DM_Matt
First Post
Inspired by die_kluge's thread about his campaign, I am seeking help in completing the plot of my ongoing campaign (not the pbp, an in-person one).
My players, dont read this....
Rather than describe what the PCs have done, I'll describe whats going on and what they know. The historical background is very much scifi-ish, but the actions in the PC's time are regular ol' D&D. Party level is currently 13.
First, some history....
Many milenia ago, a spaceship beloning to a race called the Azar, crashed on a world without humanoids. Dinosaurs and some supernatural beings did exist, however. The ships inhabitants fled soon before the ship's reactor melted down, and became the descendants of the planet's humanoids. Near the explosion was an egg, contianing the offsprring of a nature god and a dinosaur. The divine spark protected the creature by adapting to the mutating radiation, producing an enormous, unstoppable engine of destruction. Thus the tarrasque was born.
The first two rescue teams sent by the Azar were annihilated by the beast, as it honed in unerringly on their technological devices. Survivors from the third escaped, and the Azar abandoned the planet. Eventually, the Azar were annihilated in a war with the Sarkrith (As in,the lizard-like anti-magical humanoids from the Fiend Folio).
The Sarkrith eventually came into conflict with a race called the Nazuri, led by a demon named Raku and his minions, who are immune to the Sarkrith's weaponry. Raku and his demons used magical guantlets that hid their identities and auras and made it appear that their spell-like abilities were a result of the gauntlets' magic, not their own. With few remaining alternatives, the Sarkrith remembered something they read in the captured Azar archives. They knew of a planet that not only used magic, a force detested by the Sarkrith but believed to be able to harm Raku, but also contianed a force capable of repulsing attacks from technological races.
The Sarkrith discovered a way to temporarily shield themselves from the beast's sight, and sought out magical swords capable of defeating Raku and his demons and capturing them within their blades. Luring Raku to the planet, they defeated and imprisoned Raku and his demons, hiding the swords in an underground tomb in their hidden island settlement. Eventually, they were unable to continue to hide their forces, and, knowing that they would be destroyed, left behind a device that could look into any time or place, along with carved notations to indicate what one who found it should use it to show (The device is a circle of apparently-stone pillars with a stone control surface in the center (well, and a few orbs that are intended to allow mental control of the device, but it requires fluency in Sarkrith) On it are 5 sets of dials, each dial containing one big and four little dials. The dials act like the course and increasingly-fine adjestments on a microscope, each set dealing, respectively, with the three spacial dimensions, time, and zoom. On the pedestal are carved the appropriate angles to show what the creators wanted to express. Anoth orb turns it on and off...as long as it is off, it doesn't attract the Tarrasque). Soon after, the beast overran their civilization.
Eventually, Raku and his companions escaped their prison, and plotted to return to power. They began by drawing in passing ships, turning their crews into demons, and learning about the world from their memories. When a group of adventurers form Freeport, the PCs hometown, come upon the island on the way to riad the tomb of a necromancer named Al-Hulath, Raku turned them into demons and acocmpanied them, aiding them in their quest.
Al-Hulath had been seeking new ways to achieve immortality without the decomposition of a lich of the numerous drawbacks of being a vampire. He was eventually betrayed by an apprenice, a child-vampire (later Vampire Lord) named Clarissa (based on Ann Rice's Claudia), who sabotaged an experiment that turned Al-Hulath into a diseased plague dragon (Hulathion, Fiend Folio). Clarissa assumed command of the other vampires under Al-Hulath, a special breed particularly feirsome in combat and capable of both short and long distance instantaneous travel.
Seeing the value of these vampires for assassination and other tacks, Raku instead struck a deal with Clarissa, offering to (eventually) grant her an immortal adult body in return for the services of her vampires.
Raku first turned his scemes towards the nation of Dashara, corrupting the and eventually marrying, the heir to the throne, Princess Rachel, to whom he granted immortality by turning her into a succubus. When Clarissa's vampires assassinated the king, Raku assumed control of Dashara. Dashara, however, was not militarily powerful enough for him, and there was too much domestic opposition to creating an empire. So, appointing one of his demons (in human form) as regent, Raku, Rachel, and Clarissa (posing as their daughter) gathered their forces and sought out a new target.
