and was infected with evil becoming the Midnight Earth King.     Soon after this transformation, the Midnight Earth King’s home was turned into a place of horrors and the Mechanical Clock of Urmushan was hidden inside a throne of human fat the Midnight Earth King had purchased from some of his devil associates.     As the years passed the Midnight Earth King found himself in battle after battle with the forces of the Court of Elemental Good. Recently he found himself slowly losing power as the one thousandth anniversary of his empowerment by the clock approached. Fearful of this, he sent Moluch to investigate ways that one might empower oneself again with the clock. Moluch did so, using the vast libraries of the City of Brass, and not only discovered how to restore the power of his lord but also how to turn him to the power of good. He would have to get a group of noble-hearted mortals to shatter the clock, just before the time on it ran out. If, however, the clock were rewound the evil and power of his lord would be increased to its maximum once again. Moluch decided to betray his lord, and, in this manner, save him.     Moluch did not dare directly lie to his lord, so he instead told him that only a band of good mortals would be able to rewind the clock. The Midnight Earth King took what Moluch said as the truth, and instructed his chief salamander courier, Iva-ruch-al the Everburning to gather such a group of mortals with a lie about removing the evil from his heart so that he may be empowered once again. Iva-ruch-al the Everburning agreed, but decided to throw in tales about his old enemy, Moluch ibn Taifar, so that perhaps the dao might be removed once and for all.    Enter the PCs.    Basis :This adventure assumes that the group is primarily of good aligned characters that have some fame in the region. Previous interaction with the elemental planes is also helpful. Characters with high rank in search and gather information is essential.The adventure begins with a salamander courtier, Iva-ruch-al the Everburning (a noble salamander), giving them an invitation to a ball in the Court of the Midnight Elemental King.The invitation itself will serve as a gateway to the party and by tearing it on the hour of midnight on the night of the next full moon the PCs will be magically transported there. If the PCs do any research on the Midnight Earth King they discover that he is a member of the Court of Elemental Evil that has is renown for his elemental balls. He occasionally invites mortal these balls and they typically return in one piece, assuming that they do nothing to anger him. The Ball of the Midnight Earth King :If the PCs choose to go then the ripping of the note results in the PCs appearing before the Midnight Elemental King [Half-fiend elder xorn, 30 HD]. All around him are a plethora of Azer, Salamanders, Xorn, mephits, and genies of various sorts. In a gravely voice, the Midnight Elemental King welcomes them to his ball, and tells them to enjoy themselves and bring word of the hospitality of the Midnight Elemental King back to their home realm.  The ball is dominated by the elementals dancing in bizarre forms and styles. In the corner is a band of jann whose raucous music frequently overwhelms the sound of voices. If the PCs wish to make conversation or gather information then they must do so in the ten minute breaks between the thirty minutes of music. Each gather information check requires two of these breaks to complete. The following pieces of information can be gathered if they ask the right sort of question and make Gather Information checks:1)    The Midnight Earth King has been collecting clocks for centuries. For his own personal amusement he has a habit of hiding them in places that are directly proportional to their importance. (DC 25)2)    The Midnight Earth King is currently losing out in his constant battles with the Noon-day Air Queen. He is growing desperate and is looking for some way to turn the battle back in his favor (DC 25)3)    Moluch ibn Taifar has served the Midnight Earth King ever since the Midnight Earth King came to power, serving as his right hand man and chief enforcer. (DC 20)4)    Iva-ruch-al the Everburning and Moluch ibn Taifar are old enemies and have been constantly at odds. The Midnight Earth King has kept that struggle from erupting into a battle so far but has also been showing increasing favor to Iva-ruch-al as of late. (DC 25)5)    A powerful, visiting efreet noble by the name of Sheila Of the Ten Thousand Fire-spawned Diamonds will tell the PCs with a DC 30 information gathering check or a liaison with any particularly attractive PCs that Moluch ibn Taifar that was recently at the libraries of the City of Brass doing in-depth research on the Mechanical Clock of Urmushan. 6)    An aging earth mephit servant will tell the PCS with a DC 30 information gathering check or a promise to aid him for an hour with his duties that the Mechanical Clock of Urmushan was the first clock that the Midnight Earth King ever collected and that his essence is directly tied to it.If at any time the PCs approach the Midnight Earth King and question him about the clock he will insist that he lost it long ago and that it is no longer a thing of importance. If they press it further he will warn them away. If they get insistent he will send his honor guard of six xorn and six salamanders to destroy them. Timed Encounters At 1 AM Iva-ruch-al the Everburning, the Midnight Earth King’s chief salamander courier who brought the PCs the message, approaches the PCs and tell them that they were brought in for the purpose of completing an important mission. He can’t trust anyone in his court because of the fear of potential betrayal. Only the PCs, who are widely renown for their good hearts and dedication to justice, were considered above suspicion.Iva-ruch-al the Everburning tells the PCs that the Midnight Earth King desires to change his ways and move towards the light. However, in order to do this the fragile but mystically powerful Mechanical Clock of v must be found and rewound. He warns them however; that there are powerful elements in the court would like to see the Midnight Earth King continue with his reign of darkness. He tells them to be particularly careful of the dao, Moluch ibn Taifar. He also warns them that they have until dawn, because of the Mechanical Clock of Urmushan strikes the hour of eight then the Midnight Earth King will remain a servitor of evil for another thousand years.  