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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wicht" data-source="post: 212314" data-attributes="member: 221">Fire and BloodThe following adventure should be placed in a small urban area.  Ideally, the temple of fire would be the main religion in town, leaving the citizens with few options of where to turn in times of spiritual crisis.  The mood of the adventure should be dark and dirty.    Ravenloft would be an ideal setting for the events detailed hereafter, but it can be easily used in most campaign worlds.  Much of the action takes place at night though the climax takes place at dawn.  The events of the adventure are probably best suited to PCs of approximately 10th.  It is very likely that the climax of the adventure, the death of Dalius the vampire at the dawn, will be seen as the triumph of good.  DMs should allow this notion, only informing them of the error of their assumptions when it is realized that Dalius was not the true villain after all.OverviewDalius is a vampire of immense age and power.  He is on the one hand evil and depraved.  He is a child molester and a multiple murderer many times over.  On the other hand, he is also filled with centuries of guilt.  Despite his guilt he cannot bring himself to stop the wickedness that he does and finds himself time and again preying upon children.  Those children he abducts and uses to satisfy his perverted desires he always kills and destroys.  This vampire is so filled with remorse that he has decided to end his unlife.  To support him in his suicide he has turned to Jiphthar, a priest at the temple of fire.  Together they have concocted a plan for Dalius to publicly “greet the sun” and burn in righteous fire.  Unknown to Dalius, indeed unknown to anyone in the community, Jiphthar is not whom he seems to be.  He was, it is true, once a priest of the sacred fire, but he has recently converted himself to the service of darker powers (spheres of darkness, death, and deception).  In his study of black arts (Necromancy) Jiphthar had found a ritual by which he can gain great power as an undead fiend.  The main ingredient of power in this ritual is human blood tainted with the decayed remains of human corpses.  The rite requires furthermore that this tainted blood be fed to a vampire who has to then be burnt alive.  The ashes of the burnt vampire can then be used in a potion that will transform a powerful  enough cleric into an undead creature with great power over the dead.  Jiphthar viewed the arrival and desires of Dalius as a divine (albeit evilly so) sign that he should undertake the ritual.  While Dalius waits below the temple of fire for the date Jiphthar has set, Jiphthar has been hard at work preparing for the ceremony.  He has first of all, been slowly murdering off the other clerics in the temple.  As Jiphthar is the head of the temple, this was easy for him to cover up and there remains only 1 priest who has not yet had an ‘accident.’  Jiphthar has also murdered several of the local beggars for their blood.  As the local cemetery lies just outside the temple grounds, it was easy for Jiphthar to dig up the decomposed remains of the dead and mix them with the blood.  When the PCs start their investigating, the ceremony Jiphthar plans for Dalius will soon occur.  Jiphthar has let it be known around town that there will be a dawn ceremony in two days which all are invited to attend.  He claims this ceremony will show the power of the fire god over the forces of evil.  PC Hooks The PCs can be drawn into the events of the adventure in a number of ways.  1) If the PCs have connections to a deity of fire, they could be sent to investigate the temple via divine intervention or by church hierarchy to investigate the death of a number of priests (albeit low level priests) in one locale.  2) If the PCs have ties to the underworld or the underprivileged, they could be asked to investigate the disappearances of a number of local beggars, many of whom were well known and well liked.  3) A wealthy family could hire the PCs to discover what happened to their young 5 year old daughter, who unknown to the family, was Dalius’ last victim.  4) The last remaining priest (i.e. the one Jiphthar has yet to kill) could approach the PCs, scared of some unknown terror and haunted by dreams that portend some approaching terror.  5) The many signs of growing evil, all added together, could move the town leaders to approach the PCs to find the cause.  Whatever the hook, the PCs should find themselves investigating at least a part of the mystery and thus be led into the rest of it.The actionMuch of the investigation should be spent in legwork and the DM should develop clues that connect various elements of the mystery with other elements.  The PCs need to especially be drawn by clues towards the Temple of Fire.  For example, investigating the cemetery should cause the players to notice that the sacred roses that grow up the side of the walls of the temple of fire have all started wilting and dying, a dread omen.  Many in the town have noticed this.  Jiphthar has inadvertly left a few clues at the site of where he kidnapped some of the beggars that point to the temple of fire (such as a prayer chain, dropped in a struggle and subsequently picked up by a beggar who is wearing it, thinking it is pretty.)  