Remembering what he knew of Freeport, he posed as the returned son of a disgraced noble family, Aiden Zarun (Zarun is intentionally an anagram of Nazur), and returned to the city, then ruled by the corrupt Sealord and the council of sails (This is at the end of the Freeport Trilogy). Aiden and his forces aided the PCs in slaying the Sealord, and he took advantage of the nobles' lack of concern for the poor, becoming a populist leader whose perosnal forces (some humans from Dashara, some demons disguised thereas), unlike the city guard, defended the common people.
Aiden meanwhile set plagues loose on the city, including demons and blood locusts, produced by the Hulathion, whom he moved to a lair below the city. Aiden became the PC's sponsor, and they (in his name) and his personal forces repeatedly saved the city, with the PCs eventually saving the Hulathion. The PCs also inadvertantly prevent one of Raku's demons from bringing a Nightmare Beast to the city.
Aiden meanwhile eliminated opposition on the Council. He sends Clarissa to dominate some weak kobold sorcerors in the employ of another noble, and caused them to try to assassinate him with wands of fireballs. Meanwhile, Rachel posed as the wife of another lord and energy-drained him to death. The PCs served to "catch" both "murderers," and they were both executed.
Meanwhile, buried below the Zarun estate lies the reactor from the origional crashed ship, repaired using Raku's knowledge from his days as king of the Nazuri. Elsewhere in the room, are orbs which connect extradimensinally (magically, not technologically), to sister orbs that his minions can move throughout the world.
Carefully-planted evidence that the PCs gathered while fighting the plagues led them to the island chain where Raku had been imprisoned, suspecting that the answer to the source of the plagues could be found there. After learning about the ancient history from various native cultures, and encountering some Sarkrith explorers, they find the history-viewing device that the ancient Sarkrith left behind, learning the history up until Raku's imprisonment. They also get the swords that can defeat Raku and his demons. In turning the machine on, however, they awoke the Tarrasque, who will now be guided by Aiden's orbs, seeking out the device that caused his mutation. Aiden had hoped that the Tarrasque or some othe rdanger would kill the PCs, but they are now about to return to Freeport alive.
So now this demon can guide the Tarrasque towards anthying he wants, controls Freeport and another major city-state, a sizable personal army that includes demons, and Clarissa and her vampires. He also has the PCs largely fooled into doing his bidding. So my question: How does Raku build an empire?
The geography around here is undefined, so feel free to make it up.
My players, dont read this....
Rather than describe what the PCs have done, I'll describe whats going on and what they know. The historical background is very much scifi-ish, but the actions in the PC's time are regular ol' D&D. Party level is currently 13.
First, some history....
Many milenia ago, a spaceship beloning to a race called the Azar, crashed on a world without humanoids. Dinosaurs and some supernatural beings did exist, however. The ships inhabitants fled soon before the ship's reactor melted down, and became the descendants of the planet's humanoids. Near the explosion was an egg, contianing the offsprring of a nature god and a dinosaur. The divine spark protected the creature by adapting to the mutating radiation, producing an enormous, unstoppable engine of destruction. Thus the tarrasque was born.
The first two rescue teams sent by the Azar were annihilated by the beast, as it honed in unerringly on their technological devices. Survivors from the third escaped, and the Azar abandoned the planet. Eventually, the Azar were annihilated in a war with the Sarkrith (As in,the lizard-like anti-magical humanoids from the Fiend Folio).
The Sarkrith eventually came into conflict with a race called the Nazuri, led by a demon named Raku and his minions, who are immune to the Sarkrith's weaponry. Raku and his demons used magical guantlets that hid their identities and auras and made it appear that their spell-like abilities were a result of the gauntlets' magic, not their own. With few remaining alternatives, the Sarkrith remembered something they read in the captured Azar archives. They knew of a planet that not only used magic, a force detested by the Sarkrith but believed to be able to harm Raku, but also contianed a force capable of repulsing attacks from technological races.
The Sarkrith discovered a way to temporarily shield themselves from the beast's sight, and sought out magical swords capable of defeating Raku and his demons and capturing them within their blades. Luring Raku to the planet, they defeated and imprisoned Raku and his demons, hiding the swords in an underground tomb in their hidden island settlement. Eventually, they were unable to continue to hide their forces, and, knowing that they would be destroyed, left behind a device that could look into any time or place, along with carved notations to indicate what one who found it should use it to show (The device is a circle of apparently-stone pillars with a stone control surface in the center (well, and a few orbs that are intended to allow mental control of the device, but it requires fluency in Sarkrith) On it are 5 sets of dials, each dial containing one big and four little dials. The dials act like the course and increasingly-fine adjestments on a microscope, each set dealing, respectively, with the three spacial dimensions, time, and zoom. On the pedestal are carved the appropriate angles to show what the creators wanted to express. Anoth orb turns it on and off...as long as it is off, it doesn't attract the Tarrasque). Soon after, the beast overran their civilization.
