Resuming a game 2 years later?

[RangerWickett]

Old-timers here might've recalled me b****ing and moaning a few years ago that my players weren't doing what I wanted them to, ruining the end of the campaign that I'd planned. In the past two years, I've learned quite a bit, and my friends are together again here at home for Christmas break, so I want to finish the unresolved story. (Last time around, the group ditched the game to go see Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back).

I'm hoping for help figuring out how to run the ending of this campaign. I think my players are interested to figure out what was going to happen, and they've learned that I'm not quite as pigheaded as I was way back when. But how does one get back into the groove of a story two years old?

Campaign Background

• Part One:

• The party made themselves famous by delving into the Underdark, finding the remains of an Elvish culture that had escaped subjugation by Illithids, and defeating one particularly old Illithid's plot to drive everyone in the world insane with rage, letting humans, elves, etc. kill themselves so that the Illithids could take over. One PC got her body taken over by the Illithid momentarily, but she managed to force her mind back into her own body before the party hacked the Illithid to bits. The PCs became friends of local Elves, and one PC set up a trade agreement between the surface and the dark Elves.
• Part Two: The party later got involved with a Dragon's plot to use the magic of an elementalist's order to set the world on fire. One of the PCs was a member of this elementalist order, the water mage. The party actually managed to convince the Dragon of the error of his ways, but his henchDragon tried to go through with the plot anyway, and they nearly killed the henchDragon before he escaped.
• Part Three: The first dungeon the party ever cleared out was the tomb of this ancient immortal king. They ended up collapsing the tomb to trap the king.
• World Info: The nation of Nau-Hereth is descended from the Ragesian Empire, which conquered the world thousands of years ago. The rulers of that empire were impossible to kill, so they were imprisoned in tombs. The tombs formed a trail, one by one, until the final ninth tomb, which holds the Torch of the Burning Sky. This artifact has the power to teleport anyone who sees its flame to any point where the sun is shining. It also could be used as a focus for numerous spells to make their effects world-spanning. The Ragesian Empire used it to deliver armies around the world, but it was deemed too dangerous, so it has been hidden away for thousands of years. The Nau-Hereth nation wants the Torch, but they could never find the location of the last few tombs. One of the PCs' villains tips off the Nau-Hereth that the PCs had found Tomb #7 of 9, and thus we get to this adventure's plot.

Finale Plot Summary
And here's the plot that we had in the finale before it ended prematurely.

