The current BBEG
- Thread starter alsih2o
- Start date
The BBEG for the one shot I'm running today is just called "warlock" and his followers are refered to as "horrid little creatures" in my notes.
the BBEG is a warlock(using cleric class) who worships a daemon god called Ispeardom a god associated with darkness and earth (underground). the warlock and his followers are of the same race (non humans) that are somewhat related to goblins (short, long arms, pointed faces). the creatures hate bright lights (such as sunlight) and so they move around the city after dark kidnaping people from their houses. They take the people out to a hidden barrow outside town where the people are thrown into a giant vat full of boiling liquid (the people are still alive when it happens). The people are then boiled down and the resulting goo is poured out as wax for candles which are then arrainged around a statue of Ispeardom.
why is the warlock dooing it is not known, but its best not to guess at the motives of such creatures.
Incedently this adventure was inspired by a dream in which a horrid little creature wraped in rags climbed onto my bed and bit off my fingers.
the BBEG is a warlock(using cleric class) who worships a daemon god called Ispeardom a god associated with darkness and earth (underground). the warlock and his followers are of the same race (non humans) that are somewhat related to goblins (short, long arms, pointed faces). the creatures hate bright lights (such as sunlight) and so they move around the city after dark kidnaping people from their houses. They take the people out to a hidden barrow outside town where the people are thrown into a giant vat full of boiling liquid (the people are still alive when it happens). The people are then boiled down and the resulting goo is poured out as wax for candles which are then arrainged around a statue of Ispeardom.
why is the warlock dooing it is not known, but its best not to guess at the motives of such creatures.
Incedently this adventure was inspired by a dream in which a horrid little creature wraped in rags climbed onto my bed and bit off my fingers.
BiggusGeekus
That's Latin for "cool"
For my fantasy game I haven't really statted out the BBEG. There isn't much point until the characters are interacting with him. The plot behind the character is that he has the same goals as the PCs (fighting orcs) he just has a very warped idea about ends vs. means. The BBEG will show no hesitation about sacrificing 999 people to save 1,000. So his moral judgements are questionable.
For my d20 Modern game, the BBEG is rather unspectacular. He's just a necromancer who gets to use the D&D rules instead of the d20M rules. That's a pretty huge bonus in d20M though. The plot behind this guy is that he's trapped and wants to go home to his fantasy-world. Again, he has a certain "moral flexibility" about what he feels he is justified in doing in achieving these goals.
In both games, the PCs are still at the stage where they are reacting to events caused as a side-effect of the BBEGs actions. They aren't anywhere near meeting the "lieutennants" of the respective armies.
For my d20 Modern game, the BBEG is rather unspectacular. He's just a necromancer who gets to use the D&D rules instead of the d20M rules. That's a pretty huge bonus in d20M though. The plot behind this guy is that he's trapped and wants to go home to his fantasy-world. Again, he has a certain "moral flexibility" about what he feels he is justified in doing in achieving these goals.
In both games, the PCs are still at the stage where they are reacting to events caused as a side-effect of the BBEGs actions. They aren't anywhere near meeting the "lieutennants" of the respective armies.
Last edited:
RangerWickett
Legend
This is a steam fantasy game, using material from E.N.Publishing's Steam & Steel book. The villain is a scientist named Cadaharlo, a member of an Illuminati-esque group of brilliant men who want to control the world. With the help of two others, he has created a 100-foot tall war machine mecha, something akin to this.
However, Duncan, one of the men who worked on the device, had second thoughts after first seeing it in action, so he stole the mind that powered the machine, and hid it in a magic item. Then he hid his own mind away in a potion so he couldn't be scryed upon, with plans to eventually have his allies administer the potion to a new body so he'd regain his mind. Finally, he laid a contingent spell upon the wife of the main villain, an Elf named Kasvarina, so that if Cadaharlo came after him, the wife's mind would be trapped away as well. Duncan left a warning of what would happen, then he fled.
Of course, the villain chased after Duncan, and was unable to find him, but his wife's mind was taken, leaving her body alive but thoughtless. Now the villain has multiple goals - to find a way to restore his wife's mind to her, to find and punish Duncan, and to find a way to restore the mind to the colossus, so he will be able to use it to take over the world.
Cadaharlo is a 6th level Expert.
