Releasing the hounds

[ScyldSceafing]

Ok, I'm about to start a new face-to-face campaign. It's going to be set in Greyhawk, for ease of reference, since I haven't even met three of the players yet.

While looking back through the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer, I was struck by the fact that Iuz's demonic horde were banished from Flaeness by the activation of the Crook of Rao, which (if I'm reading it correctly) sent all outsiders back to their home plane.

Now, I'm big on unintended consequences storylines. In fact, my campaigns typically become long strings of them. And this seems rather provocative.

So, I'm thinking that a long-term story arc in this fledgling campaign could be that there was some non-extraplanar evil that was held in check by good outsiders in some way, and which is now free to do the voodoo that it do so well. And it's this idea that I'd like to kick around here.

So ... jump in anytime ...

What was bound? Who were the binders? Who were the guardians set to keep it bound? Under what conditions could it be bound again? Why wasn't it just destroyed back in the day?

And keep in mind that we're talking about a brand new campaign here - these ideas aren't going to show up in play for quite a while except as teasers and trickle-down effects. Still, I'd like to have a good idea what the story arc will be so I can start dangling it subtly.

I've got a few ideas, but I don't want to skew the data too much - you folks might come up with something better that makes me decide to trash my concept entirely.

 

[Sagan Darkside]

Salutations,

How about some undead Blackguard? The first Blackguard!

He sold his soul to the most powerful of demons- with intentions of enslaving the world. However- the demons found he was too powerful and he eventually betrayed their wishes.

Instead of killing him- where his soul may become a power in Hell, they chained him to a rock in the bowels of the earth. The chains themselves were twisted demons- feeding off the agony they caused him.

When the outsiders left- poof the chains were gone.

Now- the blackguard is back to his old tricks, and is beginning to train other Blackguards.

If you want a less intelligent villian, then you could use the Tarrasque. Powerful wizards had used elementals to imprison the creature for eternity in a volcanoe. With them gone- then the monster is now once again terrorizing Toky..err.. Greyhawk.

Good luck
SD

 

[Lord Zardoz]

Hmmm....

A released ancient evil that is local to the Prime Material Plane, ideally Greyhawk specific. While I do not have any direct knowledge of Greyhawk, I think I can give you a few suggestions here.

1) Artifacts
I think that one of the simplest things you can do is decide that some powerful outsiders were guarding some of Oerth's more dangerous artifacts.

You could decide that some of the Orbs of Dragon Kind were being guarded by various outsiders. With the guardians gone, some of the nastier Greyhawk types could have gotten their hands on a few of them. Or you could decide that the same sort of reasoning apply to the Eye and / or Hand of Vecna.

2) Big Huge Nasty Beasts
As Sagan mentions, the Tarrasque or the First Blackguard are probably safe choices for big nasty beasts. Here are a few other ideas.

A 'Paragon' or 'Legendary' Dragon.
A Pre-God type immortal native to the prime (think Greek Titans)
The physical embodiment of the souls of the dead, which cannot depart because of the use of the Crook of Rao.

3) Numerous hordes of whatever
Perhaps the beasts that are released by the Crook of Rao are not huge and nasty, but simply numerous. Or maybe some planar predators kept them in check. Here are some ideas regarding that.

The Undying Army of some mad necromancer of ages past returns.

A Legendary goblin warlord who was rampaging through the planes finds himself returned to Oerth, along with his armies.


END COMMUNICATION

 

[ScyldSceafing]

Now let's work the trickle-down

Thanks, you two, for the thoughts. I'm especially fond of the first blackguard and goblin lord ideas, as those would seem to allow for reverberations that a low-level group could affect. And the fact that the two of them have slightly different uses of the mechanic of the Crook of Rao makes it tastier still - the blackguard was imprisoned by a rotating selection of celestials, for example, who were banished. And the goblin lord was sucked back to boring old Flanaess from chaotic war plane in which he was rampaging.

So now we have to figure out the trickle-down effects. Anyone have some ideas? Who would a legendary blackguard recruit to his side? A planes-capable goblin lord?

 

[Sagan Darkside]

Re: Now let's work the trickle-down

Who would a legendary blackguard recruit to his side?

He would do a bit of travelling- looking for an opportunity and a history lesson.

He would try to position himself as the captain of the guard or similar post in a small country. At the same time- he would become the local crime lord- using magic to hide his identity from his fellow criminals.

From there he begins his plan to get the country to rely on his civic persona, and for the criminals to all answer to him. He would try to make sure the crime out numbers the guards. He would then look for other ambitious/frustrated guards he could begin to lure into the path of the blackguard.

I would give him an assistant - in both roles. Perhaps a female sorcerer who is smitten with his charisma, and a young knight/paladin trying to become just like the apparent civic persona.

In the end- he would hope to make the government of the country look weak, and himself look like the only hope. Perhaps even using his criminals to provoke hostilities from a neighboring country.