The playmates of the last child killed by Dalius say that she went with a pale man who gave her one of the sacred roses of fire as a present to lure her after him.  Spells used to gain information should also vaguely point to the temple of fire and to blood.   If questioned, Jiphthar appears to be benign and helpful.  He is full of righteous platitudes and hypocritical condemnations of ‘evildoers.’  He also appears much distressed by the vandalism of the cemetery and the recent decay taking hold of the sacred roses that grow on the temple walls.  He allows the PCs limited access to the temple but does not reveal to them the existence of the secret rooms in which Dalius is dwelling and in which he has hidden the corpses of the beggars (as well as the containers of tainted blood).  Nor does he allow them into his private quarters in which he has several necromantic works hidden.  If the PCs confront him with the existence of Dalius, he explains to them Dalius’ desire and how they have planned to publicly have Dalius greet the fire of the sun in front of all the town to atone for his sins.  If confronted before the ceremony with evidence of necromancy in the temple, he acts astonished and ‘commissions’ the PCs to find out the culprit.  If confronted with his own guilt before the ceremony he will fight and flee, seeking to preserve his hide.  DMs may decide that Jiphthar has unholy help in all of this, in which case a confrontation with Jiphthar could involve demons.If the PCs confront Dalius in the temple, he will tell them of his desire to end it all (at the right time of course).  He may let on that he does not fully trust Jiphthar’s motives but at this point he is so tired of life that he does not really care just so long as it is going to be over.  Dalius should be played as feeling old, tired and not caring.  The DM should also make it plain just how powerful this vampire is, even when not engaged in combat.Two nights before the dawn ceremony, the PCs have an opportunity to confront Dalius outside the temple as he seeks to feed one last time.  This is likely the first and only time they see him before the dawn ceremony.  The vampire’s hunger drives him and he does not care whom he feeds upon.  Dalius normally tries to destroy the evidence of his feeding if at all possible, burning any corpses.  Dalius should be too powerful for the PCs to take on unexpectedly.  If he is losing, he flees in gaseous form.  If he is winning he takes a victim to feed upon and leaves the wounded wondering what exactly happened.The night before the ceremony, a strange and wondrous event occurs.  Driven by the growing powers of darkness in the temple and by their own desire for revenge, the four murdered priest rise as undead and move through the streets of the community.  These undead priests are not necessarily evil but they are hunting with a desire for revenge and anyone who stands in their way is savagely attacked.  As undead, they look somewhat like zombies but have the holy power of fire on their side and cannot be turned as normal.  This should be a night of fear and fire as the priests burn down those buildings they deem as unholy, including a brothel, the thieves guild, several bars and the homes of some citizens.  If directed by anyone with a reasonable explanation towards the temple they will move that way.  Otherwise they will attack anyone they remember as being ‘wicked,’ eventually heading off of their own will towards the temple they remember as home.  At this point Jiphthar will be forced to fight off the undead himself and will if the PCs are around, ask them for assistance.   The last priest of fire left in the temple will die during the night, and Jiphthar will claim that he was killed by the undead priests.  When the undead priests are killed, Jiphthar will declare it a sign that good will prevail and will begin gathering his flock to watch the triumph of fire (i.e. the dawn death of Dalius).The conclusion:  If the PCs have not take actions which will prevent it, Jiphthar and Dalius will follow their plans for the ceremony.  Jiphthar will feed Dalius the tainted blood, telling him that it has been blessed in such a way as to speed his soul to its resting place.  Dalius will not care one way or the other and comply.  If the ceremony is successful, Jiphthar will claim that Dalius was responsible for the events of the last few weeks.  Two weeks later however Jiphthar will have finished his potion and joined the ranks of the undead, bringing forth an army of ghouls, zombies, skeletons and wights from the cemetery.  The gothic temple of fire will become a fortress of the undead and Jiphthar will in one night destroy the town creating a haven of darkness and death.If the PCs foil the ceremony, Dalius will still seek to kill himself at the appointed hour.  However, he will fight anyone who tries to kill him before then.  Jiphthar will flee and as a necromancer eventually seek a revenge on those who robbed him of his perfect chance to gain the ultimate power over death.  If the PCs foil the ceremony and kill Jiphthar, they will have truly solved the problem, but the community will never quite believe that their beloved priest was evil and the PCs will lose standing in the community over the ordeal.  Acknowledgement’s to Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris from whom I lifted the idea for Dalius.Edited to fix an open tag.  Otherwise the whole thing would be in size 3 text.  </blockquote>

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