Tell me about Melora

[Rechan]

If you are interested in the Far Realm, perhaps the primal spirits or the fey of the mountain are infected with an aberrant taint from the nastiness bubbling up from the earth. These beings have somehow taken hold of Paldemar and are using him to take out the Mages of Saruun. Perhaps there is some reason they can't do it themselves and have twisted Paldemar with empty promises and vague oaths.

That's certainly a possibility. Although, I am somewhat partial to keeping the Fey normal. I have been really wanting to run some fey intrigue; one of the players is an ex-fomorian slave, and I have an eladrin and elf in the party. Far Realms tainted fey is a little Less intriguing than straight up Fey - but there is certainly room to play with quite a lot of things.

But, the Fey don't need to be infected by the Far Realms to be toying with Paldemar at all. They could just want the humans gone in the first place. Or it could be a bet to see who could remove the Seven Pillars Hall.

This gives you a bigger threat to work with but it might mean skipping H3 in the process.

In all honesty, it's a subset of my group who want to play all the modules. I actually am least interested in H3, but:

That is, if you were considering on using that adventure. Of course, maybe not. There are some limited Far Realm overtones to that adventure as well. It might be twisted around to make it fit.

It is possible. One explanation: The Pyramid is actually the pocket realm where the Thing lives, and thus the PCs ahve to GO there to stop the Thing.

But I'm all ready willing to gut or change parts of Thunderspire to begin with - I think the Duergar is a needless portion, and I dislike how the slaves are all spread around the first 3 dungeons. I'd rather the PCs go into each area with different goals, rather than pull a "Sorry, the Princess is in another castle" trick.

I don't know if I'll be around this group long enough to run Trollhaunt - I actually really dig that and the Drow adventure.

Edit: HA! Got it. Or at least, a solid foundation for Thunderspire itself:

Paldemar may be trying to harness the mountain's spirit. The mountain's spirit is a natural safeguard against the fingerprints of the Far Realms from spreading. With the spirit weakened, the Far Realms is naturally going to creep in. This might influence the fey, or it might not. It can simply be a byproduct of Paldemar's medling. The Fey might be toying with Paldemar, or they might simply have their own actions going on which overlap in some way, with unforseen consequences.

The trick is finding a way to implement an intermediary adventure to plant the proper plot seeds. Even if I don't necessarily HAVE to, I think a nice 'palet clenser' between Dungeon Crawl (KotS) and Dungeon Crawl (Thunderspire).

 

[alleynbard]

That's certainly a possibility. Although, I am somewhat partial to keeping the Fey normal. I have been really wanting to run some fey intrigue; one of the players is an ex-fomorian slave, and I have an eladrin and elf in the party. Far Realms tainted fey is a little Less intriguing than straight up Fey - but there is certainly room to play with quite a lot of things.

But, the Fey don't need to be infected by the Far Realms to be toying with Paldemar at all. They could just want the humans gone in the first place. Or it could be a bet to see who could remove the Seven Pillars Hall.

Sounds good. Keeping the fey "pure" but still willing to do something terrible to clear out the humans shows the inherent inhumanity of the fey. If you have some characters with fey backgrounds, bringing them in is the way to go.

I like the idea of the bet. A group of bored fey nobles want the humans gone. Each take different tacts to make it happen. It could be what leads the PCs to each area. One tried using the Bloodreavers. Another tried the duergar. Finally, another decided on playing with Paldemar. It could be the through line you are looking for without spreading the slaves over three locations. The PCs might not even know they are pursuing an overarching goal until the end. That way, they can head into each area with a separate goal.

In all honesty, it's a subset of my group who want to play all the modules. I actually am least interested in H3, but:

It is possible. One explanation: The Pyramid is actually the pocket realm where the Thing lives, and thus the PCs ahve to GO there to stop the Thing.

I am not keen on H3 either. I am moving the prison into Thunderspire Mountain. In addition, I am significantly reducing it in size, moving many of the locations found in the pyramid to places outside of the dimension. Each of these places will have a piece of the key necessary to enter the pyramid.

Karavakos is a former servant of Orcus, locked up for failing his master. Karavakos is trying to trick the cultists of Orcus into believing he has the secret name of the Raven Queen. By contacting these cultists in a dream, he convinced them to build the Oracle of Shadows on the rift in the Keep on the Shadowfell. This way they could communicate freely with him and he could illicit their help in freeing him. He doesn't have the name, but the cultists of Orcus don't know that.

Somewhere (I think it was ENWorld) I saw a DM had changed the nature of the artifact as well. The eladrin inside became a golden skull and she was collecting the pieces necessary to become a demilich. I liked that idea.

But I'm all ready willing to gut or change parts of Thunderspire to begin with - I think the Duergar is a needless portion, and I dislike how the slaves are all spread around the first 3 dungeons. I'd rather the PCs go into each area with different goals, rather than pull a "Sorry, the Princess is in another castle" trick.

