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ShortQuests -- individual adventure modules! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed to plug in to your game.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 6197094" data-attributes="member: 6750502">Arcadia <img src="http://i.*****.com/VIXjI.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />    Arcadia’s portrayed as a realm of orderly perfection where every petitioner acts in accordance with “the greater good.”  Many visitors have a lot of misconceptions about Arcadia, and are often surprised to note that the society isn’t as “cold” or emotionless as Mechanus.    Arcadia’s an Upper Plane, but it isn’t infused with the essence of Good.  Arcadia’s ideal society is a collective unit of individuals working in perfect tandem for the betterment of the group.  While the inhabitants of Mechanus obey the prime directives of exemplars of Law for the sake of it, the Arcadians use the order derived from Law and Good to minimize suffering and result in the highest standard of living for the most people possible.  This puts them closer to the Upper Planes than the Lower because their ideals are not meant to benefit the few in power at the expense of others.  In order to benefit from this society, everybody needs to be on board, and too many dissident elements add in way too many unpredictable factors to keep things together.  People who rock the boat are punished through ostracism, demotion, and other forms of shaming to get them back in line.  Law and Goodness are enforced through the fear of shame in eyes of one’s peers and superiors, and a lot of petitioners do the “right thing” due to this instead of true altruism.  This is why the plane is not Good-aligned; it’s not genuine.  It’s also why the petitioners tolerate Chaotic Good and Neutral Good individuals, yet ruthlessly attack Evil ones; an invasion from Baator, or even Mechanus, is a far greater threat than Arborea or the Beastlands.         Another myth is that the people of Arcadia are little more than mindless drones, living for the sake of powerful outsiders and deities of Law without question.  High-ranking Arcadians don’t get to shirk their duties or benefit from luxurious privileges, nor do they benefit from supreme authority; if anything, their position of importance saddles them with increasingly numerous and greater responsibilities due to their authority.  Incompetence and abuses of power get knocked down with extreme prejudice.  Checks and balances exist to ensure that everyone’s accountable for their actions; there’s too much at stake to let the entire system fall apart due to the folly of one.The Mechanus Invasion    If you thought that the inhabitants of Arcadia and Mechanus get along like peas in a pod due to their relative ideological proximity, you’d be dead wrong.  Although not the primary inhabitants of Mechanus, the Formians are a major power on that plane, and their policies are an extension of it.  The insects have a reputation for extreme imperialism.  They colonize distant planes and worlds, building hive-cities and spreading their numbers so that they can remake as much of the multi-verse in their image as possible.  The latent fears of many Arcadians turned into a reality when their third layer of Menausus got absolved into Mechanus.    The worst part about this was that the Arcadian leaders did not see the true extent of the threat, both out of arrogant denial and of fear of spreading panic.  The layer and its inhabitants are still missing among the great cogs of Mechanus, seemingly gone from the Multiverse.  Arcadia was especially blessed to have such a regimented society and managed to avoid war and social discord through the actions of its leaders.  Remaining Formians were rounded up and forced to prove their loyalty to Arcadia or face imprisonment or deportation.  Even though the Formians of Arcadia insist that they do not share their brethren’s expansionist tendencies, many Arcadians still do not trust them.  If tensions continue, then the leaders will have to expel the Formians for the good of the whole.    The truth is that the Formians of Arcadia are indeed loyal to their home plane, and the Formians of Mechanus intend on absorbing the plane into Mechanus.  If the second layer of Buxenus appears under the threat of absorption, Arcadia will have no choice but to defend itself.  Celestia will intervene on Arcadia’s behalf, and then the idyllic fields of Arcadia will run red with the blood of the exemplars of Law and Good.Harmonium Prison Camps    The Harmonium is an extremely Lawful planar faction intent on achieving universal peace by converting the rest of the Multiverse to their ideology.  For those who resist, they are not averse to kidnapping, coercion, and brainwashing to achieve their goals.  The majority of such beings are held in “retraining camps” on the second layer of Buxenus.    The majority of people held in these facilities are of Chaotic alignment, including more than a few Outsiders.  But Neutral and even Lawful-aligned beings who disagree with the Harmonium’s ends and means are also kept here.  The success rate of “re-education” remains low and fraught with difficulties, yet the Harmonium’s staying the course despite their numerous failed attempts.    In addition to being highly unethical and giving Arcadia a bad name, the prisons are a major contributing factor towards the encroaching incursion of Mechanus.  The threat of a prison break is also a major concern, as a horde of escaped Slaadi and Demons will do much to upset the layer’s balance.  If solid evidence of the planar reaches the eyes and ears of Arcadia’s leaders, the Harmonium will be forcefully expelled.  The faction will ally with Mechanus and declare Arcadia an enemy.Adventure Hooks in Arcadia:•    An individual important to the PCs has been kidnapped by the Harmonium and tossed into one of their re-education camps.  A petitioner skeptical about the faction’s methods can help the party conduct a raid against the facility, but it will be difficult and require precise planning.  In addition to dimensional travel blocks, magical wards, and experienced guards, the PCs will also have to avoid the detection of passing patrols of Archons and Devas, who will prevent the PCs from carrying out their plan without solid proof of the Harmonium’s danger to Arcadia.•    A Formian spy loyal to Mechanus plans on killing the Arcadian hive-queen of Mandible and replacing her with an expansionist sympathizer.  The PCs are tasked with uprooting the spy while taking care to avoid alerting other Formians of the situation.  The tunnels are closed off to non-Formians, complicating matters greatly.  And then there’s the matter protecting the Queen as well…•    An organized militia of petitioners found a strong lead on the whereabouts of the inhabitants of Menausus.  The PCs are entrusted to help find the missing layer.  Problem is that the Inevitables and Formians of Mechanus have no intention of letting the layer’s inhabitants back.  If the PCs and the militia are going to get them back, it will be by fighting their way out!</blockquote>

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