Olive
Explorer
I need some advice from the good people of ENWorld, as I've set up a situation in my game and I'm not quite sure how to work it.
The character's are as follows:
Ishtar bat Aram (human Pal10) - Ishtar is a holy warrior of Bahamut and a stout defender of the Dareco people, a minority group persecuted for their religious differences. He has recently driven a red dragon, Khuldrax, from an ancient temple of Bahamut, and is under going negotiations with the dwarven Empire that nominally hold title to the land on which the temple exists. Unfortunately, the red's father, Karondrax, lives further up the same mountain, so that ahs to be dealt with first.
Lord Mourne Turgot (grey eleven Ari1/Wiz5/Alienist4) - Mourne is the youngest son of a Grey elven house. His father sits on the High Council, but Mourne has largely abandoned his duties to seek forbidden and forgotten knowledge. He finds Ishtar's quest rather quixotic, but is sympathetic and is certainly interested in the treasure and power that travelling with Ishtar brings. In addition, his bodyguard and aide Nym was recently cursed by a demon, and will not be free from this curse until Karondrax is dead. Mourne is rather put out by this, and wants to see Karondrax dead so he can regain Nym's services.
There's one other player Thorn, a half-elven cleric of Denarii, but the player has missed the last two sessions and doesn't figure in this particular scenario.
The players believe that Karondrax can scry upon them, and seeks revenge for his son. They think this because two Red abashai devils recently teleported into where the PCs were lunching and attempted to kill them. (Abashai, IMC, were gifted to Tiamat by Asmodeus in return for her agreeing to remain aloof from Hell's politics. Abashai = Tiamat or her worshippers taking an interest).
What the PCs don't know is that Karondrax can't scry, and that Abashai can't teleport. Instead, Karondrax enlisted, grudgingly, the help of Ugrob Deathtusk. Ugrob is a orcish necromancer and servant of Orcus. He is tolerated by other wizards because of his great power and his unusual willingness to craft and trade in magical items. For a not inconsiderable price, Ugrob agreed to scry upon the PCs (using Ishtar's blood that were all over the hands of Khuldrax when Karondrax found his body), and teleport two Abashai to their location. He did so invisibly, and then used a silent teleport to return to his location, scrying once more so that Karondrax could watch the result.
Now Mourne wants to go visit Ugrob, in order to trade spells and potentially engage Ugrob's services as a enchanter of items. Ishtar will reluctantly go with him. I'm hoping the PCs will realise that Ugrob is a valuable source of information about the dragon, something that will be very important as the dragon has been keeping a very low profile.
What I want advice on is how to handle the necromancer's relationship with the PCs. Does he offer to sell them information about the dragon straight up? What payment does he require? Does he offer to tell them that he has been working for the dragon directly? How does he react when the two people he recently scried upon show up on his doorstep?
I want the plot to be thick, but penetrable! And so, over to you? Any questions that might make things clearer, I'll be happy to answer!
PS: some fan's of Sep's story hour will probably be laughing at me right now. I just want it known that while it's been an influence on me and a whole variety of campaign elements, it's not my fault that there is a paladin and an alienist and a character named Nym. One player is a huge fan of the story hour, and has loosely modelled his character on Mostin. Nym bares no resemblence to Nwm except the name, and the alienist was created before the paladin entred the party.
The character's are as follows:
Ishtar bat Aram (human Pal10) - Ishtar is a holy warrior of Bahamut and a stout defender of the Dareco people, a minority group persecuted for their religious differences. He has recently driven a red dragon, Khuldrax, from an ancient temple of Bahamut, and is under going negotiations with the dwarven Empire that nominally hold title to the land on which the temple exists. Unfortunately, the red's father, Karondrax, lives further up the same mountain, so that ahs to be dealt with first.
Lord Mourne Turgot (grey eleven Ari1/Wiz5/Alienist4) - Mourne is the youngest son of a Grey elven house. His father sits on the High Council, but Mourne has largely abandoned his duties to seek forbidden and forgotten knowledge. He finds Ishtar's quest rather quixotic, but is sympathetic and is certainly interested in the treasure and power that travelling with Ishtar brings. In addition, his bodyguard and aide Nym was recently cursed by a demon, and will not be free from this curse until Karondrax is dead. Mourne is rather put out by this, and wants to see Karondrax dead so he can regain Nym's services.
There's one other player Thorn, a half-elven cleric of Denarii, but the player has missed the last two sessions and doesn't figure in this particular scenario.
The players believe that Karondrax can scry upon them, and seeks revenge for his son. They think this because two Red abashai devils recently teleported into where the PCs were lunching and attempted to kill them. (Abashai, IMC, were gifted to Tiamat by Asmodeus in return for her agreeing to remain aloof from Hell's politics. Abashai = Tiamat or her worshippers taking an interest).
What the PCs don't know is that Karondrax can't scry, and that Abashai can't teleport. Instead, Karondrax enlisted, grudgingly, the help of Ugrob Deathtusk. Ugrob is a orcish necromancer and servant of Orcus. He is tolerated by other wizards because of his great power and his unusual willingness to craft and trade in magical items. For a not inconsiderable price, Ugrob agreed to scry upon the PCs (using Ishtar's blood that were all over the hands of Khuldrax when Karondrax found his body), and teleport two Abashai to their location. He did so invisibly, and then used a silent teleport to return to his location, scrying once more so that Karondrax could watch the result.
Now Mourne wants to go visit Ugrob, in order to trade spells and potentially engage Ugrob's services as a enchanter of items. Ishtar will reluctantly go with him. I'm hoping the PCs will realise that Ugrob is a valuable source of information about the dragon, something that will be very important as the dragon has been keeping a very low profile.
What I want advice on is how to handle the necromancer's relationship with the PCs. Does he offer to sell them information about the dragon straight up? What payment does he require? Does he offer to tell them that he has been working for the dragon directly? How does he react when the two people he recently scried upon show up on his doorstep?
I want the plot to be thick, but penetrable! And so, over to you? Any questions that might make things clearer, I'll be happy to answer!
PS: some fan's of Sep's story hour will probably be laughing at me right now. I just want it known that while it's been an influence on me and a whole variety of campaign elements, it's not my fault that there is a paladin and an alienist and a character named Nym. One player is a huge fan of the story hour, and has loosely modelled his character on Mostin. Nym bares no resemblence to Nwm except the name, and the alienist was created before the paladin entred the party.
Last edited:
