The Doomed Bastards SH: Reader Input Poll (decide how the story ends)

[Lazybones]

This thread is for readers of my Doomed Bastards story hour, which has taken a group of unlikely heroes through the superdungeon Rappan Athuk and beyond. I’ve been writing that story hour for quite some time now, and as I approached the end, I reached a point where the finale could have gone in either of two directions. I couldn’t decide myself, so I finally thought I’d push the burden of choosing onto my readers!

At the current point in the story, an ancient creature known as the Ravager, imprisoned for centuries, has begun to stir free of its prison. Corath Dar and Allera Hialar, the heroes of the story, have been given a choice. They can sacrifice their lives in an attempt to restore the monster’s prison, an attempt which is not guaranteed to end in success. Or they can attempt to rally the diverse peoples of Camar in an attempt to battle an entity so devastating that its creators could not destroy it, only contain it.

So if you’re familiar with the story to date, or just want to read the last few posts in the story thread (located here) and weigh in, I welcome your input in this poll. I have already written a number of chapters down each plot line, and will resume posting the story on June 30.

 

[Hellspont]

Wow, I'm the first to vote!

I'm a long-time lurker, and have to say that I absolutely love your writing! I look forward every week-night to the updates for this story hour.

I originally was going to vote for Dar and Allera to sacrifice themselves, but then I figured that if anyone could find a way to defeat the Ravager, it would be those two. Especially if they wound up getting some help from old friends (like Letellia, Talen, Shay, and who knows, maybe even the spirit of Varo?).

Either way, I can't wait to see how this story plays out.

Thanks for the great stories, Lazybones!
-Ross Miller, aka Hellspont

 

[Sabriel]

Simply awesome story hour, Lazybones!

I'm all for the rally option, but regarding the sacrifice option: what, Duke Aerim isn't mighty enough to be a candidate?

Letellia, also, if she can be resurrected (or secretly saved herself via some Contingency).

Hey, they've been guarding the Ravager for thousands of years, a job which sounds a lot like system administration - 99% boredom 1% sheer terror - and they haven't spent any time to think of new ways to destroy it when the inevitable happens? Bad undead, no biscuit!

 

[Lazybones]

Simply awesome story hour, Lazybones!

I'm all for the rally option, but regarding the sacrifice option: what, Duke Aerim isn't mighty enough to be a candidate?

Who knows, maybe he is... you have to vote to find out!

Hey, they've been guarding the Ravager for thousands of years, a job which sounds a lot like system administration - 99% boredom 1% sheer terror - and they haven't spent any time to think of new ways to destroy it when the inevitable happens? Bad undead, no biscuit!

Well, if you look at the module, they put a lot of nasty traps into the place, mostly to slow it down. The monster is basically immune to any death effect, and is pretty hard to kill (epic DR+20 regen). But they might have a few surprises in store... but you have to vote to find out.

 

[Nightbreeze]

All in for the really. The "sacrifice to guard him for all eternity" seems pretty dull and 'old end for such a wonderful story. So, I'm all in for the rally. Besides, it's only a CR30 monster

 

[Baduin]

I think they first of all should dig out and resurrect Letellia, and then consult her.The guardians should know the abilities of the Ravager pretty well, so it should be possible to work out whether, and how, they can win.

If they can find an intelligent way to fight it, which gives a near certainity of defeating it, they should fight.

I am thinking of such things as planar binding Efreet for Wishes, then using those wishes to bind more Efreet etc (chain-binding Efreet) or of gating in Solars. Using such tactics it seems possible to create enough magic items (eg rings of wishes, scrolls of Gate) etc to defeat Ravager.With such resources you could shape the battlefield, prepare traps etc.

Duke can be persuaded to help them with the promise of resurrection.

Such tactics are a bit over the top, but the Ravager is also over the top. The battle should be interesting.

 

[Nightbreeze]

Pah, rational mumbo jumbo. Who cares about rational reasoning? Never trust the spellcasters, they always try to take the most difficult way. Just prepare and beat the hell out of that bastard

But seriously, this story shall and in a spectacular way, not the usual "Ahhh, I shall bind myself to protect the world for all eternity". Bleagh. So bring it on, Ravager

 

[Canaan]

I like that the duality of the choices mirrors the personality of the individual characters. A sacrifice would seem to fit Allera's personality. she would sacrifice all for love and what love transcends her love for Dar? Why, the love for humanity, for all of the young lovers, mothers and children of the world, of course.

And Dar. Well, Dar would die fighting. that's how he prefers it. So the real question is: Whose personality is stronger?

 

[wolff96]

And Dar. Well, Dar would die fighting. that's how he prefers it. So the real question is: Whose personality is stronger?

Dar. Allera may have the charisma and the wisdom, but Dar has more force of personality than any other three characters in this story hour (not counting the departed Varo of course...)

I'm all for blowing the thing away. Of course, I'm also hoping for a 'happily ever after' for the healer and her general, so I'm obviously a giant sap.

 

[Ximix]

I am thinking of such things as planar binding Efreet for Wishes, then using those wishes to bind more Efreet etc (chain-binding Efreet) or of gating in Solars. Using such tactics it seems possible to create enough magic items (eg rings of wishes, scrolls of Gate) etc to defeat Ravager.With such resources you could shape the battlefield, prepare traps etc.

Hmm... never seen LB go to those lengths before; more to the point, I don't think I've ever seen his pc's have access to that level of abuse... I mean power.

Duke can be persuaded to help them with the promise of resurrection.

Speaking of the Duke, and Navev, and ??? Who's left and where?

Such tactics are a bit over the top, but the Ravager is also over the top. The battle should be interesting.

