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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jack99" data-source="post: 5035111" data-attributes="member: 53135">Tomorrow, my players will be heading towards the third quest in order to score enough faction with the Sultan, which in turn should give them access to the Chamber of Rituals. Little do they know that their path will be diverted once again.As you might know (if you have reading this thread), they are currently holding captive a high priestess of Grazz't, who is none other that his lover as well, in the Church of Kord in their home town of Drahar. When they stole her right under his nose and fled home, both an Aspect of Orcus and an Aspect of Demogorgon showed up to claim her. And right after the Swords of Drahar killed them, an Aspect of Grazz't showed up. Since they all died, they are all banned from the mortal world for 101 years. But that doesn't mean Grazz't has given up on getting his bride-to-be back. He has been plotting, working on getting demons into the mortal world, ready to strike.But demons are hard to control, especially when they are a world away. And with the Swords deeply engaged in the City of Brass, and getting closer to their goal, which will cost the high priestess her life, Grazz't has decided that he can not wait any longer.In order to get the girl back, he is sending one of his right-hand demons, a nasty fellow named Duality. Duality and a small army of demons will invade Drahar and cause havoc, going for the Church of Kord in order to get the girl.So, at some point, the Swords will receive a call from Trevor, the high priest, mentor and best friend of the Swords, that demons have invaded Drahar. They will rush back and have to fight their way through a city in chaos, only to find Trevor dead on the altar and Duality in the middle of making a portal back to the Abyss with the girl in tow. Or at least that will depend on their actions.In order to really put pressure on my epic players, the whole situation will be put under a time limit. There will be several encounters on the way (unless they do something I do not expect) to the church, some optional (save the mother defending her children), some not so optional.They will have 14 minutes to get to the Church, which includes 5 encounters and 5 minutes of running. This should leave them enough time to take one short break, but depending on when they take it, Trevor will be dead when they arrive.WarningMinute 1: Open portal to Drahar, to Torn's father's mansion (A house rule allows players to speed up casting of rituals by pouring more residuum into the ritual. Twice the residuum halves the casting time, cumulatively, down to 1 minute).Minute 2: Fight with Demons which have killed Torn's father (he gets tossed his father's head in his face when he steps through the portal)Minute 4: Duality starts casting his portal.Minute 5: A lone surviving priest is hiding in the church and uses the church sending stones to warn the Swords that Duality has the high priestess and is about to leave.Minute 9: Trevor gets killed on the altar of his beloved church (which means the players can only save him if they do not take a break on the way)Minute 14: Duality finished his portal and leaves with the drow high-priestessOverall, I am hoping that the pressure creates some tension and pushes the players to not save all their good stuff for the last encounter, making it even harder. Should be fun...</blockquote>

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