D&D 5E Princes of the Apocalypse campaign recaps

[Nebulous]

That is definitely one of the plot holes in the book. It's handled in a very simple game-ist way where the heroes are basically choosing their final boss battle by killing someone last.


The campaign books default assumption is that all 4 cult leaders are squashed and one elemental prince enters our world but is then destroyed. The four elemental nodes are shut down. The weapons are used to shut down all the nodes. More than likely the elemental prince that is killed is just set back for some time (do elementals die if killed on the material plane? I didn't think so, but I am uncertain). This is actually a pretty neutral ending. The characters have stopped the cults and the eye "for now". They've set back the individual elemental princes goals "for now". Sure, the valley is saved, but the entire adventure didn't change the game world. You are heroes, certainly, but what came of it?

My likely "bad ending" would actually require that all four princes are summoned and destroyed on the material plane. That was the Eye's plan all along. The cultists summon their respective princes who are in direct opposition and go to war. Since the cults have been pitted against each other and the princes are always destined to go to war with each other, the original plan was to weaken all of them. Then the double agents from the greater cult turn on their respective wounded masters with artifacts (the motes in my game) designed to steal their power. That power would then be used to bring something out of the eye for a real world ending problem. Obviously the players in my game have messed up this plan already by acquiring the motes, killing a prophet, and setting back (and unbalancing) the whole plan. However...

Windharrow is coming up next time, and want him to be a TALKER. A blab blab blab blabberr, right from the start, and part of this is so I can keep the plot moving for the characters AND for ME.

So going back to what you said, I like this. The elemental Princes HATE each other, especially the diametrically opposed ones. Once they are summoned into the world, they're going to rally their cultists and prophets (if alive) and wail on the other cults in a jamboree of fun that the PCs don't want to get in the middle of if they don't have to.

And they DON'T have to. Really, these bastards might just duke it out themselves. What if all the PCs have to do is wipe out whoever is left?

See, the cultists want to prove to the Elder Eye that "our Prince is the best" and the surviving Prince (whether Imix or YanC or Ogre or Hydra) can use the 4 elemental weapons in the Fane of the Eye and rip open the prison plane and await their reward...

...but as the 5th cult knows, there is no reward. The Prince is annihilated, and then the world is consumed.

Just brainstorming here, not sure if i'm headed the right direction or not. Any ideas?

 

[Nebulous]

The idea is that all of the Prophets are deceived, and Windharrow is misinformed. At least partially. But he at least puts the PCs on the path of knowledge that there are four weapons of power, and Aerisi has one. If she is killed in this battle does it mean that Yan-C-Bin can't be summoned?

What if Yan-C-Bin has already BEEN summoned and is just waiting down there? What two or three Princes are summoned and the PCs have to stop the fourth one, or then there's the big brawl? I don't' know, i'm overthinking this right now.

 

[Creamsteak]

I'm still pondering what actions to take with my own game.

Maybe the Earth temple is extremely happy the air temple is so severely wounded. Since the Earth and Water temples are tacit allies, they're likely going to gang up on the fire cult. The greater cult wouldn't like this, they need all four cults "in balance" and they need all four princes summoned in order to "win." So their #1 priority becomes either recovering Windvane and installing a new prophet, or perhaps tricking the players into summoning the prince themselves. They also need to manipulate the alliances of Earth and Water, so maybe the Mud Sorcerer switch sides. That would maybe put things back into a mexican standoff situation. Maybe the cult being ganged up on tries to summon their prince first/early? It seems like there are a lot of options.

 

[Nebulous]

I'm still pondering what actions to take with my own game.

Maybe the Earth temple is extremely happy the air temple is so severely wounded. Since the Earth and Water temples are tacit allies, they're likely going to gang up on the fire cult. The greater cult wouldn't like this, they need all four cults "in balance" and they need all four princes summoned in order to "win." So their #1 priority becomes either recovering Windvane and installing a new prophet, or perhaps tricking the players into summoning the prince themselves. They also need to manipulate the alliances of Earth and Water, so maybe the Mud Sorcerer switch sides. That would maybe put things back into a mexican standoff situation. Maybe the cult being ganged up on tries to summon their prince first/early? It seems like there are a lot of options.

Oh lord, that does complicate things even further. I do like this adventure quite a bit but i feel like i'm having to do far more work at this point that I'd anticipated. Part of that's my own fault, I like tinkering, but part is the plot as well, it just doesn't quite make sense toward the end; i don't understand the motivations of the bad guys.