In the chaos, he would come up with proof that the government is corrupt and sponsoring the criminals in the first place. He would round up them and even his now ex-follower criminals, and execute them. He would do so when unveiling his new personal knight guild (the blackguards he has been training). He would offer his leadership to the people- who, so grateful for peace- welcome him.

He would do a lot of good things for the country at first. Even offer free education to the children (which, of course, indoctrination for the Blackguard path).

He then may begin to pull off a similar plan to the neighbor country- using criminals to undermine them- and then expose evidence they attempting to assasinate him and/or invade his country.

In the long run- he hopes to have a medium sized country of blackguards for his take over of the world.

Or, he could just retire and become a shoe salesman.

Good luck
SD

 

[Lord Zardoz]

Minions of a Planar Goblin Lord

Ahh, this can get a bit intresting. I think that his minions would be determined largely by where he was traveling on is planar rampage and why. I will be refering a bit to the Manual of the Planes here. If you do take this route, I suggest getting your hands on a copy. Access to the Planescape setting may also be a plus. The Book of Vile Darkness has a very detailed list of prestige classes devoted to various Arch Demons and Arch Devils. And while necromancy is certantly within the moral outlook of a goblin planar warmonger, I will stay away from undead suggestions, and leave that area to ScyldSceafing.

Rank and File Fodder
I think that modified examples of what a typical goblin warlord would have is a good place to start. Lets assume access to a pool of Goblins, Hobgoblins, and Bugbears. While nasty, typical goblinoids are just not up to carrying out a planar rampage. But if we add some templates, and advance the HD a bit...

Monsterous Manual:
Fiendish:
Half Fiend

Manual of the Planes:
Axiomatic (hyper-lawful)
Anarchic (hyper-chaotic)
Elemental

Now, I am not sure if this Crook of Rao would bar the arrival of new planar types or not. What I will assume is that the warlords followers gained the relevant templates during their planar rampage, meaning that they are still technically naitive to the Prime.

Now, if you will, picture about 3000 Fiendish Anarchic Fire Elemental Goblins with say, 3 to 5 HD each. They would do additional fire damage with their attacks, have an assortment of resistances, and possible fast healing or damage reduction.

Also consider using Dretchs or Manes here and there.

Leutenants
When I speak of Leutenants, I generally think of the Ogre thats traveling along with the Orcs (Or the Bugbears with the goblins).

You could create some stock classed humanoids and perhaps grant them some of the templates noted above. The Leutenants Should be about 5th to 6th level, assuming 3 HD minions. Think along the lines of a Half Fiend-Barbarian Bugbear. Spell casters are also nice, and a 3rd level Sorcerer / 3rd level Rogue type could do some rather intresting things.

For pure planar types, Barghests are a good call, (they have a goblin form).

Captains
For the Captains, I would suggest applying some Prestige Classes to classed Humanoids. Unfortunately, other then the Demon / Devil followers suggested in the Book of Vile Darkness, I cannot think of any appropriate to extraplanar warlords. Perhaps some Lycanthropic Anarchic ogres who transform into Anarchic Dire Bears?

Generals
Pretty much any high level classed humanoid follower will do. Also consider using some of the demons and Devils (Mariliths, Glabrezu's, Hamatula's, Cornugons).

The Warlord himself is hard to picture. A Half Feindish Goblin cleric would fit nicely. A more intresting choice would be a maxed out "Gate Crasher" (prestige class from the Manual of the Planes). You will want to work out how he did his planar traveling.

Also, remember that as a practical and effective warlord, such a villian would also go ahead and recruit local talent as well. So why not throw in a heavy smattering of normal goblinoids, giants, and other monsters. Perhaps he has some way of having his followers gain the templates that he has learned.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[ScyldSceafing]

Alrighty! Now we're cookin'.

Honestly, I don't know what the canonical power of the Crook of Rao is. I'm not the most canonical DM - Rule 0 went straight to my head. I'm treating it as a one-time effect: That it basically 'reset' Oerth, pushing all planar beings back to their home plane and calling all natives of Oerth (who failed a Will save or something) back home. So in one swoop (fair and fell), it banished the demonic minions of Iuz (which effect was intended), sent home the guardians of the first blackguard (oops), and summoned back to ... I dunno ... the Pomarj (?) the semi-legendary goblin lord.

Ok. I'm thinking of tying this whole thing into a storyline involving the kingdom of Celene, which is a sort of center of elvendom. The current queen has become odd because of grief and has rejected overtures to the effect that her bladesingers and archers would be really helpful keeping the peace in Tenh, etc. In short, she's turned isolationist.

I have in mind a storyline that exemplifies a rather naturalistic lesson: Living things that don't reach out rot from within.

So. The blackguard, then, would insinuate himself, slowly, in the court of Celene. Meanwhile, he would establish contact with the goblin lord after news of increasing - and increasingly effective - orc/goblinoid/gnoll predations.