However, Duncan, one of the men who worked on the device, had second thoughts after first seeing it in action, so he stole the mind that powered the machine, and hid it in a magic item. Then he hid his own mind away in a potion so he couldn't be scryed upon, with plans to eventually have his allies administer the potion to a new body so he'd regain his mind. Finally, he laid a contingent spell upon the wife of the main villain, an Elf named Kasvarina, so that if Cadaharlo came after him, the wife's mind would be trapped away as well. Duncan left a warning of what would happen, then he fled.
Of course, the villain chased after Duncan, and was unable to find him, but his wife's mind was taken, leaving her body alive but thoughtless. Now the villain has multiple goals - to find a way to restore his wife's mind to her, to find and punish Duncan, and to find a way to restore the mind to the colossus, so he will be able to use it to take over the world.
Cadaharlo is a 6th level Expert.
JimAde
First Post
My current BBEG is still vaguely defined, but I can already tell he's going to be VERY cliche 
He's a high-ranking human noble in one of my campaign kingdoms. Publicly he's the head of a knightly order that has a lot of money and political influence. Secretly, he's the head of a cult dedicated to bringing back a dead, dark god. The top ranks of the two organizations are interlocked, but there are plenty of people in the knightly order who have no idea about the cult, and vice versa. Publicly the order will be hunting the cult once the cult is discovered.
The order is the enemy of one of the PCs who was dispossessed by a middling-rank member in his youth. By opposing this one noble, they'll get drawn into the bigger conflict.
Class/level-wise he'll be an Aristocrat/Chosen (Chosen being a homebrew divine class). The PCs are currently level 7, and they should be about 10th by the time they confront him. At that time he'll probably be about level 12-14.
He's a high-ranking human noble in one of my campaign kingdoms. Publicly he's the head of a knightly order that has a lot of money and political influence. Secretly, he's the head of a cult dedicated to bringing back a dead, dark god. The top ranks of the two organizations are interlocked, but there are plenty of people in the knightly order who have no idea about the cult, and vice versa. Publicly the order will be hunting the cult once the cult is discovered.
The order is the enemy of one of the PCs who was dispossessed by a middling-rank member in his youth. By opposing this one noble, they'll get drawn into the bigger conflict.
Class/level-wise he'll be an Aristocrat/Chosen (Chosen being a homebrew divine class). The PCs are currently level 7, and they should be about 10th by the time they confront him. At that time he'll probably be about level 12-14.
reanjr
First Post
alsih2o said:Please tell us all about your current BBEG.
Stats and plot if you can.
His name is Korin, former political advisor the PCs benefactor Duke Silus and current political advisor to the PCs new benefactor Duke Sirus (son of Duke Silus).
Ummm... he doesn't have any stats. He doesn't need any.
He manufactured a complex situation in which the Emporer's major enemies were all wiped out (including the assassination of his boss, Duke Silus). He is working with a secret kinghthood, known as the Gestin who work behind the scenes and want to strengthen the central empire so that they can run it themselves by controlling only a few people.
The major players of the duchy (including the PCs) just took over an interstellar trade vessel that was orbiting the capital world of the duchy because the planet was being taken by the emporer's army. The Gestin knights (through Korin) now have control of one of the few ships in the universe with a hyper drive (these things are massive, kilometers-long vessels that transport other ships and data between stars; until this point, all were controlled by the Imperially Sanctioned Trade Guilds Organization [ISTGO] or the empire itself).
Korin, as the Duke's father's trusted advisor has insinuated himself quickly with the Duke. Since the Duke hasn't even gone through official coronation yet (his father died a week ago), he is pretty much Korin's puppet (in fact Korin is officially in control since there is no Duke currently).
The players just recently suspected him, but have no proof and therefore must deal with the fact that he's in charge of them. Akward situation to say the least.
His current plans include inciting riots throughout the rest of the duchy (two other core planets and several satellite states), thus forcing the duchy to be stuck on the Trade Vessel for at least a little while. From this unstable (and secluded) vantage point, he will have more control of the situation.
I haven't really given much thought as to what comes next...
Chroma
Explorer
Right now in my campaign there's a BBEGuy and a BBEGirl who are trying to "revive" an even bigger BBEG.
The BBEGuy is a near immortal warrior prince thought to have been bound in chains and cast into the sea a thousand years ago... but he got better. He strides about in wickedly spiked armour and is raising an army of servants and undead in preparation for his lord's awakening. The party has faced him once, but he's currently rampaging through an enemy country so they aren't too concerned about him at the moment. Enemy of my enemy, as it were.