 

[Nebulous]

The Elder Eye needs all four Princes manifest in the material world at once. Each Prophet and one weapon of power is needed to accomplish this.

Maybe Queen Aerisi has already summoned Yan-C-Bin and it resides in the node, drawing strength from it in a semi-sleep, still unready to strike forth against the Earth cult.

I think my problem is that

A) there are SO many ways the plot could go
B) I'm not sure what is best / not cliche
C) The PCs are going to make assumptions/guesses that might be better than what I had in mind, and i need to be prepared to adapt and roll with it, as that has happened in the past. Sometimes I will leave a part blank enough for them to fill in the gaps and it makes them feel very clever.

 

[Nebulous]

I was hoping to have this hashed out by tonight's game so Windharrow could drop some more solid hints, but it's just not going to happen. Too many options and I just don't know what the direction the plot will go, it's far too early to tell.

My PCs for a while now have been trying to pit the Earth cult vs. the Air cult. I really need to reward them for that strategy. Maybe Aerisi and YanCbin DO make an assault on the Stone Monastery, clearing it out somewhat for the PCs to drop in??

Or, if Aerisi is taken out, Earth and Water team up to destroy what is left of the Air node? At least we don't have to figure this out all at once and can keep bouncing ideas back and forth until something congeals for our individual campaigns that makes sense.

 

[Uller]

I was hoping to have this hashed out by tonight's game so Windharrow could drop some more solid hints, but it's just not going to happen. Too many options and I just don't know what the direction the plot will go, it's far too early to tell.

I am planning on Yarsha playing the role of Windharrow for now. She will tell the party the basic structure of each cult (with the most details about the earth cult) and that each has a prophet that possesses a weapon of great power. Each prophet controls an elemental node that can be used (along with the equivalent weapon) to create devastation orbs. Each prophet is working to open his or her own node enough to allow their own elemental prince to enter the world in physical form. The opposite weapon can be used to shut the nodes but all four must be closed or all four will eventually reopen.

That is as much as Yarsha knows. Why the princes are being summoned is beyond her knowledge and can be revealed later.

 

[Nebulous]

I am planning on Yarsha playing the role of Windharrow for now. She will tell the party the basic structure of each cult (with the most details about the earth cult) and that each has a prophet that possesses a weapon of great power. Each prophet controls an elemental node that can be used (along with the equivalent weapon) to create devastation orbs. Each prophet is working to open his or her own node enough to allow their own elemental prince to enter the world in physical form. The opposite weapon can be used to shut the nodes but all four must be closed or all four will eventually reopen.

That is as much as Yarsha knows. Why the princes are being summoned is beyond her knowledge and can be revealed later.

Yeah, i could use this and have Windharrow infodump it, and even swap up some details later if necessary, as if Windharrow was misinformed. Which is possible. After all IMC, only the 5th cult of the Eye really knows the plan.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Oh lord, that does complicate things even further. I do like this adventure quite a bit but i feel like i'm having to do far more work at this point that I'd anticipated. Part of that's my own fault, I like tinkering, but part is the plot as well, it just doesn't quite make sense toward the end; i don't understand the motivations of the bad guys.

The motives are simple. They want to summon their Elemental Prince who they believe will destroy the order of the world and put them in charge. Don't forget that once an Elemental Prince is summoned they act like a spreading cancer.

The Elemental Node they are in starts spreading and increasing in size and any area they stay in for a long enough time becomes a node. Any area close to their nodes will start to be destroyed/ Take Yan-C-Bin for example. Thunderstorms Cyclones and gale force winds will always be happening within 5 miles of the node. Plus portals to the Plane of air will open up around the area allowing Evil Air elementals to surge through. As the node grows from Yan-C-Bin's presence the area covered by this will become larger and large and will only fade once Yan-C-Bin has been banished.

This is the stated Motivation of the Air Cult

"The followers of elemental air call themselves the Cult of the Howling Hatred. They worship the destructive power of wind and storms, believing that those who venerate elemental air gain the power to punish those who have wronged them. More so than the members of the other cults, air cultists see their beliefs as a means to an end. Destruction for its own sake isn’t particularly interesting, but destruction as an expression of personal freedom or to earn things wrongfully denied? That’s a different story."

A thing that should be pointed out is that all of the cults are fairly insane and their princes are unlikely to reward them in the way they believed.

 

[Nebulous]

yeah, ok, that helps some, thanks