At 3 AM, the Midnight Earth King will retire to one of his quarters for a while and will send Iva-ruch-al the Everburning to fetch the PCs. When they arrive he dismisses his servants. When he is alone with them he will tell them that the reason he does not pursue the clock himself is that he does not remember where he put it and if he is seen as actively wanting to change particularly evil elements of the court will likely rebel against him. Only by seeing it as a change brought about by outside forces will the court accept that the change was implemented by the dictates of the Path of the Four-Fold Elements. He says that all he can remember about the location of the Mechanical Clock of Urmushan but he remembers that the secret to finding it can be found within the Hall of Clocks. At 5 AM, or just before the PCs are heading to retrieve the clock, Moluch ibn Taifar will approach the PCs and request a private audience with them. If they agree then tells them that he knows that they are here to find the Mechanical Clock of Urmushan but that the information they have on its workings is wrong. He warns them that he has been with the Midnight Earth King since he was a normal xorn many years ago and that the Mechanical Clock of Urmushan is a thing of evil. The Midnight Earth King only became a half-fiend after he tied his essence to the clock and that the only way to free him would be to destroy it. He had decided to betray his lord to the PCs because the evil of the Midnight Earth King must not continue. If it does so it will only result in destruction for thousands of elemental creatures.  He also warns them that both Iva-ruch-al the Everburning and the Midnight Earth King are planning to betray them and destroy them once they reset the clock. If they reset the clock, which is something only good creatures can do, they will empower his evil for another thousand years and enable him to gain the edge he needs to kill the Noon-day Air Queen Exploring the Palace of the Midnight Earth King:The Palace of the Midnight Earth King is divided into the following areas1)    The Ball Room, which is described above.2)    The Hall of Clocks:    The number of clocks in this area is almost disturbing. Hundreds and hundreds of clocks of all shapes, sizes, colors, and features can be found ranging from sun dials to the disturbing Bone Clocks, powered by negative energy, to the Fey Clocks which each house a miniature brownie responsible for making sure the clock works properly.If the PCs investigate the clocks they won’t be able to find anything of interest or special importance, unless they specifically look for a pattern based on the time the clocks are showing. If they do so they will notice that in most cases the clock to the left of a particular clock is one hour earlier, each one to the right is one hour later and that the clocks above and below are each identical in time. After this a simple search check (taking five minutes) with a DC of 20 will be able to find all of the clocks that are not correct. If they are pull in correct order than the roof will open a number of wholes and start spewing out human fat for a few moments before they close up again. At that point a few random clocks are reset so that they point to an incorrect time.  In the event the PCs fiddle with the clocks in some other way the clocks will reset themselves to their original locations after twenty minutes. 3)    The Hall of Windows:    The windows open to countless vistas showing a variety of different planes and worlds. If an individual goes through one of the windows it serves as a one-way gate to said location.4)    The Embassy of Fire:    This area serves as a gate to the elemental plane of fire, specifically the City of Brass. Visitors from this location must pass through the contingent of guards to go to and from the Palace. 5)    The Embassy of Water This area serves as a gate to the elemental plane of water, specifically the Fortress of Ten Thousand Pearls. Visitors from this location must pass through the contingent of guards to go to and from the Palace.6)    The Fortress of Earth: This serves as the main base of the Palace and is where all military and personal locations of the inhabitants of the fortress. The PCs will not be allowed in here unless they have the capabilities to fight their way through countless salamander and xorn guards. Conlusion:Once the PCs have figured out that the clock is located within the confines of the throne of human fat they must find a way to access it without being caught onto. Considering that everyone of importance in the party wishes for them to actually find the clock, this is not too hard. Simply reaching into the human fat that composes the throne and feeling around will find it. Recovering it is simply a matter of pulling it out. Once the clock is pulled out it will begin ticking very loudly and everyone around the room will turn to look at the PCs. Moluch ibn Taifar will rush over and urge the PCs to destroy it. Iva-ruch-al the Everburning will insist that they not do that as it will result in a thousand years of hardship and woe. The Midnight Earth King himself will not intervene, instead sitting off to the side to see how this unfolds.If the PCs destroy the clock then they have released the Midnight Earth King from his evil. Iva-ruch-al will be enraged and will attack the PCs. Interestingly enough, the throne of human fat will also, during the first three rounds of combat, reform itself as a human fat golem (consider it to be the equivalent of a flesh golem) and attack the PCs as well. If the PCs reset the clock then the Midnight Earth King laughs in a way that only earth elementals can and orders his guard of salamanders and xorns to kill the PCs and Moluch. Moluch calls them pathetic fools but yells that they must get to the Hall of Windows. The PCs must now flee the horde of a six normal salamanders and six normal xorns and make it to a window to some place safe. If for whatever reasons it looks like the PCs might defeat the guard then Iva-ruch-al will join the battle. If the PCs somehow defeat him too, the Midnight Earth King says they have earned the right to leave, but if they ever come back he will destroy them himself.      If the PCs choose merely to flee something similar to rewinding the clock happens, only the Midnight Earth King and Iva-ruch-al attempt to go after the PCs immediately, rather than letting them leave. Aftermath :    If the PCs have freed the Midnight Earth King from the influence of the Mechanical Clock of Urmushan they have made a powerful, new ally in the elemental planes. The Midnight Earth King will gain the half-celestial template becoming the Dawn Earth King. He will also reward the PCs handsomely for their aid.    In the event the Midnight Earth King remains a servant of evil and the PCs escape they have made a powerful, new enemy. The Midnight Earth King will periodically send his agents to harass the PCs. Of course, if the PCs rewound the clock than he will have a lot more power to expend for this, as he will have the ability to defeat the Noon-day Air Queen. In the event the PCs just fled then harassment will be rare as he will have to devote most of his resources to holding onto his realm.</blockquote>

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