The BBEGirl is a magically altered sorceress/mindbender/warshaper who, a thousand years ago, began a magical breeding process to produce a brood of powerful sorcerers under her control. The PCs don't know where she is, what she's doing, or what she looks like... except that she has incredible green eyes... that look remarkably like the party sorceror's eyes... MUHAHAHA!
The Bads are trying to make preparations for the return of their master, the Lord of Serpents (The Bigger Bad), a very powerful necromancer/transmuter who used to rule the area a millenia ago (along with a couple other powerful arcanists). They were deposed and thought destroyed, but had actually laid the groundwork for their return... unfortunately things didn't go as planned and their efforts are now 500 years past due and the local civilizations have recovered from the plague that was supposed to usher the Big Bads back into power... OOPS!
So there's lots of scheming, strange alliances, and dismisal of the Big Bads by the general populace as mere ghost-stories or bogeymen...
The BBEGuy is a near immortal warrior prince thought to have been bound in chains and cast into the sea a thousand years ago... but he got better. He strides about in wickedly spiked armour and is raising an army of servants and undead in preparation for his lord's awakening. The party has faced him once, but he's currently rampaging through an enemy country so they aren't too concerned about him at the moment. Enemy of my enemy, as it were.
The BBEGirl is a magically altered sorceress/mindbender/warshaper who, a thousand years ago, began a magical breeding process to produce a brood of powerful sorcerers under her control. The PCs don't know where she is, what she's doing, or what she looks like... except that she has incredible green eyes... that look remarkably like the party sorceror's eyes... MUHAHAHA!
The Bads are trying to make preparations for the return of their master, the Lord of Serpents (The Bigger Bad), a very powerful necromancer/transmuter who used to rule the area a millenia ago (along with a couple other powerful arcanists). They were deposed and thought destroyed, but had actually laid the groundwork for their return... unfortunately things didn't go as planned and their efforts are now 500 years past due and the local civilizations have recovered from the plague that was supposed to usher the Big Bads back into power... OOPS!
So there's lots of scheming, strange alliances, and dismisal of the Big Bads by the general populace as mere ghost-stories or bogeymen...
Last edited:
BSF
Explorer
*good grief! I just looked at this before clicking "Post". It's huge! I'm not sure anyone really cares about the tangents I went off on. I'm not sure I really answered the question. Oh well, I wrote it, I will post it.*
Hmm, interesting topic alsih2o. OK, I will toss in my ideas. First, I will talk about my past campaign. Then, I will talk about my current campaign. If one of my players is reading this, I would suggest that you avoid the conversation about the current campaign so you don't spoil any of the surprises down the road for you.
In the last campaign, I had quite a few BBEG's. There were three major story arcs and several minor story arcs that the PC's could pursue.
Minor Story Arc - The Gold Dragon Algalarond has somehow been captured by the Green Dragon's council. The PC's only contact to Algalarond is the magic sword he sometimes uses to speak with them. They picked up the sword in a small adventurer test he long ago setup. (Gorgolands Gauntlet - Among other things, I tweaked names.) BBEG - The Green Dragon's council. They have a treaty with their neighbors, the Gnomes and the Halflings. This is a cold-war style treaty where both sides are rebuilding for the "big push" that might eventually come. The PC's never pursued this story arc, so the Green Dragon's Council never played much more than a flavor role.
Major Story Arc - The Yuan-Ti are invading through an ancient Portal. The PC's first encounter the Yuan-Ti influence through a Spirit Naga minion in the Village of Orlane. The Naga was the minor BBEG for the story plot. The Yuan-Ti abomination Cleric is the BBEG organizing the invasion on this side of the Portal. This was a relatively simple plot to overthrow. The Yuan-Ti were still in the stealth stage of their plan. The PC's were the only ones that knew about it and eventually made their way to the stronghold around the portal. If they had let it go on longer, it would have been much more fun with Yuan-Ti trying to infiltrate kingdoms, etc. But, I have to give the players credit for dealing with it early. The highlight of the encounter with the BBEG was after the battle when the party cleric went into the temple and swore to destroy the Yuan-Yi god. He called on his god to witness his oath. It was a great RP scene and in reward I played it up. In the end, the PC's destroyed the altar, sealed the portal and went home to tell the local Lord what was going on. The Cleric PC bound himself to travel to the Yuan-Ti homeland and make good on his Oath. Fortunately, there were still other things going on, so he was able to wait for a while.
