Trouble in Archendale

[Rapida]

(I'm not sure I followed cannon FR, I might of severely weakened some group or forgotten about them. If I did please forgive me, mention it, and suggest a way to put them in.)

Well my PCs have done it again, taken a simple adventure and screwed up the dalelands. I need help planning my next game because my players took some un expected turns. First off the CotSQ is the module I'm going to lead into, but first they have to deal with a minion of Irae. A vampire sorcereror drow who serves her. I won't bore you with my whole campaign or anything. Here is the most recent happenings. They arrived in archenbridge to find a paladin that had recently gone missing. They asked around town then were pointed to a shrine of Tyr he ran. They investigated and found that he (Arathorn) has gone to investigate the recent surge in undead around the dales. Well he found and was transformed into a vampire by the priorly mentioned drow. They went into the archwood to investigate, this is where I need help. The Arda (the drow vampire) and Arathorn have already ran out all of the druids or turned them into undead. The PCs investigate meeting a few undead and finding a ghost that they decide they should ( an old druid that was killed by a hydra when she tried to save a girl from it, she needs to be buried to be released). Anyway so they wander in the woods trying to find the source of the negative energy (a portal that Arda opened to help power the undead).

Then they ran into Arathorn, he made the party flee after a tough fight where he was forced to assume gaseous form and flee to his coffin. Well the PCs head back to the Temple of Chauntea (the temple thats been suppourting them on this quest to remove the undead), they get healed and sleep at the inn. Then an undead assasin attacks and kills the cleric (they knew of the assasin he had been killing nobles in the dale, I got this from the FRCS about the hook that an undead assasin had been killing nobles, anyway). They hurry to the temple with the body the cleric doesn't want to get raised (he was a DMPC that I had wanted to get rid of). Then they head back into the woods to kill the hydra from the druid quest. They go into the swamp to find it and they find it. It surprises them and forces them to flee.

Arda then scrys on them like she has been doing for a while now, the mage's anti-scrying blocks the first attempt but the second gets through. She commands the undead to converge on their position. They are chased through the forest by undead. Soon they are surrounded, the mage gets a crazy ideal. He casts rope trick and throws in a bag of holding (

As a house rule to weaken rope trick this acts as a portable hole into a bag of holding, you know the planar rift and all). 2 of the characters are shunted to the House of Nature, and the third is teleported to the plane of fire (he dies). I need help deciding on what happens to the 2 in the house of nature, they are in the realm of Nobanion. So they need a way to get home and a way to stop Arda. Arda saw them get thrown into another plane and assumes they are dead.

So I'm thinking she will launch an attack on Archenbridge crushing its defenders (I know there is a Temple of Chauntea and Temple of Tempus, any others?). So the PCs will have to go into a ghost town (literally) and assasinate Arda. Any suggestions on anything? (Sorry if the above is kind of hard to read but I'm just typing it as I think of it.) I would like the town to be destroyed or at least battered. I'm thinking Sembia will move in and take over most of the land. Also, Elminister is in Hell at the time so don't mention him please. So does anyone have any ideals?
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=437188

 

[Mr_GrinReaper]

Nice weave of intrigue!!!

Well, yea I think that the vampire Arda should lay siege to Archenbridge, that way, the party will be really freaked out by the town, I'm already imagining the look on the PC's faces if they walk into the local tavern, and see a zombie and a few skeleton getting a drink, being served by a ghast. The Vampire could program them to do this, and it would be a great intro to what they would have to accomplish. But the above undead could be changed, according to the level of the party.

In the house of nature, hmmmmmm, they could help out some entity living in the HON, where the corruption of _______ could be causing it pain, and in gratitude the entity would give them a reward, and provide a plane shift/other planar transport spells, back to the material plane.

*blank could be filled with any villain important to your campaign, including Arda or the fallen paladin

 

[Rapida]

I was thinking of making about a month of time pass since they were transported through the rift and the time they use their ring of sending (or help something in the HoN) to get home.

 

[themind]

Have a little sidequest in the House of Nature. Either with just the two characters, or have the others new PC be trapped there too for some odd reason.

