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Message: <blockquote data-quote="carpedavid" data-source="post: 449367" data-attributes="member: 6971">An application for your consideration...I like to run high-magic games at various levels. At low levels, scenarios are easy to prepare, but at high levels, the PCs really become involved with shaping the world. I find both scenarios to be rewarding. I have my own campaign world (see question 4, below), which I try to make as epic as possible.My players are afraid of bears. Not dire bears, not were-bears, not half-fiend bears, but regular old brown bears. All I have to do is mention that they're passing through a forested region, and they start worrying for their characters' lives. This makes me happy <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />In Search of A Feather - an adventure for four 9th level characters. Access to divine magic is strongly recommended, as is access to knowledge about demonology.Grulak stood at the stern of his ship, resting his bulk on the weathered wooden railing, watching the clouds swirl and dance in the airship's wake. The setting sun painted the peaks bright gold and the troughs a deep magenta, while warming his face with its sleepy, silent touch. He was happy once, in an age long past, when he was not the captain of a pirate airship, but a simple miller living a simple life.With his half-elven wife, Felunea, Grulak owned and operated a windmill - two outcasts leading a solitary, but happy life. Farmers from the surrounding towns would drop off their grain in the morning and pick up freshly milled flour in the evening, leaving their payment in a jar outside the front door. Once a week, the son of the general store owner in the nearest town would drop off a wagonload of food and supplies, and take his payment from the jar.His wife was his best friend, and the two talked all day long as they continuously poured grain onto the millstone. They never had to deal much with outsiders, so they were happy - until the day the millstone cracked. In the middle of what should have been an easy day, Grulak heard a loud crack, and then a "thunk." The millstone had split evenly in two.Cursing his luck, Grulak hitched up his horse to a wagon, kissed his wife, grabbed the money jar, and set off to the nearest town to find a stonecutter. After three hours ride and a painful negotiation with a particularly greedy dwarf, Grulak just wanted to grab his wife, climb into bed, and forget about the day.His ride back was slowed by the burden that hauling both a millstone and a half-orc placed on his horse, and after two hours, he was beginning to get testy. When he saw a regiment of foot soldiers crossing a field in the distance, he paid them little heed, determined only to get home as quickly as possible. He realized, later, that he should have jumped off of his wagon and strangled them all right there and then.Three years later, Grulak was the captain of a pirate ship, looting and pillaging the ships of the army that had violated his wife, killed her, and left her clutching the only magical item that the couple owned - a tiny feather that she would have used to send a cry for help, if she had been given the opportunity.Until the dreams started happening, he had been wearing that feather around his neck, had emblazoned it's image on his flag. Then, two weeks ago, his dead wife appeared before him while he was lying in his hammock. She kissed him, and disappeared, along with the feather. She came back again night after night, kissing him and disappearing before he could react.He hadn't slept more than an hour a night those past two weeks, and he felt like he was wasting away. He needed help.SynopsisThe PCs must determine the true cause of Grulak's ghostly visitations and defeat the succubus responsible for them.BackgroundGrulak (Male Half-Orc formerly Expert 5/Rogue 3; currently Expert 2/Rogue 1) has spent the last three years conducting piracy against the army of Terrel. He is a wanted fugitive, but has braved coming back into the country to return to the grave of his beloved - in the field outside the windmill that they owned. He believes that he is being visited by a ghost, and wants to find a cleric (or anyone knowledgeable in the ways of the netherworld) to lay her to rest. When he encounters the adventurers, he is currently docked in the port city of Arios.In actuality, Grulak is being visited by a succubus named Irili. Irili is fond of preying on widowed men, who she feels make very easy targets. She teleports to Grulak's ship each night, changes into the form of his dead wife (which she gleaned from using her ability to detect thoughts), and then teleports back.Currently, she has moved into Grulak's windmill, killed off the current occupants, and is actively enslaving the farmers who bring their grain to the mill. She has charmed the local priests, desecrated their temples, and is working on spreading her influence through the surrounding communities.She has directed the men that she has enslaved to begin construction of a large underground complex beneath the windmill. She is attempting to construct a temple to her evil patron, and plans to summon greater demons when it is complete. Two bebiliths have already plane shifted to her location to aid her in her plans. HooksGrulak is actively looking for someone to accompany him to the grave of his wife. He may be encountered in a local tavern (if the PCs are prone to hanging out in taverns) or in a local temple (if one of the PCs is a cleric, he may encounter him directly).The PCs may be motivated to assist him out of pity or the desire to destroy undead. Failing that, Grulak will offer as much gold as it takes to convince someone to help him, since he has made a very decent living as a pirate, and his desire to lay his wife's spirit to rest is quite strong. If the PCs are suspicious of Grulak, his first mate, Ian, will confirm the story.Encounters<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">When the PCs return to the windmill, they will encounter Sela (Female Human Cleric 6) and Unguen (Male Dwarven Cleric 6), two local priests of the harvest god, who have been charmed by Irili, and are posing as the new owners of the mill. They will graciously allow the party to visit Felunea's grave, but will not let them inside the mill. If pressed, they will attempt to intimidate the PCs into leaving, and will begin attacking them if pressed further. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Inside the windmill, the PCs may find a secret entrance leading into the underground temple. In the passageways of the unholy temple, the charmed villagers have been instructed to attack those that they do not recognize on sight. If the PCs subdue one of the villagers and dispel the enchantments on him, he will inform them that three of the most skilled local craftsmen have been appointed foremen, and that they carry on them skeleton keys to the underground complex. Every single door in the temple is locked (DC 28) and trapped (DC 30), acting as "speed bumps" as the party moves through it. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The two bebiliths each have three hell hounds on long wrought-iron chain leashes. If they encounter the party, they will unleash the hell hounds, and will use any means at their disposal to kill the PCs. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Irili has rigged the entire complex with vessels containing a poisonous gas (Inhaled; Fort DC 18; Initial 1d6 Con; Secondary 2d6 Con, Str) that she was planning to use to sacrifice all of the charmed workers when the temple was complete. If the PCs invade, she will have no trouble releasing the gas early, filling the entire underground complex with a thick black mist.[/list=1] Goals The PCs must find out Irili's true nature and banish or defeat her. They must also banish or defeat the bebiliths and the hellhounds. If they defeat Irili, her hold on the townsmen will be broken. If not, they must dispel the magic still binding them to Irili. Then the PCs must consecrate the temples of the clerics, and return all of the charmed men to their proper families. In addition, they must recover the feather token for Grulak off of Irili's body and explain to him the true nature of the ghostly visitations that he was receiving. If they wish to pursue the matter further, they may try to track down and bring to justice the soldiers that killed his wife. I have just recently started a story hour. This is my first experience writing up campaign logs, and I have yet to master the fine art of the cliffhanger. Nevertheless, you can view it here: <a href="http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=26550" target="_blank">http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=26550</a> You can also find my official campaign site here: <a href="http://www.thehumanproject.org/trinis" target="_blank">http://www.thehumanproject.org/trinis</a> I can be reached at: <a href="mailto:garrettdm@ameritech.net">garrettdm@ameritech.net</a> Thanks in advance for your time. It was an honor just to be invited to apply. --carpedavid</li> </ol></blockquote>

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