Shawn_Kehoe
First Post
Part I (Heroic Tier) - the PCs begin in prison, having been sentenced to death after a wrongful accusation of treason. They get "lucky" and escape alongside someone who actually IS guilty of treason. He tells them that their wrongful conviction was designed to cover-up a security bungling by an important noble, and recruits them to hunt for artifacts from an old war that he wants to keep out of imperial hands.
After a few weeks of this, the PCs are contacted discreetly by the Imperial Spymaster. He reveals that he orchestrated their conviction because his spy network has been severely compromised, and he needed trustworthy agents who could be disavowed if they failed. He promises them a full pardon and honours if they return the items to him.
I'll play with the shifting loyalties and paranoia for a bit, and probably put the party through 3 major dungeons on their way to the artifacts. By the end they can choose to stand with the resistance or be reinstated as citizens of the empire. Or they may discover secrets that cause them to side with neither side.
Part II (Paragon Tier): And boy, they aren't nice secrets. This little civil upheaval is the latest move in a centuries-old struggle between two liches with a serious vendetta. One is a mindflayer lich, the other is probably a human or elf that is affiliated with Vecna.
Here the PCs get to do the X-Files thing and peel away the layers of the conspiracy. There will still be dungeons, probably in the form of Underdark crawls. The human lich has probably enlisted Dark Elves in his struggle against the mindflayer ... or living mindflayers that reject the MF lich as an abomination. Eventually the PCs may uncover one or both of the masterminds, and deal with them. There will be lots of globe-trotting.
Part III (Epic Tier) - This really depends on the players. If they only eliminate one of the masters, the other can finally turn his attentions to greater plans than petty revenge ... gates to the Far Realm or the Shadowfell are possible.
After a few weeks of this, the PCs are contacted discreetly by the Imperial Spymaster. He reveals that he orchestrated their conviction because his spy network has been severely compromised, and he needed trustworthy agents who could be disavowed if they failed. He promises them a full pardon and honours if they return the items to him.
I'll play with the shifting loyalties and paranoia for a bit, and probably put the party through 3 major dungeons on their way to the artifacts. By the end they can choose to stand with the resistance or be reinstated as citizens of the empire. Or they may discover secrets that cause them to side with neither side.
Part II (Paragon Tier): And boy, they aren't nice secrets. This little civil upheaval is the latest move in a centuries-old struggle between two liches with a serious vendetta. One is a mindflayer lich, the other is probably a human or elf that is affiliated with Vecna.
Here the PCs get to do the X-Files thing and peel away the layers of the conspiracy. There will still be dungeons, probably in the form of Underdark crawls. The human lich has probably enlisted Dark Elves in his struggle against the mindflayer ... or living mindflayers that reject the MF lich as an abomination. Eventually the PCs may uncover one or both of the masterminds, and deal with them. There will be lots of globe-trotting.
Part III (Epic Tier) - This really depends on the players. If they only eliminate one of the masters, the other can finally turn his attentions to greater plans than petty revenge ... gates to the Far Realm or the Shadowfell are possible.