Major Story Arc - The Cleric's family is cursed by a power Devil Lord that is simply known as the Lord of Deception. Nobody knows it's true name. At the beginning of the game, the PC left his home as am emmissary to a new kingdom. He always wanted to be a cleric, but he could never get clerical powers. That is, until he left and found the true god he was worshipping. The Lord of Deception setup an elaborate con. He would emulate the Church of Pter (The Crusader, the Protector, Defender of Good) and use the children of one of Pter's Priests to his own end. The Cleric PC, Aaron, was one of these children. His older brother Jack is the current High Priest, for a false temple. Aaron's younger sister disappeared years ago in the goblin raid that killed his father (thus setting up the false church, etc.)
It took the PC's most of the campaign to learn anything close to the truth of all of this. Mostly after they had unwittingly helped fulfill the end goal of the Lord of Deception. They freed the Hammer of Dol Manul (a powerful, vile, evil artifact), let it get into Jack's possession and then allowed Jack to think he was protecting the Hammer from evil by planeshifting to his god's plane. Jack was pleading with Aaron to stop serving Evil and to come back to him when he decided he must keep the Hammer out of Aaron's hands and planeshifted right in front of him. Too bad Jack was the one who was deceived and his god's home plane was in Hell. The players loved the scenario. The PC's hated the results.
There are insinuations that the Green Dragon's council were aided by the Lord of Deception to entrap Algalarond and to destroy an Earth Power. It is also possible that the Yuan-Ti were just beginning to hurt the Green Dragons when they PC's stopped them. The question is beginning to arise as to whether stopping the Yuan-Ti somehow helped the Lord of Deception. One of the players is starting to worry that this might affect the current campaign, which is 1000 years afterward.
Major Story Arc - There is a slumbering god of Evil, Madness and Chaos trapped in the land. This is one of the big sources of evil. Mhata Nahal's essence is trapped in a demiplane that partially exists with the Prime. His dreams create evil. Some of the good gods want Mhata Nahal out of his slumber and are hoping they can orchestrate his severance with the Prime. You see, Mhata Nahal never had the opportunity to create his own domain when everything was being created. There is a slight risk that if he awakes, he could exit to the Prime and claim it as his domain. Enter the PC's. They will be the lynchpin in all of this. Assuming they willingly agree to enter the demiplane, wake up the god and risk their lives to seal the gate, eliminating the exit to the Prime. In the meantime, you have a displaced Nalfeshnee bent on carving up his own niche of the Prime. Thus enters the visible portion of this story arc.
The Nalfeshnee has figured out how to channel Mhata Nahal's essence to empower undead. He also hates the Lord of Deception, and Pter. He kidnapped Aaron's sister, broke her mind and encouraged multiple personalities to exist. He trained her as a defense against Pter's High Knights and then set her loose on the world. Why? He's evil and he needs somebody that can operate as a wild card while he works with a couple of lich's to raise some massive armies of undead. Evilynn (I kid you not, this is how the player spelled his sister's name in his background. With a name like that, and a history where she disappeared but still appears in his dreams, do you blame me for taking advantage of that and messing with the player a little?) keeps appearing with the armies of undead that are moving north. This leads the PC's to assume she is the BBEG. She is a ruse! Muhahahah. Later on, they figure out the real BBEG is the Nalfeshnee coordinating the rituals that help protect the undead. They disrupt the rituals and do their part in obliterating the lich generals and other undead nasties in the army. Oh, and they helped save evilynn and fix her mind so she isn't MPD anymore. Now, she has to live with the memories of what her evil aspect did, but she is helpful to the PC's.
End result for the campaign - Lord of Deception got his artifact back; Yuan-Ti invasion thwarted; undead army stopped and destroyed, including two 18th level lichs; Nalfeshnee had his powerbase ripped out from under him; God of Chaos, Evil and Madness awoken and made active in the cosmology. Boy, that just sounds so bad doesn't it?