1. Basic Premise: An army working with an old villain the party knew try to reclaim an artifact that will help them conquer the world. But the villain actually wants the artifact for himself to help him finish his own fiendish plot.
2. The PCs were at a party at a wizard's school when word came that a fleet of Nau-Hereth ships were approaching the city. The group first chased after a band of Nau-Hereth thieves who'd snuck into the magic school to steal a few items, and the party figures out that the Nau-Hereth are on the trail of the Torch. The reason finding the last tomb (the one that holds the Torch) is so hard is that it was built in an area of stones that absorb magic and disrupt scrying and teleportation, so you have to directly follow the path from point to point, and the Nau-Hereth have bizarre steam-powered flying ships, like zeppelins.
3. The army attacking the city is far too much for the party to take on directly, but not enough to hold the city when reinforcements arrive. The Nau-Hereth are banking on finding the Torch, teleporting in reinforcements of their own, and starting on a tour of world conquest. Planning to beat the Nau-Hereth to the final tomb, the party flees the city, an air mage ally using magic to give a sailing ship the power of flight.
4. Over the ruins of the tomb the party once explored, the PCs' old-fashioned flying ship and one of the zeppelins battle, and the PCs cripple the zeppelin. During the fight, they learn that Serrakar, the henchDragon from a few adventures (and years) before, is working with the Nau-Hereth, but again, the Dragon manages to escape.
5. Following the clues of tomb 7, they set their course for Tomb #8. This Tomb, they discover, is in an Elvish forest they once visited. One PC has a treasure of the Elvish people, a magical sword that belonged to a prince of those Elves, so the party is welcome there. They fly swiftly.
6. Meanwhile, Hera 'Harley' Fyana, the owner of that sword begins to act a little strangely, suggesting things that seem a little out of character. She complains of bad dreams disturbing her.
7. When they reach Tomb 8, they explore it and fight their way through it to find the location of Tomb 9. They confront the immortal king there, an ancient Elf who recognizes Harley's sword and seems horribly frightened of it. Getting out of the tomb, they quickly try to research the history of the sword, and discover it can trap souls (see ENWorld Player's Journal, issue 4, Ghostbrand article for more information). Apparently the sword was once evil before the Elvish prince redeemed it. In the past, the sword has shown strange powers, but the group never worried enough to ask why. Now they're worried.
8. The group continues to fly on the airship, knowing the Nau-Hereth can't be too far behind. They know this tomb will be very dangerous, and they wonder what they'll do with the Torch once they get it.
9. Plunging into the tomb, the party experiences a bad adventure run by a frustrated GM, and they grow frustrated as well. They reclaim the Torch, but are almost railroaded into a tough-to-win situation where the party is low on HP, spells, and gear, facing a huge number of tomb guardians. When they finally escape the tomb, Harley takes the Torch, then activates it (which no one in the party knew how to do). A pillar of fire falls from the sky, striking the party's airship overhead and surrounding Harley. A voice impresses itself into their minds, thanking them for handing over the Torch, and chiding them for not disposing of him properly before. It's the Illithid, the original master villain of the campaign.
10. Harley vanishes into the flame, carried off by the power of the Torch. The airship crashes around the party, flaming and useless, leaving the party in a wilderness. Teleportation doesn't work here so they can't chase after, they're injured and weak already, and they've got only a vague idea of how the Illithid could still be around. Pissed off at their GM for railroading and 'conspiring with another player,' the majority of the group leaves to go watch a movie, and the campaign ends here.

So, I want to finish the campaign, and I have the opportunity now, but how should I go about it? I'll put up an additional post detailing the characters and giving a few more specifics, but aside from the plot (which I think I've got a good idea for), I'm more concerned with how to get the group to care again about what happens to characters they haven't played for two years.

 

[RangerWickett]

Party Composition

• Hera "Harley" Fyana: Elvish Bard 7/Rogue 10, reluctant adventurer. She doesn't actively adventure anymore, but quite often her past activities come back to haunt her. In this case, it's an Illithid's spirit, trapped in the soul-stealing sword she used to kill it, which has finally figured out a way to use its telepathic powers. Harley has been taken over by Jiquus, the party's former archvillain, who is trying to complete his once-thwarted plan to cast the world into rage and madness. Jessie, Harley's player agreed to let me turn her into a villain, but she'll be playing someone else if we do this.
• James T. Rocket: Half-Elf Fighter 16/Sorcerer 1, former mercenary and owner of a merchant company. Despite his somewhat silly name, James is very stoic. The fast friend of Harley from the beginning of the campaign, he now has a strong group of followers from his company. He owned the ship that gained the ability to fly (and which has now crashed). Back when they first started adventuring, Harley always tried to run from combat, and James always had to drag her back.
• Victorious Elrad: Human Wizard 9/Elemental Guardian 8 (custom prestige class), master water mage. An easy-going fellow who is able to pull victory out of the most bizarre and impossible situations, Vic is a canny and powerful mage.
• Bhurisrava: Elf Cleric 12/Thaumaturgist 5, high priest of the Chapel de Bhurisrava. Cocky beyond imagining, Bhurisrava is great friends with Vic, and though he's not the type to talk about it, he is good friends with the rest of his party too. He's distrustful of things that could be evil, particularly Dragons ever since that whole 'trying to destroy the world' thing that one Dragon pulled. Bhur's player won't be here to play, but Jessie, Harley's player, would have a lot of fun with Bhur.