For the side quest, maybe their arrival is convienent enough to coincide with some attacks from maybe some Undead. Keep with the same theme you've been going with, another small plot f Irae maybe. And since the PC's want to find a way home, the wemics or Nobanian figure, "Why not give these guys a chance to earn their trip home.

Don't make it way too difficult though, something like a very low ranking undead in Irae's army, maybe she just wanted to get rid of the person. Probably not make it where they gain enough experiance to go up a level.

just some ideas, I probably could elaborate on it more, but I'm going on very little sleep at the moment. My brain not working well right now.

Out of curiosity, what Level are the characters at the moment, and what are you aiming for to begin CotSQ?

 

[Rapida]

They are level 8, about to level up. One player is gonna remake a character at bottom of level 7 since he doesn't want to get his elf scout back from the plane of fire. (He doesn't want to loose his items)

 

[Rapida]

I've decided against letting Arda take over Archenbridge. I don't think it would be very realistic for her to be able to take it over and hold it. Instead I'm going to make her focus on releasing something from the ruins in the Archwood. I've just got to decided what it is she is releasing. I'm trying to think what would make Irae send one of her agents into the Archwood to get, maybe a holy relic of Kiaranselee? or maybe a demon or something is trapped in the ruins? I can't decide I do know the ruins will be trapped, infested with undead, and home to some deadly creatures of their own.

Condition(Encounter Chance)
Carrying Lights(40% per hour) Assuming it is night time.
No Lights(25% per hour)
Stealthy {only visible member has a hide check of +10 or better}(10% per hour)
All invisible(5% per hour)
All ethereal(2% per hour)
Well Hidden{members all are hiding in a certain area, all have hide checks of at least 15} 2% per hour
Travel on the streets adds +10% to the chance of encounter.
Reduce the encounter chance by half if the party isn't moving from an area. This doesn't apply to well Hidden.

I just need some help on encounters that the players may meet while in the ruins. Any undead can fit the bill or you can add some other type of monster. Think of anything and I will put it into consideration. The party will consist of 2 8th level characters (possibly 9th by this time) and 1 7th level character. They can generally take something a normal party could take. They may have some allies, its according to who they meet. Try to keep any offered challanges in the range of 3rd level encounters to 13th level. The closer to average the more chance I can get use out of it.

I would greatly appreciate any help, ideals, or suggestions.

 

[Blade of Desecration]

Send huge gangs of advanced wights after them. Just some fun undead. And vampires. Vampires are fun too.
But if you want some real muscle to attack, sick a group of death knight blackguards on them.

But maybe Irae is trying to make a bargain with a lich trapped inside the ruins? Perhaps the lich was a cleric of who was lost generations ago when she was attacked and trapped a few hundred years previous. And perhaps the lich also has a minor artifact, or horde of undead that Irae wants to inlist.

 

[Nightcloak]

I like Blade's idea a lot. I'd run with that.

But, I'm going to offer a twist to give you more options, however.

Perhaps she is sending in a party of her own to distroy the lich and capture the undead for herself. That way she has more power to actually capture Archenbridge. The part could be the deathnight, perhaps a minor cleric lich, a ghast monk (Flurry of Blows!) and a few low level skeleton fighters.

The NPC Party is additional opposition and a plot leak. If the party figuers it out, then they will need to decide if the want to really help one side versus the other (the joys of politics) or go petal to the metal and just start taking out everything.

 

[Blade of Desecration]

The part could be the deathnight, perhaps a minor cleric lich, a ghast monk (Flurry of Blows!) and a few low level skeleton fighters.

Problem: the party is 7-8th level. I suggested only one enemy lich for the reason that in order to acheive lichdom, you need to have an CL of 13 or higher. So, even against the single lich they should wait a level or two. Since the weakest the lich in the party you suggest would be 13th level, I think that's out of the question. Good idea overall, I just don't think it'll work for his party. However, pull out the lich and it'll work.

 

[Rapida]

Does anyone have any suggestions for an EL 9-11 encounter on a grassland celestial plane? I was thinking maybe some demons were on a hunting party there. Any suggestions would be appreciated