OK, the game was not based on the Cleric PC. It was actually centered around a few other PC's. It just happens that Aaron's background flowed very smoothly into the bad stuff. Thus showing that the curse of the Lord of Deception is not to be passed off lightly. The cleric PC was actually 2nd - 3rd string in importance. On the good side, the PC's helped the gods get bad juju out of the land to make the whole world a happier, better place! They saved the city from the undead armies. They did a lot of good and the game ended on a very strong up note. I just managed to finagle enough things in there that I have plenty to work with for the next campaign.
Summary
BBEG - Yuan-Ti cleric
Underling - Spirit Naga
BBEG - Lord of Deception (Devil Lord)
Underling - Delusional Jack, the cleric who thinks he is worshipping a good god.
BBEG - Nalfeshnee trying to become king
Underlings - Crazy Evilynn, two different Lichs
BBEG - Green Dragon's Council
Underlings - Well, green dragons of assorted ages
-=* Current Campaign *=-
The current campaign is still in a growing stage. So, the BBEG's are not as apparent yet.
On one hand, there is a Green Dragon that the PC's have encountered in the Realm of Dreams. They don't know where he exists in the real world, but they do know he is annoyed with them. He has been asleep for nearly a century and seems to be trying to assault the Realm of Faerie through dreams.
There is the party's first employer. He was looking for people that could be used to create tension and problems for the local feudal hierarchy. His plan is to gain more political power for his Guild, and for himself. The PC's are a ragtag group of mercenaries whose sole purpose is to be inept and cause problems for other people. The PC's don't know this yet. Heck, they might still think he would help them if they needed it.
There there is Mr. Conroe and his wife. They chose a house in a area that is plagued by undead. Poor folks. When reports came in that people had seen a wagon filled with bodies near their manor, the PC's were sent to investigate. No big deal though, it was just a group of zombies that Mr. Conroe and his two lackeys took care of. Why were they in a wagon? Why, to bring them from the far side of the fields over to the firepit. Cremation is the approved method of dealing with the dead in the area and Mr. Conroe burns all undead he deals with.
The PC's searched the manor in the middle of the night, no undead. One of them even sneaked into the Conroe's bedchamber in the middle of the day. Still no undead. Though, he did find some regalia that sounds like it might be used for odd religious practices.
What a coincidence that the house happened to go up in flames shortly thereafter. The Shaman could detect some sort of spirit from hell in the area. All the people in the fields had their necks slit. Mr. and Mrs Conroe were presumably inside when the fire started since that is the last place the ranger was able to track Mr. Conroe to. The PC's couldn't prove any wrongdoing, but aren't really happy with the outcome.
What's really happening? The PC's missed the secret tunnel leading to the nearby valley where Mr. Conroe practices his martial arts, and his new-found necromantic talents. His wife is a devil worshipper (and she favors trickery and deception as two of her strongest tools - bonus points if anyone can guess which devil she worships). The PC's have served as a speedbump in the Conroe's plans for regional conquest. But, the Conroes are having their revenge. They are orchestrating things to make it seem like one or more of the PC's are werewolves. A yeth hound or two mutilating commoners and then tracking thier prints near one of the PC's, before flying away, is creating an interesting tension. Discredit the PC's and get them out of the way, then return to regional domination.
The Conroes are just cogs in the machine that is cranking away across the continent. Nobody is quite sure who is behind a lot of bad things that happen. Even when they do find out, it's hard to correlate it to something bad elsewhere happening. There is no widespread conspiracy and if there is, it was those guys over there. The Lord of Deception works behind the scenes when he can and I promised the players that there would be some political inrigue in this campaign.
Hmm, interesting topic alsih2o. OK, I will toss in my ideas. First, I will talk about my past campaign. Then, I will talk about my current campaign. If one of my players is reading this, I would suggest that you avoid the conversation about the current campaign so you don't spoil any of the surprises down the road for you.
In the last campaign, I had quite a few BBEG's. There were three major story arcs and several minor story arcs that the PC's could pursue.
Minor Story Arc - The Gold Dragon Algalarond has somehow been captured by the Green Dragon's council. The PC's only contact to Algalarond is the magic sword he sometimes uses to speak with them. They picked up the sword in a small adventurer test he long ago setup. (Gorgolands Gauntlet - Among other things, I tweaked names.) BBEG - The Green Dragon's council. They have a treaty with their neighbors, the Gnomes and the Halflings. This is a cold-war style treaty where both sides are rebuilding for the "big push" that might eventually come. The PC's never pursued this story arc, so the Green Dragon's Council never played much more than a flavor role.
