[plots] Help me be a Rat-Bastard DM

[der_kluge]

BTW, I asked for a "plots" image a while back. Would be nice to have one.

My players - OUT!

Anyway, here's the scenario.

Long story, I'll try to be brief.

PC land on mysterious continent. While investigating a tomb, they are put into a temporal stasis effect, and come out 6 years after they went in. So, the leader (an archaeologist named Valgo) that hired them as bodyguards left a long time ago. So, the PCs went on their own way, to explore since they had no where else to go. (their ship was sunk by a dragon)

Eventually, the PCs find this avatar of a dead god in a spider's lair, and free it. The avatar tells them that he needs them to collect fragments of his fallen god so that he may attune himself to the god, and provide them with direction. There are strange goings on in the land, and he has promised valuable rewards if they assist him in his cause (he has already given some rewards for fulfilled tasks).

The PCs are currently investigating a dwarven stronghold because one of the players is a dwarf. It's kind of a side-quest, really.

Meanwhile, the avatar is in a Nymph's grove who is allied with him (the god was a nature god), and one of the players changed characters and her rogue (now and NPC) is still in the grove as well.

So, what I was thinking, to keep things interesting...
PCs come back to the grove after looting said dwarven stronghold, only to find the avatar gone. Instead, they find Valgo, except this time he's a vampire working for the bad guys. Except, the players don't know that. Of course, the nymph is a vampire, and the rogue is a vampire.

I was thinking that it would be cool if I could actually convince my players (really untrustworthy sods) that Valgo is ok, and he has need of their services to do *something* that is in the service of the bad guys. Maybe, something that would convince them that they need to rescure the avatar. I was thinking that the avatar could be sitting on a sacrificial altar somewhere, or someone is using him to drain him of his power so that they could ascend to godhood. Another twist is that not only did a god of nature die, but a god of destruction and chaos died as well, so there are fragments of *both* gods in the world, but the avatar had only had the party retrieve pieces of the nature god.

Yes, it's all very kooky, I know. Any idea you might have would be helpful. Party is 11th level, but will be 12th when they come out of the stronghold.

 

[Crothian]

So, what do you need help with? It seems like tricking the party that the Vampires are good should work. Are there any Druids left in the grove? That might hamper the Vampires plans.

If you just need something evil for the party to do for the bad guys; how about gathering a piece of the god of destruction from a good aligned group of kobolds or some potential ally to the Avatar...?

 

[der_kluge]

The nymph is a druid. Valgo is aligned with other vampires now. He didn't land on the continent as one - a powerful one turned him into one, so Valgo and several others would have overtaken the grove, and turned the nymph and the rogue into vampires as well. I'm gonna have fun statting out a nymph druid vampire.

Well, my problem is that I'm just sure that if the party comes back to the grove, sees the avatar gone, and sees their old friend, who tells them that the avatar has been kidnapped, and that he needs their help, all kinds of alarms are going to go off. If they attack him, then I'll have him teleport away, and then they are stuck there with really no place to go. Although, they are at the level now where they could easily commune or divine what to do next, which just might be an option for me.

 

[Wippit Guud]

What if the adventurers come back, find the avatar gone, and the rogue and nymph trapped in a permanent forcecage (don't mention the permanent part), who informs the party of what happens. Could mention the druid was using animals to feed them to explain any long confinement.

PCs get info and leave, and then the vampires just gaseuos form out of the cage.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

OK, some questions - Why is the avatar gone? This will definitely set off alarms.

As for Valgo, perhaps he can show up on another ship, supposedly on another archaeological expedition - or they can find him with some dominated servants pretending to be a new expedition, but if the PC's check into it, no one has seen the boat he would have needed to get here...

 

[Quickbeam]

I definitely like the idea that there are fragments from more than one god laying about, and that the PCs aren't aware of this situation. There is the potential that the avatar (if evil has befallen him), Valgo (or his vampire collective), or others not yet in play could be guiding the characters into collecting relics of a less pleasant deity while they work to retrieve parts of the nature god.

This leaves the possibility of the fragments being assembled wrong -- imagine the consequences -- or that more than one godlike being is restored. Then you could leave the stunned and shaken PCs with the quest of finding a remedy for the horror they've unwittingly set free.

 

[der_kluge]

That's a twist I hadn't quite considered. Interesting. Will have to ponder on this some more.

 

[der_kluge]

OK, some questions - Why is the avatar gone? This will definitely set off alarms.

As for Valgo, perhaps he can show up on another ship, supposedly on another archaeological expedition - or they can find him with some dominated servants pretending to be a new expedition, but if the PC's check into it, no one has seen the boat he would have needed to get here...

The avatar would be gone because demons or devils took him away to be sacrificed, or to be used for some other nefarious purpose. He is the avatar of a dead god, after all, and not really all that powerful.

And the PCs are mid-continent now, so far away from the ocean. Their ship was sank, and there are no more ships to be found anywhere.

 

[Quickbeam]

That's a twist I hadn't quite considered. Interesting. Will have to ponder on this some more.

PM some extra background to me, or direct me to a relevant portion of any ongoing Story Hour that applies to this quandary, and I'll try to be more specific.

But heck, I'm far from the most rat bastardly DM on these Boards .

 

[der_kluge]

All right, I've figured it out.

The party is currently at this dwarven stronghold. Back at the Nymph's grove, the avatar communes, and the nymph and the rogue just kind of hang out.

Valgo, the former party leader who got separated from the party is currently a vampire. The avatar is in a hallow'd space that he augmented (through godly magic) with a nondetection. So, he is unlocatable. However, Valgo, through magic *would* be able to find his old companions, even though he would have believed them for dead a long time ago. So, he scries and figures out that the party is in this cave, but the rogue is in the middle of the forest somewhere - curious.

So, he and other vampires sneak into the forest area and find the avatar. They ambush the place, kill the rogue and the nymph and kidnap the avatar. These vampires are all high-level wizards to boot. To cover their trail, they find some dead slaad (not hard to do since they're crawling all over the continent) and leave them here as a decoy.

PCs come back to the grove after a good bout of dungeon-delving, only to find:
A pile of smouldering slaad bodies, and no avatar, and no nymph, and no rogue.
While looking over the area, the rogue (now a vampire) comes out and says, "I'm so glad you guys came back! It was horrible - slaad came from out of nowhere, and there was a huge battle. They kidnapped the nymph and the avatar. I stayed hidden (she is a rogue after all) and they didn't find me, thank god. I overheard them say that they were going to sacrifice the avatar for some ritual!"

So, cleric communes the location of the avatar or of the nymph, and the party goes - straight into a trap. Even better, the rogue tells them that she's coming with them, because she no longer feels safe in the woods all alone any more. So, not only will they be headed into a trap, I have a rogue vampire in the party with them that will double-cross them at just the right opportunity. I also have a vampire nymph which I can use as bait at some point as well.

MUAHAHAHAH!

Now the question - what kind of trap should I use?