Notable NPCs

• Jiquus: Illithid Sorcerer 12, evil mastermind. His previous plot involved tracking down a special enchantment spell that would let him drive people into murderous rage so they'd kill each other. He was on the trail of some way to make the spell affect a larger group when the PCs tracked his various machinations back to the source and offed him. Right before he died, he tried to switch his mind into Harley's body, but Harley managed to fight him out. Then she delivered the killing blow. The sword she used had belonged to an adventuring mentor of the party, whom Jiquus had arranged to be killed. Unbeknownst to them then, the sword stole Jiquus's soul, and he has been slowly regaining his power, playing with Harley's mind so he could control her. The Torch is just what he needs to finish his plan to make the Illithids the dominant race, and over the past few years he has worked through Harley to mastermind the current state of events. The PCs have actually been adventuring through things tangentally related to all his scheming, and they're only now going to realize what has been connecting these events.
• Tri'ni Gren'eys: Elf Rogue 3/Mage 7/Sculptor of Chaos 7, dark Elf wild mage from the city the party found underground. Tri'ni's adventured with the party for a long time, but she's back at the underdark Elvish city right now. Tri'ni has hated Illithids for a long time, and she helped the party defeat Jiquus last time, so now Jiquus has dominated her and is using her to help him complete his plans.
• Tasan: Mature Adult Red Dragon, redeemed villain. Tasan was the driving force behind the plan to use elemental magic to set the world on fire, a plan fueled from grief. In one of the party's more heartfelt moments, they talked him out of it, and now he's repentant. He linked up with the party during the first half of the finale, and is helping them deal with Serrakar.
• Serrakar: Young Adult Red Dragon, patsy. Serrakar was Tasan's henchman, and he wasn't swayed by the PCs' reason. He wasn't strong enough to fend off the party, though, and last they saw of him he was nearly shattered in two from an ice spell, drifting away in a lava tube. Now he thinks he's helping the Nau-Hereth gain great power, and he hopes he'll be able to take advantage of that power. But Jiquus has manipulated him from a distance.
• Tierrodunne Salsiere: Elf Wizard 10/Elemental Guardian 10, archmage aeromancer. Head of the elementalist order Vic is a part of, the extremely aged Dunne was able to make the party's ship fly, but when the Torch's flamestrike hit the ship, it nearly killed the fragile air mage, and the old man may be on his last legs.

Rough Future Plot
Jiquus has teleported away to an entrance to the underdark. He needs to get back to where he died, the dark Elven city of Shaaltaryaver. There, Tri'ni has the old material Jiquus had been gathering for his rage spell; they'd kept it around because powerful magical lore might always come in handy some day. Controlling Harley's body, Jiquus will dominate Tri'ni, get back the necessary materials, and set to work on combining his rage spell with the power of the Torch so he can have a world-spanning rage.

He didn't finish off the party earlier because, well, he was in a body that was weak from an adventure, and he didn't want to risk it. Instead, he fled with the uber-power of the Torch. He knows the party will be coming after him, and he also knows the Nau-Hereth are also after the torch and may track him down. So he tries to throw people of his trail, using the Torch to teleport here and there, being somewhat obvious. He also isn't above grudges, so as soon as he gets his plan ready, he's going to use it in Shaaltaryaver first, to drive the city to madness. He'll likely be watching the fun when the party arrives.

The party will have a day or so to travel or heal before a Nau-Hereth zeppelin arrives at the site of the ninth tomb. If the PCs are still there, the Nau-Hereth will bluster and threaten and eventually try to get the PCs to work with them so they can figure out where the torch is. Outnumbered, the PCs probably won't fight, but things can go lots of ways.

Basically, the PCs have to track down Jiquus, find a way to stop him, and hopefully figure out a way to rescue Harley from Jiquus's control. I want them to figure out some of the history of the soul-stealing blade, learn that it is as much an item of shadow as the Torch is an item of light, and that the two can destroy each other.

The Crux
I'm worried that just doing that might be too short; when it was the final chapters of a long adventure, it gave a nice climax, but since I'm starting over again, should I add more stuff, or possibly do a recap, running them through the Torch dungeon again (and this time doing it right)? But if I do that, they'll know in advance what the twist ending is, that Harley's being mind controlled and that she's going to steal the Torch; will that ruin the fun?