I rather like the duergar but I have a dwarf in my party so I am recasting them as a "dirty little secret" that the dwarves would rather keep hidden. The Grimmerzhul in the Seven Pillared Hall are disguised as standard dwarves. Those who do know of the duergar hate them and would likely kill them on sight. Even in the Hall.

I don't know if I'll be around this group long enough to run Trollhaunt - I actually really dig that and the Drow adventure.

Except for P3, the P series is much stronger than the H series. I am excited about both of those adventures.

Edit: HA! Got it. Or at least, a solid foundation for Thunderspire itself:

Paldemar may be trying to harness the mountain's spirit. The mountain's spirit is a natural safeguard against the fingerprints of the Far Realms from spreading. With the spirit weakened, the Far Realms is naturally going to creep in. This might influence the fey, or it might not. It can simply be a byproduct of Paldemar's medling. The Fey might be toying with Paldemar, or they might simply have their own actions going on which overlap in some way, with unforseen consequences.

The trick is finding a way to implement an intermediary adventure to plant the proper plot seeds. Even if I don't necessarily HAVE to, I think a nice 'palet clenser' between Dungeon Crawl (KotS) and Dungeon Crawl (Thunderspire).

Nice. I like it. Perhaps the fey did influence Paldemar and had not idea what his meddling would uncover. So, they are just as screwed as everyone else. Maybe the PCs are being manipulated as well. The fey need them to take out Paldemar so they find a way to reach them. The message from "Melora" might come from them instead. It could be the fey that caused all this trouble are working against the wishes of their masters and now they need to clean it up without the evidence pointing to them. That way they avoid punishment. If that means a few mortals suffer because of it, so be it. Not their concern.

In any case, just some random, off the cuff thoughts. I hope you find them helpful.

 

[alleynbard]

I do know this thread is helping alter my view as I approach H2. Thanks for the inspiration!

 

[Kaodi]

Just as a note too: Melora also does not like abominations, which tend to have been created by primordials or other gods.

Perhaps if you decided you did not want to go the Far Realm route, you could say that playing around with the primal spirit of Thunderspire has disrupted the "seal" or cycle of one such abomination, whos essence is "leaking" out, reacting with surrounding wildlife to create pseudo-spawn of itself.

With that, you could plant the seed of a particular foe that can be revisitted at a later time.

 

[Nahat Anoj]

I can't wait to see a Deities & Demigods article for Melora. Until then, I'm thinking of making her a primal spirit that became a god, much low Asmodeus was an angel who became a god. Indeed, Melora may have been a powerful spirit who killed a god and took its power...

 

[Rechan]

I do know this thread is helping alter my view as I approach H2. Thanks for the inspiration!

Rrr? You haven't even ran it yet?

Here's a nice thread.

I might hold off on an intermediary fey adventure. Here I was going to do something with the local politics, but if the campaign is going to see more fey, I might hold off on that, unless the ones close to Winterhaven (or between Winterhaven and Thunderspire) are somehow related.

One thing I have decided to do: Ninaran was working for Kalarel because Kalarel has something she needs. Ninaran's lover/child/mother/somethinglikethat is captured. Either under the spell of a fey, or trapped in a block of ice- something like that. Ninaran can't rescue them by herself, and Kalarel has an item that can free her (person) - a piece of the Fey whom controls her (person), which Ninaran can use to kill/break the enchantment, or an item to free her (person) from the block of ice.

The PCs didn't kill her, but left her at 1 HP, on level 2 of the Keep. I plan on a severely wounded Ninaran trying (and failing) to attack the PCs, demanding the item from Kalarel's private stash, desperate to get it back.

I could easily steer them to Thunderspire, with the intentions of rescuing Ninaran's (Something).

Additionally, I'm tempted to loop Douval into this. Douval is the mentor/old adventure buddy to two of the PCs, and he was the main hook to get them on this road. It would be interesting if Douval was either working with Kalarel (for something unrelated) or with Paldemar - and the PCs discover this after defeating Kalarel, then go back to Winterhaven to question him. Kalarel has some stones which has Paldemar's thoughts in it - used to send messages to Kalarel.

I like your suggestion that Karakavos "has the name of the Raven Queen".

 

[Quartz]

Is Melora a reworking of Greyhawk's Merikka?

 

[Ktulu]

I like your suggestion that Karakavos "has the name of the Raven Queen".

And, if anyone's curious what that is, the May & Beyond preview does let slip some names she's been known as.

 

[alleynbard]

Rrr? You haven't even ran it yet?

Nope. My group has just finished KotS. They stopped Kalarel (who happened to be a female tiefling, descendant of Karavakos) and she was devoured by the Oracle of Shadows. This created a connection to Karavakos and the PCs had a moment to see their enemy before shutting down the Oracle and sealing the rift.

I have been thinking a great deal about H2. I like the location and the opportunities it provides.

Here's a nice thread.

Thanks for the link. Very helpful. I have a good amount of time before I need to start into H2, so this will serve my purposes well.

