Plot twist!

[Iconik]

Backstory: The party had been tasked with seeking out a man name Trassis and his 4,000 strong army of elite guards. Trassis lived about 12,000 years ago and had tons of experience fighting the demonic horde of Gharzim and their cast out God S'Balic.

We are on week 18 and there have been some twists and turns regarding Trassis but those really aren't important. 18 weeks of trudging through desert and climbing the Syrin Mountains. In about 3-4 adventures they will finally reach the Transcendent Trassis. A transcendent in my campaign is a person that was human (or whatever race) but is now transcending to Godhood. Basically it's a person that is between "human" and God.

They were tasked by a God to seek him and his elite force who do not age and have no need for food or water to in order to ask for their aid in the renewed effort by S'Balic to usurp the power of the pantheon and take his "rightful" spot among the Gods.

I was thinking the other day though...wouldn't it be great if the party FINALLY reach Trassis only to find that he and his army of elite warriors were all slaughtered!? My only concern is that, after 18 weeks of getting to this point the party would feel a little upset to find out he was dead. They appreciate plot twists and I think this one would be great.

What do you guys think? Think this is a little too much or is it a nice plot twist?

 

[captainspud]

If you're going to yank their prize away like that, you'd better be sure to offer up an alternate solution to the problem almost immediately after the big reveal. A few moments of "Oh crap" is awesome, but if you let them go home that night still thinking you screwed them over, they're going to be really pissed.

 

[Iconik]

Perhaps they can sift through the bodies of the fallen of these ancient Transcendents and take some of their finely made armor and weapons? Would that be OK? Obviously I'd come up with an alternate solution. Basically, these warriors (called The Cut) had tons of experience in fighting S'Balic and his Gharzim army thousands of years ago. I kind of wanted a feeling of "Oh crap. If these guys are dead what can we possibly do against the Gharzim?!"

 

[fba827]

while a fun plot twist concept, i agree with captainspud that you've been taunting the PCs with it and are taking the thrill of resolution away from them. So you need some sort of immediate replacement for them to focus on and feel that they earned.

Maybe the dead they come across are -some- of the warriors. Not the big bad one or the rest of his troops. But the PCs still have to dig through all the dead bodie to realize that bigbad guy isn't among them. that way you have the 'crap, who was powerful enough to kill these guys' and they pcs still have the bigbadguy to deal with themselves. (perhaps he was originally at the fight but fled with the rest of his remaining soldiers that didn't die. or maybe these soliders were sent out running a small mission for the bigbad guy and he's expecting them back any moment now)

 

[Minifig]

It's a lot better than this guy could do:

 

[captainspud]

I like fba's idea-- instead of the PCs finding him dead, they instead find him disheveled and cowering in the back of some filthy cave, terrified for his life. He gained near-godhood in a state of near-complete mental shutdown from paranoia and terror, and has been hiding from the Big Bad all this time.

This way, you still get your "oh crap" twist, but not in a way that leaves the players completely empty-handed vis-a-vis continuing their quest. They get some of the info they're after (though not all, as his fractured mind has trouble remembering anything other than utter terror) and get pointed in the right direction, but they don't get the tangible assistance they might have hoped for, and now have to wonder how staggeringly powerful the Big Bad could be to do this to a legendary warrior-cum-demigod.

 

[Iconik]

Think I'll go with that then. The party comes across a large amount of the army lying dead on the stony floor of the under mountain.

Spud: Bravo. I like that as well. I'll do that too. There is MORE to this story though. The God of the D'Imel (a faction of Nineviil AKA elves) visited the party and had heard of where they were told to go and with who to meet up with to ask for assistance. The D'Imel had gone to war with Trassis and his people on the desert continent of Chyrna. Though 12,000 years has passed and Trassis has been in "hiding" enjoying his Transcendency (made up word I know), Imel (God of the D'Imel) has never forgiven him. He told the party that Trassis won't help. That he's a butcher. A liar. The man that told him to seek him out is setting them up. That when they find Trassis and they tell them what is happening, he's more likely to slay them than help them.

It goes a bit deeper. Trassis and his people, upon arriving on Chyrna (think Vikings) didn't want to live side by side with the Nineviil and Ashedukin (dragonborn) or the indigenous human tribes. Instead he sought domination. He was a brash and violent man in his youth and almost wiped the Nineviil out to a man. After awhile Trassis and his people came to terms with the Nineviil and a great alliance was forged between 2 of the 3 Nineviil peoples. Imel and his people decided to hold a grudge. The man that told the party to seek Trassis out was a D'Krisinii ("elves" of dark). So...you can begin to see the decisions the party has to make.

 

[the Jester]

I was thinking the other day though...wouldn't it be great if the party FINALLY reach Trassis only to find that he and his army of elite warriors were all slaughtered!? My only concern is that, after 18 weeks of getting to this point the party would feel a little upset to find out he was dead. They appreciate plot twists and I think this one would be great.

No, it wouldn't be great. Your concern about the group's reaction is your gut instinct screaming "DON'T DO IT!" at you.

Now, if they arrived to find Trassis dead but his men alive, or maybe only Trassis surviving, that would be a cool twist. Or maybe Trassis and his men have given up violence and refuse to come back. But "We traveled 18 weeks to find a bunch of bodies??" leads to pissed off players. After that long of a journey, I think they deserve to find what they seek- at least some of it- even if it is no longer what they think it is.

 

[Cor_Malek]

Seeing the reaction of some previous posters, obviously YMMV. Because I'd love this idea as a player I'm more of a "journey" than a "destination" person though, so maybe that's the difference - which type are your players?

As you're still sculpting this idea, I'll throw in my 2 electrum pieces: Trassis body could be nowhere to be found. Did he manage to reach the divinity? If so - was it him, or someone else who slew his men? If not - did he manage to survive? If so - did he escape or was captured? Furthermore, maybe this means the Gods are onto the planned coup?

Finding Trassis is OK, and safe to play. But what you have planned here, is far, far more interesting, even if a bit dicey.
Go with dicey - what's the worst that's gonna happen?

 

[Stumblewyk]

How about this...they're not dead. They're not disheveled. They're not anything other than what they've always been. The catch is this: what they've always been is over-hyped and over-exaggerated. That's the essence of being "the stuff of legends." The truth is blown way out of proportion.

So, maybe instead of being incredibly skilled and adept at fighting this S'balic and the Gharzim, Trassis was just lucky. And Trassis knows it. He's got no interest in re-involving himself in this fight. And the Cut are not nearly as numerous as legend indicates they were. Perhaps they're a small fighting force of 10-20 men, lead by an incredibly lucky commander, and knowing what they know (after years and year and years of meditation in the process of transcendence) they'd much rather just keep on transcending than risk dying like a mortal.