So, I'd like some help, please. Thanks for reading this far.

 

[GMVictory]

Don't use the Nau-Hereth angle. It can look like railroading if they are forcing the players to work for them. If they are integral, have them ask the group for help and offer aid, equipment, etc. to finish the task. Use money only if this will motivate the group but only as a last resort.

In the wreckage of the airship, while searching to see what can be salvaged, a songbook/journal/etc of Harley is found. There are songs, poems, what have you inside which have each group member's name for the title of each piece. Harley has written clues to the bad guy's next moves or plans, weaknesses, how to free Harley, whatever. Put stuff in it that really screws your story up, let the players have the inside track on the bad guy.

Also throw remorse, guilt, and frustrated rage into it, where the players can see she was fighting it and losing. Hand writing changes, even taunts. "Stop wasting time with these pathetic and childish rhymes, there is work to be done!" etc.

If you run the recap have it end as a dream sequence so even if they try to change the outcome it turns out the same way. Have Jiq laugh at them and tell them he's going to torment them until they go mad. He tells them that he psychically linked himself to them and he can contact them anytime he wants. (DC whatever to keep him out for awhile, appropriate gloating upon failure to eject him from their heads). He can't read their minds, so their thoughts are safe, but let them figure it out (but let that be figured out easily, just use it for a brief scare.)

Padding is easy because they are chasing him from locale to locale. Side trek can include the item/ritual/etc that can eject Jiq from her head or break his control. Jiq controls another to escape. Jiq has plans to get himself a proper illithid body and the players have to stop him to keep him trapped in the sword or they let him so they can try to kill him again!

Hope this helps some.

 

[RangerWickett]

Well, it's not my style or his to have Jiquus keep in touch with the PCs and taunt them, but I suppose I will need to flesh out the stages of getting Harley's mind fixed. Stage 1, figure out you can do it, and you don't just have to go kill her. Stage 2, do it.

And now that I just got Final Fantasy X-2 for Christmas, I think I should have Harley wear a nifty costume that makes her look creepy and evil, to show that she's under the control of the Illithid. Costumes are always fun.

I do like the journal idea, but anything that has to do with Harley I need to clear with Jessie; plus, they didn't actually see her fighting it, so showing it this late might seem a bit tacky. I'll think about it. Thanks.

 

[BSF]

The (possible) Journal:
You don't need to be overt about her fighting the influence of Mind Flayer. A journal of thoughts/songs/etc might work nicely for showing a subtle subversion going on. The problem with this is that the cool way to do it is to have some props that the players can read. You might not have time to work all of that out. Minimal props are necessary I think.

Hmm, a bard eh? Did the character keep copious notes? Did you ever use a Bardic Knowledge roll to find out more information about the sword? Is there any chance that Harley has an old poem dealing with the sword in any of her old notes that the party might find that she just never connected with the sword she was carrying?

What about any notes detailing her dreams? Is there anything in there that you can use as an overt clue on where the party needs to go?

Re-involving the players:
This is a tough one. Presumably, they know the characters well enough to play the personalities. However, it sounds like your last session ended poorly, which leaves a bad taste behind. It is far more preferrable for them to want to save Harley, and the world rather than running through the motions to see what the end of the story was supposed to be. This is an issue of trust. You say you have learned a lot and they realize you aren't quite as pig-headed. You will need to re-establish that rapport early into your session.

The Nau-Hereth zeppelin should be visible from a good distance away. Allow the party to have the opportunity to avoid them if they wish. Part of the issue with the railroading is that they only see one possible outcome, regardless of what they do. As tough as it might be on the story, you kind of need to allow the players to find a reasonable solution on how to pursue Harley/Jiquus. If that means they ditch the Nau-Hereth, so be it. Don't take the Nau-Hereth out of the story, but you might need to tone down thier presence for a while.