I might hold off on an intermediary fey adventure. Here I was going to do something with the local politics, but if the campaign is going to see more fey, I might hold off on that, unless the ones close to Winterhaven (or between Winterhaven and Thunderspire) are somehow related.

One thing I have decided to do: Ninaran was working for Kalarel because Kalarel has something she needs. Ninaran's lover/child/mother/somethinglikethat is captured. Either under the spell of a fey, or trapped in a block of ice- something like that. Ninaran can't rescue them by herself, and Kalarel has an item that can free her (person) - a piece of the Fey whom controls her (person), which Ninaran can use to kill/break the enchantment, or an item to free her (person) from the block of ice.

The PCs didn't kill her, but left her at 1 HP, on level 2 of the Keep. I plan on a severely wounded Ninaran trying (and failing) to attack the PCs, demanding the item from Kalarel's private stash, desperate to get it back.

I could easily steer them to Thunderspire, with the intentions of rescuing Ninaran's (Something).

Additionally, I'm tempted to loop Douval into this. Douval is the mentor/old adventure buddy to two of the PCs, and he was the main hook to get them on this road. It would be interesting if Douval was either working with Kalarel (for something unrelated) or with Paldemar - and the PCs discover this after defeating Kalarel, then go back to Winterhaven to question him. Kalarel has some stones which has Paldemar's thoughts in it - used to send messages to Kalarel.

I like this. I hadn't thought of making more of Ninaran than I already had. I like the connections you have cultivated.

I would definitely bring Douval into the plot. There is nothing better than having an old friend working for the enemy, even unintentionally.

The stones will be a good tie and allow you to introduce Paldemar early on. One of the things both adventures suffer from is the lack of familiarity with the villains beforehand. KotS is worse about it, though the update seems to make an effort to fix that. I simply created a deeper backstory around Kalarel and made her someone the natives knew. The same (or something better) should be done with Paldemar considering this place in the Hall. Your stone idea is a good way of doing that.

 

[Rechan]

Nope. My group has just finished KotS. They stopped Kalarel (who happened to be a female tiefling, descendant of Karavakos) and she was devoured by the Oracle of Shadows. This created a connection to Karavakos and the PCs had a moment to see their enemy before shutting down the Oracle and sealing the rift.

Oracle of Shadows? Is that from H3? I haven't really read the third half of that module.

I plan on having Kalarel come back (using the Possessed Spirit template in Open Grave), so having him dragged out via the Thing int he Portal is pertinent to my needs.

I like this. I hadn't thought of making more of Ninaran than I already had. I like the connections you have cultivated.

HA! I just got my idea.

I have a Feypact Gnome warlock in the party (the ex-slave). The hook that brought him into the adventure: a vassal to his patron was trapped somewhere beneath the Keep (in the water cave room, to be specific); the gnome's task was to free the vassal.

The party needed to save the town from the undead assault AND get a tortured Douval back to town, so the gnome asked a favor of the vassal: return Douval to town, and protect the townsfolk from the undead, and I will owe you a favor.

Here's where it gets interesting: Kalarel has a connection to the Fey Court in Thunderspire. He wanted a spike of power, as Orcus had not given him everything. Or possibly he wanted a powerful guardian unrelated to undead, just in case. So he beseeched a fey for this. In exchange, the Fey wanted Kalarel to siphon power from the trapped Vassal, and send it back to the Court Fey for power.

Kalarel did. The Vassal, however, is aware of this siphoning. It wants revenge, but does not know who Kalarel was working for, and it has other work to do. So it calls its favor, and makes the Gnome pursue the parasite that had supped from the Vassal's power.

How does this go back to Ninaran? The same Fey has her (Something) improsned or ensnared, and Kalarel has the means to get back at this fey. Of course, Kalarel never intended to free Ninaran's (Something).

A twisted web, indeed. Now, I just need to think of an appropriate fey guardian to drop into the final battle as the Court Fey's servant.

I would definitely bring Douval into the plot. There is nothing better than having an old friend working for the enemy, even unintentionally.

Douval was integral to something. I had decided the Mirror was an artifact; The Raven Queen had looked into it, and thus her reflection is trapped inside. The mirror shows the reflection of the Shadowfell (rather than what it should show you). Kalarel wanted it, to use it after the ritual, in order to find the Raven Queen (via her reflection). He was having Douval interrogated in the torture room, to find out more about the mirror.

The stones will be a good tie and allow you to introduce Paldemar early on. One of the things both adventures suffer from is the lack of familiarity with the villains beforehand.

I had done a few things, to work Kalarel into the story. Instead of letters, Kalarel used skulls with Magic Mouths attached to them. So the PCs heard his voice giving directions to Irontooth. Also, at the Grave site, Kalarel had a skeleton that he was sending messages through/observing with. It wasn't an apparition, but it - again- spoke in his voice, as he was seeing/hearing through it.

The PCs also rescued a local girl who had been swayed by the cult to join (another plot hook), and so she has mentioned Kalarel a few times.