Major Story Arc - The Yuan-Ti are invading through an ancient Portal. The PC's first encounter the Yuan-Ti influence through a Spirit Naga minion in the Village of Orlane. The Naga was the minor BBEG for the story plot. The Yuan-Ti abomination Cleric is the BBEG organizing the invasion on this side of the Portal. This was a relatively simple plot to overthrow. The Yuan-Ti were still in the stealth stage of their plan. The PC's were the only ones that knew about it and eventually made their way to the stronghold around the portal. If they had let it go on longer, it would have been much more fun with Yuan-Ti trying to infiltrate kingdoms, etc. But, I have to give the players credit for dealing with it early. The highlight of the encounter with the BBEG was after the battle when the party cleric went into the temple and swore to destroy the Yuan-Yi god. He called on his god to witness his oath. It was a great RP scene and in reward I played it up. In the end, the PC's destroyed the altar, sealed the portal and went home to tell the local Lord what was going on. The Cleric PC bound himself to travel to the Yuan-Ti homeland and make good on his Oath. Fortunately, there were still other things going on, so he was able to wait for a while.
Major Story Arc - The Cleric's family is cursed by a power Devil Lord that is simply known as the Lord of Deception. Nobody knows it's true name. At the beginning of the game, the PC left his home as am emmissary to a new kingdom. He always wanted to be a cleric, but he could never get clerical powers. That is, until he left and found the true god he was worshipping. The Lord of Deception setup an elaborate con. He would emulate the Church of Pter (The Crusader, the Protector, Defender of Good) and use the children of one of Pter's Priests to his own end. The Cleric PC, Aaron, was one of these children. His older brother Jack is the current High Priest, for a false temple. Aaron's younger sister disappeared years ago in the goblin raid that killed his father (thus setting up the false church, etc.)
It took the PC's most of the campaign to learn anything close to the truth of all of this. Mostly after they had unwittingly helped fulfill the end goal of the Lord of Deception. They freed the Hammer of Dol Manul (a powerful, vile, evil artifact), let it get into Jack's possession and then allowed Jack to think he was protecting the Hammer from evil by planeshifting to his god's plane. Jack was pleading with Aaron to stop serving Evil and to come back to him when he decided he must keep the Hammer out of Aaron's hands and planeshifted right in front of him. Too bad Jack was the one who was deceived and his god's home plane was in Hell. The players loved the scenario. The PC's hated the results.
There are insinuations that the Green Dragon's council were aided by the Lord of Deception to entrap Algalarond and to destroy an Earth Power. It is also possible that the Yuan-Ti were just beginning to hurt the Green Dragons when they PC's stopped them. The question is beginning to arise as to whether stopping the Yuan-Ti somehow helped the Lord of Deception. One of the players is starting to worry that this might affect the current campaign, which is 1000 years afterward.
Major Story Arc - There is a slumbering god of Evil, Madness and Chaos trapped in the land. This is one of the big sources of evil. Mhata Nahal's essence is trapped in a demiplane that partially exists with the Prime. His dreams create evil. Some of the good gods want Mhata Nahal out of his slumber and are hoping they can orchestrate his severance with the Prime. You see, Mhata Nahal never had the opportunity to create his own domain when everything was being created. There is a slight risk that if he awakes, he could exit to the Prime and claim it as his domain. Enter the PC's. They will be the lynchpin in all of this. Assuming they willingly agree to enter the demiplane, wake up the god and risk their lives to seal the gate, eliminating the exit to the Prime. In the meantime, you have a displaced Nalfeshnee bent on carving up his own niche of the Prime. Thus enters the visible portion of this story arc.
The Nalfeshnee has figured out how to channel Mhata Nahal's essence to empower undead. He also hates the Lord of Deception, and Pter. He kidnapped Aaron's sister, broke her mind and encouraged multiple personalities to exist. He trained her as a defense against Pter's High Knights and then set her loose on the world. Why? He's evil and he needs somebody that can operate as a wild card while he works with a couple of lich's to raise some massive armies of undead. Evilynn (I kid you not, this is how the player spelled his sister's name in his background. With a name like that, and a history where she disappeared but still appears in his dreams, do you blame me for taking advantage of that and messing with the player a little?) keeps appearing with the armies of undead that are moving north. This leads the PC's to assume she is the BBEG. She is a ruse! Muhahahah. Later on, they figure out the real BBEG is the Nalfeshnee coordinating the rituals that help protect the undead. They disrupt the rituals and do their part in obliterating the lich generals and other undead nasties in the army. Oh, and they helped save evilynn and fix her mind so she isn't MPD anymore. Now, she has to live with the memories of what her evil aspect did, but she is helpful to the PC's.