I mean, what will happen on the Nau-Hereth angle if they don't work with the players? They still need to investigate the tomb (taking time), they might spend time puzzling out the ruined airship, then they have to start tracking down the rumors of the Torch appearing in a number of places. All of this takes time. The Nau-Hereth have a different mode of transportation, that's all. Once the party is clear of the area, they can start using teleportation style magic themselves. So, if the party does not want to work with them, don't contrive it to happen that way.

Now, if they players decide that is the best course of action, play it up well. Without Harley, they are presumably short on social skills. Still, there is no reason why even an untrained skill check won't work. Have the Nau-Hereth bluster, but try to get the Sense Motive roll in there to let the characters know that they aren't necessairly bargaining from a position of weakness. They don't have an airship, but the Nau-Hereth have no idea where the Torch is. It could make for an uneasy alliance, but the Nau-Hereth definitely need the characters as much as the characters can use them.

Reading your rough plot and your PC/NOPC summary, it sounds like you have a good grasp on how events will go. Remember, this is how events will go if the PC's don't intervene. In particular, you summarize Tri'ni Gren'eys to be dominated by Jiquus. In your rough plot, Jiquus only does this by working through Harley. Remember that if the PC's can warn Tri'ni, this sequence of events might not occur! Don't thwart the players if they find an excellent, and unexpected way to impede the plans of Jiquus. Maybe they will have an epiphany and figure out that he is likely to head to the Underdark and they clear the area and then teleport directly there. That might interfere with your story, but that's OK. Adjust on the fly the same way Jiquus would need to.

As far as pure empathy goes, check with Harley's player to see what Harley would do if she had a few minutes at a time in which she was free of the Domination of the Mind Flayer. The domination doesn't need to work perfectly in this case, since Jiquus is still just a trapped soul. Presumably, HArley would be learning a lot about Jiquus and his plans at this point. Maybe she can put together notes for her friends? Maybe she can activate the Torch to go someplace they would likely head for to resupply? She might be able to leave notes providing clues to Jiquus' plans. Maybe there would be enough there for the party to even save Tri'ni and enlist her aid? The key is to keep the party aware that Harley is not an active participant in Jiquus' plans. She is a victim that is fighting him and hoping her friends will bail her out.

I am sick and my thoughts start to wander. Hopefully, this will help out a bit. If I think of anything else, I will post more. Good luck!

 

[Steverooo]

Wouldn't Protection from Evil be all the PCs need to free their friend?

Wouldn't the Nau-Hen in the airship have some way to track the torch, when it's used? If not, how did they follow the PCs?

 

[RangerWickett]

Wouldn't Protection from Evil be all the PCs need to free their friend?

Wouldn't the Nau-Hen in the airship have some way to track the torch, when it's used? If not, how did they follow the PCs?

Spoilsport.

Um . . . it's, like, um, possession, and stuff. Not just mind control.

Thanks, BardStephenFox (mind if I just call you Ranyard?), for the ideas. Now to get this all planned by, um, tomorrow.

 

[Piratecat]

Prot evil would temporarily negate possession, too. Plan on it being used! A ring of counterspells with the spell in it should hold off at least one attempt.

 

[RangerWickett]

I did not know that. Thanks. Also, I have a longstanding tradition of mages who specialize in counterspelling in my campaign, so no doubt the mind flayer would have collected one or two for allies.

What's going to be fun is seeing how the party deals with cities full of raging berserkers. They arrive in a safe haven in the middle of the night, and the next morning, a hideous sound begins to call out from the eastern edge of the city, thousands of voices screaming at once, growing louder by the second. The group may go out to investigate just as the sky begins to brighten, and as soon as dawn breaks over them, everyone around will go mad.

The PCs, having already defeated the mind flayer once before, will feel the compulsion, but will have a natural resistance. I wonder if anyone will consider letting themselves go into rage on purpose.

 

[BSF]

Thanks, BardStephenFox (mind if I just call you Ranyard?), for the ideas. Now to get this all planned by, um, tomorrow.

Ranyard? Hmm, sounds familiar for some reason, but I am not catching the reference. Probably a combination of recovering from being sick this weekend and having a less than wonderful day at work.

In any event, feel free to call me David if you would like. It is shorter and it is my real name.