Eventually, Raku and his companions escaped their prison, and plotted to return to power. They began by drawing in passing ships, turning their crews into demons, and learning about the world from their memories. When a group of adventurers form Freeport, the PCs hometown, come upon the island on the way to riad the tomb of a necromancer named Al-Hulath, Raku turned them into demons and acocmpanied them, aiding them in their quest.
Al-Hulath had been seeking new ways to achieve immortality without the decomposition of a lich of the numerous drawbacks of being a vampire. He was eventually betrayed by an apprenice, a child-vampire (later Vampire Lord) named Clarissa (based on Ann Rice's Claudia), who sabotaged an experiment that turned Al-Hulath into a diseased plague dragon (Hulathion, Fiend Folio). Clarissa assumed command of the other vampires under Al-Hulath, a special breed particularly feirsome in combat and capable of both short and long distance instantaneous travel.
Seeing the value of these vampires for assassination and other tacks, Raku instead struck a deal with Clarissa, offering to (eventually) grant her an immortal adult body in return for the services of her vampires.
Raku first turned his scemes towards the nation of Dashara, corrupting the and eventually marrying, the heir to the throne, Princess Rachel, to whom he granted immortality by turning her into a succubus. When Clarissa's vampires assassinated the king, Raku assumed control of Dashara. Dashara, however, was not militarily powerful enough for him, and there was too much domestic opposition to creating an empire. So, appointing one of his demons (in human form) as regent, Raku, Rachel, and Clarissa (posing as their daughter) gathered their forces and sought out a new target.
Remembering what he knew of Freeport, he posed as the returned son of a disgraced noble family, Aiden Zarun (Zarun is intentionally an anagram of Nazur), and returned to the city, then ruled by the corrupt Sealord and the council of sails (This is at the end of the Freeport Trilogy). Aiden and his forces aided the PCs in slaying the Sealord, and he took advantage of the nobles' lack of concern for the poor, becoming a populist leader whose perosnal forces (some humans from Dashara, some demons disguised thereas), unlike the city guard, defended the common people.
Aiden meanwhile set plagues loose on the city, including demons and blood locusts, produced by the Hulathion, whom he moved to a lair below the city. Aiden became the PC's sponsor, and they (in his name) and his personal forces repeatedly saved the city, with the PCs eventually saving the Hulathion. The PCs also inadvertantly prevent one of Raku's demons from bringing a Nightmare Beast to the city.
Aiden meanwhile eliminated opposition on the Council. He sends Clarissa to dominate some weak kobold sorcerors in the employ of another noble, and caused them to try to assassinate him with wands of fireballs. Meanwhile, Rachel posed as the wife of another lord and energy-drained him to death. The PCs served to "catch" both "murderers," and they were both executed.
Meanwhile, buried below the Zarun estate lies the reactor from the origional crashed ship, repaired using Raku's knowledge from his days as king of the Nazuri. Elsewhere in the room, are orbs which connect extradimensinally (magically, not technologically), to sister orbs that his minions can move throughout the world.
Carefully-planted evidence that the PCs gathered while fighting the plagues led them to the island chain where Raku had been imprisoned, suspecting that the answer to the source of the plagues could be found there. After learning about the ancient history from various native cultures, and encountering some Sarkrith explorers, they find the history-viewing device that the ancient Sarkrith left behind, learning the history up until Raku's imprisonment. They also get the swords that can defeat Raku and his demons. In turning the machine on, however, they awoke the Tarrasque, who will now be guided by Aiden's orbs, seeking out the device that caused his mutation. Aiden had hoped that the Tarrasque or some othe rdanger would kill the PCs, but they are now about to return to Freeport alive.
So now this demon can guide the Tarrasque towards anthying he wants, controls Freeport and another major city-state, a sizable personal army that includes demons, and Clarissa and her vampires. He also has the PCs largely fooled into doing his bidding. So my question: How does Raku build an empire?
The geography around here is undefined, so feel free to make it up.
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