On this we agree. I find the idea of Dar calmly laying down his life, or even dying in a fierce struggle to keep his soul intact, anti-climactic.
I vote that they fight, though without the aid of such Epic powers as Baduin mentions, I cannot conceive of how it will end well for the DB's

 

[Nightbreeze]

Well, the point is that I think that they are hardly going to rally only the forces of Camar...rather, they would probably bring in whoever is there in the entire world that is interested in keeping the world...you know, existent.

 

[Baduin]

Letelia has Gate, she used it to come to Rappan Athuk.

And I even didn't suggest getting the Candles of Invocation. Price 8,400 gp per item - about ten should be enough to defeat the Ravager. I think the cathedral in Camar should have at least one or two in stock. Or perhaps a little side quest?

Or perhaps a grand reunion - resurrecting all the heroes who had fallen in Rappan Athuk, from that unfortunate barbarian to Varo? The low level characters can be polymorphed into something useful.

Edit: I've forgotten most of them had their souls eaten by Orcus. But Varo can be resurrected, and also Navev, now that he has been destroyed as undead. They can also Wish Talen to them, and ask the elves for their most powerful spellcaster. They would also need Epic swords for fighters.

I say it seems doable.

 

[Nightbreeze]

Well, if this was in the setting of Speulchrave, I would request a cascade

 

[ScribblesTheGhoul]

I really can't imagine the Doomed Bastards taking the relatively safe and certain route. In anything. Ever.

I mean, they took out a demon lord in his throne room. That couldn't have been absolutely necessary. Sure, they couldn't have just left him there, but at some point between "There's cultists down there" and "The Lord of Undeath will feast on our souls", there must have been a few instances where they could have just walled something off or thrown a consecrate on it and achieved basically the same effect, at least for the moment, that they got from leaping into a high priest's sacrificial chamber and going toe-to-toe with something nine feet tall.

But pretty much every time the Doomed Bastards have ever encountered a situation, they've gone for the thorough, unlikely-to-succeed route that got the job done right (and/or killed them in the process). When Tiros found out what the Duke was like, he could have opposed him politically, hampering the damage he could do. Instead, he staged a coup to remove him once and for all. When his accomplices found out about his capture, they could have found a new leader and invoked their martyred one's name. Instead, they went in through the nastier entrance of the world's most elaborate execution device to rescue their leader and pick up where they left off. When Talen was turned into a vampire, they could have just destroyed him and mourned his loss. Instead, they dragged one of the most powerful undead creatures they knew of to the heart of their city and tried everything they could to cure him. The dragon, the ravager spawn, the ghoul army, the corpse collector, the list goes on of situations when rational compromises just weren't their thing.

Besides, so what if the Ravager's creators couldn't kill it? They're the ones who thought it'd be a good idea to make it in the first place, how clever could they have been?

 

[Lazybones]

Great feedback thus far, 38 votes and counting! It looks like the readership is definitely leaning toward the more ... direct outcome.

I am thinking of such things as planar binding Efreet for Wishes, then using those wishes to bind more Efreet etc (chain-binding Efreet) or of gating in Solars. Using such tactics it seems possible to create enough magic items (eg rings of wishes, scrolls of Gate) etc to defeat Ravager.With such resources you could shape the battlefield, prepare traps etc.

Hmm... never seen LB go to those lengths before; more to the point, I don't think I've ever seen his pc's have access to that level of abuse... I mean power.

Well, if this was in the setting of Speulchrave, I would request a cascade

One thing you've probably already noticed is the limits I've placed on callings within Rappan Athuk (I've ruled that no celestials can enter the complex, a ban which has come up a few times in the story already). In most of my campaigns I use a device called the Compact which sets rules that limit the uber-power of divine beings on the Prime plane. One of the limits I use is a prohibition on the "chaining" of powerful entities by calling one and using it to call another, and so on (i.e. Sepulchrave's "cascade"). I'm more lenient when it comes to Outsiders using short-termed summons.

Letelia has Gate, she used it to come to Rappan Athuk.

Technically she's 17th level. Originally I'd planned on giving her a custom L8 planar transport spell similar to Sepulchrave's Passage of Lightning (as gate, but self-only, and no summoning). But then I realized that she could have done the same exact thing with a plane shift linked to greater teleport. I cheated a bit with the special effects.

And I even didn't suggest getting the Candles of Invocation. Price 8,400 gp per item - about ten should be enough to defeat the Ravager. I think the cathedral in Camar should have at least one or two in stock. Or perhaps a little side quest?

There aren't any 17th-level clerics in Camar's recent history who could have created such an item. The church definitely would have put one to use when they confronted Orcus, had they possessed one.

Thanks for all the comments, the story continues in a week!

 

[Faren]

This is a really tough call for me.
One one hand, this creature just doesn't seem to be something the current people can kill, as one spawn alone is nearly enough for Dar, Duke Aerim and and all the other warriors combined, with or without healing and mage back-up. Depending on how much stronger the Ravager is than its spawn (I assume exponentially), there should be no chance in hel (or in Rappan Athuk, same thing it seems) that they and Camar would survive if it were released. Not at their current levels.

However, Scribbles is right. The Doomed Bastards are bastards, and bastards always take the hardest route
Vive Camar.
Kill the Ravager.

 

[HugeOgre]

I for one could easily see Allera persuading Dar to make the sacrifice, but I voted for the combat approach

 

[Neverwinter Knight]

I guess they should realize that if they sacrifice themselves and don't succeed, there is nothing that will stand a chance against the Ravager. The fighting option has already worked once against an overpowering enemy.

 

[Lazybones]

It looks like the readers have spoken decisively. I'll resume the story tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who voted!