What does a horrible monster want?

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Players stay out! That means you Darminicus and (possibly) Eccles!








Right.

I'm plotting a new campaign arc. The main focus is an ancient evil thing buried under a large city. It was imprisoned thousands of years ago, not long after the dawn of human history.

There are two groups interested in it:

The first is a fallen cleric. The poor man fell from grace. Basically, he couldn't keep his lust under control. In order, he ended up losing his position in society, faith and finally sanity. In the later stages of this, he heard a new voice in his head - the horrible thing. It's directing him to release it and carry out some of its goals. He's hoping it will rebuild a new world, where he will be respected again. Currently a messiah for a cult of the desperate and mad.

The second is a trading consortium. A bunch of rich movers and shakers. They've come into posession of old documents containing details of the thing and how it was imprisoned. They believe they can tap it for power, so have set about following the release instructions they've got. Hired in some 'experts' to help. Not contacted it yet.

Intend the players to get involved with both sides at various points...


Anyway, I'm looking to flesh out my ancient evil beastie. My first thought is that it's a kind of demon created and powered by ritual sacrifice. It was probably imprisoned by it's creators. Think they were a now dead Aztec civilisation - figured I'd have fun with Aztec cities, massive skull walls and the rest of it.

What might it want? Beyond escaping what kind of goals would be interesting? Why was it locked up? Anything you'd do different? Any other ideas?

All thoughts welcome.

 

[demiurge1138]

The AEB wants to destroy his old rival, the one who cast him down and had him imprisioned in the first place. The only problem is, the old rival is now a god.

Or the AEB wants to restart the world, reshaping it in his own image, and is giving its new herald great power in order to create all sorts of horrible monsters that will be the denizens of the Dark World.

Or the AEB, in the tradition of the illithids, hates the dessicating and warming power of the sun, and seeks to forever extinguish it (this works fine with the Dark World, and if its ancient enemy is now a sun god, works well with that plot, too).

Demiurge out.

 

[Dog Moon]

Since sacrifices power it, I would have it keep the souls within it. It uses the souls like energy, consuming one of it ever becomes weakened. They could also be used as different attacks or defenses. It controls several souls which it has released into the world. These souls are served as spies, allowing it to contact people if it so desires and watch the surrounding areas near where it is located. They could also serve as a defense. Imagine a creature with souls circling it, blocking attacks and magical effects.

However, one thing it can do, which people want, is that it can give souls to other people. The trade consortium is serving for a way to steal the souls from it to grant themselves power.

An interesting idea for the cleric would be that it wasn't purely lust in and of itself, but lust for a single person, a beautiful women he wanted ever since he saw her. However, she was married to someone else and pushed away his advances. His lust drove him into raping her and thus began his long fall from grace. This woman, during this time when he created the cult, etc., was killed, but before she could go to heaven, the creature stole her soul. He doesn't use it any, but keeps it just in case he needs to use her soul against the cleric.

Honestly, I'm not sure about goals for the creature beyond trying to escape. I'll try to think of one, unless someone comes up with something good.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Wow! Thanks a lot, some seriously cool ideas there.

Firstly, demiurge1138, that sun god idea is very nifty. Having him as a lower powered god/transcended mortal is probably the way to go. Plenty of interesting plotlines to do with taking down a god. Guess anything powerful enough to do that ought to be able to exterminate the AEB itself? Or at least weaken it enough for a feasible fight?

What'd it'd do afterwards could be good for scaring the PCs.

Dog_Moon2003. Also very cool. Think there's a lot of milage with the cleric and his victim. Might be interesting if she was alive and well. Better still, if she's someone important now... possibly tie her into the party at some point? Guess the AEB would be interested as it'd give him more leverage over the cleric. Excellent. [Rubs hands]

Really like the soul idea. Been wondering about some FX for the AEB and that's a great idea. Can foreshadow with hideous ghostlike entities hanging around. Ratchet up the paranoia level with glimpses here and there.

Guess it'd be pretty hungry by now. Supose it'll be trying to get fed... Ick.

 

[Steverooo]

Escape... Revenge! Since it feeds upon sacrifice, the deaths of all living things. Then it will eat the world, the moon, the sun, and move onto other stars... Once it has consumed this Universe, it will move onto the next one, with far more power, and repeat the process! In the end, only an otherwise-empty string of planetless Universes, inhabited only by the undead, will survive!

Of course, evil, in the end, is always self-destructive...

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Here is my take on things:

Don't bother too much with specific motivations. If it's going to be a proper cthonic entity in the vein of the Cthulhu Mythos, it won't have many motivations that humans will be understand apart from a desire to escape its prison and perhaps gain more powerful.

Instead, focus on the Really Bad Things that will happen if it is released - or even if the mystic wards that imprison it weaken. Natural and unnatural disasters. Reshaping of the landscape into something more alien. Horrible dreams that plague everyone on the same continent, and so on.

Just being close to the prison should have some negative effects on people, especially if they stay there for longer time periods. Most of the cultists, apart from recent arrivals, should be pretty much insane. The entity speaks to them in their dreams in inhuman languages, but in their insanity they hear what they want to hear...

As for the guild, maybe the creature extrudes some sort of substance from its prison with unique magical properties... and some unfortunate long-term side effects. The cultists use this substance for their rites, but they also sell some of it to the guild to make some money.

Eventually, the guild will decide to take control of that power source from the cult for themselves, but in their arrogance and power will damage the prison even more than the cult managed (just think of the "Arrogant Authority Figure" in just any disaster movie you can think of). The PCs have learned the truth, and must try to stop them. And just when it seems that things cannot possibly get any worse, the cult leader comes out of hiding for a last stab at freeing his master...


How does all that sound?

 

[Tinner]

In conjunction with the sun god angle mentioned before, why not make this evil thing a Titan?
Traditionally, the evil titans were imprisoned by the new young gods when they took over, and the titans hunger for revenge.
This titan wants free so it can then release its siblings, and get revenge on the "upstart younglings" who imprisoned it.
Making this horrible thing a handsome, human-looking titan will help explain why people are willing to deal with it too. It always struck me as odd how otherwise rational NPC's would be willing to work for/with some hideous ichor dripping monstrosity.

 

[The Shaman]

What does a horrible monster want?

A horrible monsterette, of course.

He's awakened, and now it's mating time. Of course, his monstrous love has also been entombed from the beginning of time, or spirited away to another plane, or ascended to godhood (and found a new consort?), or...

 

[eris404]

The monstrous thing is actually a larva and so it merely wants to consume enough food so that it can grow/change into its adult form. I sort of like the idea of something horrible and huge with simply animal intelligence and desires.

 

[VirgilCaine]

A horrible monster wants what everone wants--love, acceptance, and a really, really big temple full of sacrifices.