So ... what do you think about an elvish blackguard?

And thanks for the suggestions about the templates ... I have both the BoVD and MotP ... I'll try statting some of these up today and posting them here for suggestions, corrections, what have you.

Meanwhile, anyone, please feel free to comment or kibbutz as the mood strikes you. I really love the feeling of group effort on this one.

 

[ScyldSceafing]

Oh, and if my players are reading this ...

... please understand that I reserve the right to change all of this without previous notice. And that sound was a bovine falling, meteor-like, to crush your PC.

Moo. Squish.

In other words, put this thread on your 'Oh heck no I'm not gonna read that' list.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

An Elven Blackguard?

I think that I like the idea!

Making the Blackguard an Elf could give you the perfect excuse to tweak and alter the blackguard in ways that might truly confuse the players.

If you do make him an elf, one way to go is to make him very anti-human, and determined to use some Nefarious Plot to put Elves back on the top of the civilization food chain. Depending on how you run him, you could even have him attract Lawful Good Elf types to his cause.

As for having your Elven Blackguard work in concert with the Planar Goblin Warlord, I think you should add a layer of subterfuge here. I don't think that most Goblins would want to have much to do with any Elf, especially if that Elf acts in a generally socially acceptable manner in order to make himself popular at Court. To that end, having him act through an intermediary, or under heavy disguise magic, would be a good thing. Besides, doing that gives you a chance to pull a "Wow, this whole time the Elf was working with that goblin king!" moment.

As for where the Goblin Warlord is likely to show up, I think I would start him off in a very remote area. Using the increased raiding effectiveness as a way to foreshadow the appearance of the goblins is a good thing. But I think that the best way to introduce any sort of rampaging military host is to simply start rumors of how all contact with City X or Region Y has very unexpectedly ceased, and then allowing the players curiosity to take them there. You could also build towards it by having the players unexpectedly encounter an isolated group of the Planar Goblinoids at the end of a more typical goblin dungeon adventure.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[ScyldSceafing]

Some flesh on dem bones

Alright, after some scribbling and thinking, here's what I've got. Any or all of this may stink; please share praise and pee-yew ...

Kyrani Sels'sessar was a paladin of Corellon, a hero in every sense of the word - an elf of action, dang it. His was not the world of the four festivals and the continual intrigue of the Seelie and Unseelie Courts.

As he moved about the Flanaess, he saw everywhere the spread of this blight called 'humanity'. He saw the way the influx of humans from the east had become a general invasion. He saw the forests diminished, the fey creatures driven further and further into the heart of the remaining wooded areas. And he saw his nation, its people and their leaders, doing nothing to stop it.

"It is fate, Kyrani," they told him. "We must make room. We will keep the sacred places to ourselves, and keep as much room as we need - but our days of dominion are past."

This he could not accept. Elvenkind were created to look after this world, not to simply live in it. This much was plain to him. After orcs, driven to flight by a human warlord, laid waste to one of his favorite glades - a minor holy place of Ehlonna - Kyrani sought help.

He found it in the person of Sayar, a demonic tutor. Of course, he didn't know Sayar for a demon at first - oddly - but the fiend's message of strength and the rule of law struck a chord in the frustrated young paladin.

A mere three years after his first meeting with the demon, Kyrani slew his brother in an argument over principle and forsook utterly the way of the paladin. The first elven blackguard was born.

x x x

Alright, that's the narrative stuff. Yadda yadda yadda. Here's the rest in a nutshell (i.e., I'm tired and want to wrap this up):

- K casts about for a force to push back the boundary of Verbobonc, his first goal for his elf-first initiative; Sayar suggest goblins, where he already had a good bit of influence.

- K goes with it reluctantly, and puts together a formidable force of goblinkind, all the while in disguise as a gobbo

- K's most capable lieutenant was a goblin sorceror named Teza

- Before their first strike out of the Pomarj, a high-level adventuring party sniffs them out (aided by some prophecies) and unmasks Kyrani. He is imprisoned in an outer plane by some celestials

- As the plot unravels, Teza steals a minor artifact from the adventuring party, gathers her most capable people, and (with Sayar's assistance) they (70 or so goblins) shift to Archeron

- Needless to say, Archeron is a tough row to hoe. Teza proves to be very tough and resourceful, though. She keeps the band together through the years, although they become very odd indeed as time goes on - interbreeding for a couple of generations with a bizarre mix of extraplanar creatures does that to one.

- Speaking of interbreeding, Teza gives birth to M'b'gul, a half-fiend son. He is now the leader of the goblin horde. M'b'gul learns a horrific rite to invest his strongest with ... something to be determined. A template, I suppose.

... then the Crook of Rao went off. Now they're back, and they've had about 200 years to get angry, strong and really strange.

So. Anyone?