Moon men

[EricNoah]

Hell, make the moon men living astral constructs. Maybe they're wholly independant beings, or maybe they're being projected by psionic masters on the moon. Maybe they're recognizeable as astral constructs, or maybe they look like duplicates of their creators (I'm picturing a bunch of old humans of unidentifiable ethnicity, dressed in very foreign but clearly very fancy clothing).

I like the idea of exploring where astral constructs come from and all that, but I think that's maybe a different adventure. And so actually now that I think about it, that "aura of disobedience" might make sense in a different context. Maybe my party's psion catches a psionic disease that makes it harder for him to control his constructs; or maybe they manifest randomly while he sleeps and go out and do stuff without his consent. Hmm. I'll keep your notion in the back of my brain though!

 

[EricNoah]

BTW I will do my best to post some stats this weekend. I appreciate all of the feedback -- things are much more clear in my mind now!

 

[Slander]

Kind of a stream of thought here ... maybe it's trigger some other ideas.

The moon-calf is like an "ant-queen" or "bee-queen", responsible for laying eggs of specialized moon-cow drones. The "queen moon cow" lays an egg for a new moon cow queen that can only be birthed in the oceans. The castle is a specialized incubator. The moon cows produce something like Thri-kreen chitten, which is the primary building material of the moon people. When the mooncalf is birthed, it needs to feed on sentient beings (psionic in nature, impetus for PCs to act). This might create a quandry for the PCs: an otherwise non-evil race might be destroyed if their mooncalf cannot be birthed, but then the sentient beings they abduct to do so are killed. Allow for some possible resolution that doesn't require sentient beings for the mooncalf to live.

 

[EricNoah]

Those are some interesting thoughts Slander. But you know what was even more inspiring? Your avatar and sig. I GOTTA find a way to work a portal gun into this!!

 

[JayBrickwall]

I feel like there's something missing -- a way to provide help or a resource or a friendly NPC. I have this notion of an MMII style water weird trapped ... not sure why, not sure what she would do if freed, but might grant the PCs a later boon...

Depending on the "effective power level" of your modified/templated moon men...

Possibly the PC's could encounter the un-submerged (there should be a way to... pro-merged?) castle during a birthing while one (or more, up to a small group) of the moon men were working to subvert the process. It would provide an interesting choice for nosey PCs. Do they attempt to "help" the radicals (and possibly gain the ally you were trying to give them); or do they unwittingly try to aid in keeping the status quo and be in some part responsible for birthing a mooncalf and then having to deal with the consequences.

Or even,

...the entire castle-birthing could be a rogue event, and the "superiors" stumble on to the "apprentices' " work, hence why there is only a resultant fetal mooncalf (i.e. not enough power from the subordinates to fully produce the intended effect).

Sorry hope that's clear enough... kind verbally (typographically) vomited that out.

 

[EricNoah]

Maybe one of the moon men constructs has been inhabited by something else -- something more friendly -- and fights on their side??

 

[Thurbane]

How about a group of silvery skinned Githyanki or Githzerai who have been "marooned" on the moon for so long they have evolved into a seperate (yet almost identical) species (Githlunai).

 

[kensanata]

We recently had lunar ravagers (MMIV) come down on beams of moonlight and hunt the party. They can make themselves invisible and airwalk. Might make a cool encounter as the party approaches the tower by ship. Once defeated, they leave behind their famous hunting horn. Those might be the key to the later boon you mentioned. The ravagers have CR 7.

Denizens of Avadnu also has a lunar creature template. The template creature examples are part of their web support. The lunar trakza provided has CR 4.

 

[Twowolves]

Dromites = little grey aliens.

 

[Stormborn]

Maybe one of the moon men constructs has been inhabited by something else -- something more friendly -- and fights on their side??

Perhaps a ghost of some other adventurer who was trapped or killed in the tower last time it surfaced. Picture a low level sorcerer (maybe a cohort of that long lost party) who got frightened at the manifestation of the moon men and attempted to flee but was killed in the process, and all his companions died shortly thereafter. The ghost sees aiding the PCs as a chance to make up for that cowardly act and finally be free of the tower. If you want it to inhabit or haunt the construct there is no need for it even to have ghostly stats, but it might be interesting if the ghost attempts to make friendly contact first (maybe its lonely and a little bit insane) and then possesses the construct when it realizes it has a chance.