Need Plot help

[Gwaihir]

I could use some plot help or pointers on running a political adventure. (Those I've tried in the past haven't gone so well)

heres the situation, (My guys and K - Stay out!)

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The bad guys in the campaign are bent on world domination. As part of their plan, they are using a large army of undead in the north(They created, and are also the key figures opposing it) to increase thier political fortunes in the south. Recently, aided by the parties inactivity, they were able to assassinate the key religious figure, think pope, and replace him with one of thier own.

The party is currently returning from a distant land, with a Holy tree that will banish, or deplete the undead armies. When this happens, My thought is that the bad guys will take credit for the victory in public, but attack the party as secretly as possible.

How can I best let the party discover that the "pope" is not all that he seems, and may actually be manipulating the church he leads to nefarious ends?

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[Vrecknidj]

What kinds of levels are we talking about here? I mean, are we talking about characters with high level spells or powers, or are we talking about a low-level campaign?

To get to your question directly though, maybe someone in the party is particularly sensitive to political endeavors and might hear some local news, or see something posted on a temple door, and get the drift that something's up.

Off topic: where in west Michigan--anywhere near Kalamazoo?

Dave

 

[Stormborn]

- Unless they performed a true purge of the church (which seems unlikely given that they are trying to be secrative) there will be other high ranking officals, or even more likely lowley clerks who go unnoticed, who will at least be suspicious of the new man in the High Seat

- If one of the PCs is a cleric or has a strong connection to the faith let them have a dream in which a figure of gold is seated on a throne with appropriate religious incongraphy. A strong wind sweeps the crown off the figures head. A group of crows (representing the number in the cabal) sets a crown of bones in its place. The figure slowly turns from gold into a man, then a dead man, then a skeleton. Let the dream repeat for a few nights and then abruptly end (let the PCs later figure out that the last dream occured on the night the old pope died).

- Who sent them for the tree in the first place? If it was the old pope, or one of his agents, he might have left a message for the PCs w/ a trusted source outside the churhc. "If anything should happen to me before you return know that I was killed for another ambitions..."

 

[Gwaihir]

Hey Vrecknidj,

Its Grand Rapids and suburbs.

Character level 8

The actual plot re the tree is rather convoluted.

About 400 years ago, (Campaigns First Session) the party was present at the last battle of a Great war, in which a holy tree was inadvertantly destroyed. Fleeing the Battle they were turned to stone, and not unstoned until current day about 400 years later.

Through various quests they were led to a settlement of snakemen to ask for help (snakemen were the enemy in the big war) and the leader of the snakemen told them how stupid humans were for destroying the holy tree.

They saw a vision that hinted at an unknown seedling of the tree and used a bunch of commune spells found in scrolls to figure out where it was. In retrospect I should have included the statue vision (Nice!) or something similer with the tree vision, but didn't.

thanks for your thoughts.