End result for the campaign - Lord of Deception got his artifact back; Yuan-Ti invasion thwarted; undead army stopped and destroyed, including two 18th level lichs; Nalfeshnee had his powerbase ripped out from under him; God of Chaos, Evil and Madness awoken and made active in the cosmology. Boy, that just sounds so bad doesn't it?
OK, the game was not based on the Cleric PC. It was actually centered around a few other PC's. It just happens that Aaron's background flowed very smoothly into the bad stuff. Thus showing that the curse of the Lord of Deception is not to be passed off lightly. The cleric PC was actually 2nd - 3rd string in importance. On the good side, the PC's helped the gods get bad juju out of the land to make the whole world a happier, better place! They saved the city from the undead armies. They did a lot of good and the game ended on a very strong up note. I just managed to finagle enough things in there that I have plenty to work with for the next campaign.
Summary
BBEG - Yuan-Ti cleric
Underling - Spirit Naga
BBEG - Lord of Deception (Devil Lord)
Underling - Delusional Jack, the cleric who thinks he is worshipping a good god.
BBEG - Nalfeshnee trying to become king
Underlings - Crazy Evilynn, two different Lichs
BBEG - Green Dragon's Council
Underlings - Well, green dragons of assorted ages
-=* Current Campaign *=-
The current campaign is still in a growing stage. So, the BBEG's are not as apparent yet.
On one hand, there is a Green Dragon that the PC's have encountered in the Realm of Dreams. They don't know where he exists in the real world, but they do know he is annoyed with them. He has been asleep for nearly a century and seems to be trying to assault the Realm of Faerie through dreams.
There is the party's first employer. He was looking for people that could be used to create tension and problems for the local feudal hierarchy. His plan is to gain more political power for his Guild, and for himself. The PC's are a ragtag group of mercenaries whose sole purpose is to be inept and cause problems for other people. The PC's don't know this yet. Heck, they might still think he would help them if they needed it.
There there is Mr. Conroe and his wife. They chose a house in a area that is plagued by undead. Poor folks. When reports came in that people had seen a wagon filled with bodies near their manor, the PC's were sent to investigate. No big deal though, it was just a group of zombies that Mr. Conroe and his two lackeys took care of. Why were they in a wagon? Why, to bring them from the far side of the fields over to the firepit. Cremation is the approved method of dealing with the dead in the area and Mr. Conroe burns all undead he deals with.
The PC's searched the manor in the middle of the night, no undead. One of them even sneaked into the Conroe's bedchamber in the middle of the day. Still no undead. Though, he did find some regalia that sounds like it might be used for odd religious practices.
What a coincidence that the house happened to go up in flames shortly thereafter. The Shaman could detect some sort of spirit from hell in the area. All the people in the fields had their necks slit. Mr. and Mrs Conroe were presumably inside when the fire started since that is the last place the ranger was able to track Mr. Conroe to. The PC's couldn't prove any wrongdoing, but aren't really happy with the outcome.
What's really happening? The PC's missed the secret tunnel leading to the nearby valley where Mr. Conroe practices his martial arts, and his new-found necromantic talents. His wife is a devil worshipper (and she favors trickery and deception as two of her strongest tools - bonus points if anyone can guess which devil she worships). The PC's have served as a speedbump in the Conroe's plans for regional conquest. But, the Conroes are having their revenge. They are orchestrating things to make it seem like one or more of the PC's are werewolves. A yeth hound or two mutilating commoners and then tracking thier prints near one of the PC's, before flying away, is creating an interesting tension. Discredit the PC's and get them out of the way, then return to regional domination.
The Conroes are just cogs in the machine that is cranking away across the continent. Nobody is quite sure who is behind a lot of bad things that happen. Even when they do find out, it's hard to correlate it to something bad elsewhere happening. There is no widespread conspiracy and if there is, it was those guys over there. The Lord of Deception works behind the scenes when he can and I promised the players that there would be some political inrigue in this campaign.
