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Message: <blockquote data-quote="seasong" data-source="post: 679010" data-attributes="member: 5137">A Fiend In NeedI may lose for brevity, but I think it stands well at this length <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=":)" />.IngredientsUnfortunate coincidence - the fiend's planning all looks coincidentalMirror of surpassing beauty - a method of dispatching the krakenBlackguard(s) - it is their vileness that brought the fiend in to set up the coincidencesDeflect arrows - the flying fiend's best defenseContemplative kraken - the kraken at sea, the mirror makes it contemplativeSerene battlefield - fighting on a becalmed oceanNote: the fiend should be tailored to the GM's campaign, so I haven't detailed him. Assume a CR 10 fiend. The PCs should be about level 8, and the scenario should seem impossible unless they are clever.Summary: BackgroundThis can be inserted into any reasonably flexible city locale that has a nearby ally/demi-ally across a short stretch of sea or ocean. I've left the city within fairly generic, and added two bits of essential history to it, which should fit nicely into most regional histories.A few hundred years ago, a fiend of uncommon talent and ambition managed to break four paladins of their oaths and bind them to His will. Known as the Scourge, the blackguards managed to raise quite a bit of hell before they were finally caught an brought to justice. A powerful wizard of the time suggested that their punishment should be commensurate to their crime, and his suggestion was followed. Each was taken to a small room and told to kneel if they wished to live. All but one did, and as they kneeled, the wizard used a more powerful variant of the flesh to stone spell to trap them in that form, still alive (and aware!) of their surroundings, but unable to act. The fourth one did not kneel, but instead expressed regret and asked that his sorry life be ended.Of the three, they have come to be known as Deceit, Fear and Malice for the expressions on their faces, hidden from the one they were kneeling before. Deceit's face is almost alive with planning and plotting, his eyes frozen in the act of darting over the possibilities. Fear's face is stricken, frozen with anguish - almost as if he knows his fate already. Malice's face is the most frightening, for even in stone, his hatred for his captors burns in his eyes.The fourth was killed by a swift decapitation, re-dressed in his paladin's armor (with the head re-attached) and turned to stone in a position of repose. His face is peaceful, and he has come to be called Forgiveness.More recently, the fiend has begun setting about to recovering His lost blackguards. His first step is merely to get them out from under the city's guard, so He can more leisurely pursue getting them restored. To that end, he has (in the guise of a wealthy, irritating, and somewhat foppish merchant) set up a set of beneficial trade agreements between this city and one just across the sea and, over the last century or two, established cultural festivals in each of the two cities. As each 'merchant' identity has aged, a new spokesperson for a better tomorrow has stepped up to the plate. It's almost traditional now.That may seem like a lot of good work for a fiend to do, just to get his blackguards back, but He figures He can break things down again later.Recently, He made a few suggestions into the right ears, and part of this year's festival will be a parade of each city's history in the other. In order to abridge trust issues, each will have the others' historic items at the same time, much like kingdoms would sometimes temporarily trade sons.The two big ticket items coming from our city are the blackguard statues, and a magical mirror that shows you, not as you are, but as you want to be. The mirror's tie to the city's history was a powerful but hideous sorcerer who was seemingly unstoppable... until a wizard enchanted the mirror so, and sent it to him as a gift. The sorcerer became quite enamored of it, and ceased his programs of destruction... and, according to legend, lived to quite a ripe old age with naught but the mirror as a companion.The fiend's plan is simple: He has employed a kraken to sink both ships as they pass out of sight of each of the cities, while He flits about and prevents magical communication with their respective home cities. The statues will tumble into the depths, where He can rescue and restore them. He then plans to sow misinformation and anger, and frame each of the cities as the criminals... thus breaking down the relations he's spent the past century or so building up.Both of the cities are cautious, and our city has employed a two-fold method of ensuring the survival of its statues and mirror. Firstly, it is sending counterfeits on the big, public, showy boat, and sending the real items (the parade can't have counterfeits, lest relations with their sister-city be strained) along with a reasonably trustworthy smuggler, a ship's captain named Uuhef (a fierce, unsavory, red-headed dwarf). Secondly, it has hired some powerful adventurers to guard the decoy, and some not-so-well-known adventurers to guard the real mccoy.Unfortunately, it was the fiend who suggested this tactic.HooksRegardless of the hooks you use, make sure the PCs know all of the above history EXCEPT the fiend's part in all of it. They should know about the mirror, the blackguards, etc. They can learn this from shipmates on the cruise, or be citizens of the city, etc. The information is necessary to survive.Hook #1: The heroes are hired and on Captain Uuhef's ship. As events unfold, they will have to deal with the kraken and an invisible fiend in the background who is ruining communication, scrying, and other forms of spell casting.Hook #2: The heroes are on the decoy ship. Have the decoys be poorly made, so they know what's up (sort of). When the other ship is attacked, the wizard on board Uuhef's ship is almost clever - when he finds out he can't get a communication off to the city, he sends one to the other ship instead, begging for help.Alternatives: The heroes could be members of Captain Uuhef's crew. If they played through the Fool's Cold scenario earlier in the Iron DM competition, they could have run off with Uuhef there and joined up with him. In this case, have the adventurers that come on board be incompetent louts who couldn't protect a pickle jar. You could also have the PCs working for the fiend. In this case, you might even have them pretend to fight off the kraken, and substitute counterfeits on board the ship. Then, when the other city's boat disappears, and only counterfeits arrive, the other city will KNOW the first city was playing them for fools.[color-orange]Actions[/color]Everything starts, for the PCs, when the kraken attacks. It will start by calming the seas with its daily weather control, to stop the ships. Then, from the silent, serene waters, tentacles will reach up and wrap around the ship. The fight is on.The kraken will not be attacking people initially - its job is to sink the boat itself, and then it can focus on munchies. If anyone starts really hurting it, it will lash out at them, but otherwise, simply describe the horrendous damage it is doing to their boat... and the fact that fly spells keep getting dispelled.The solution to the kraken is the mirror. Creative PCs may find another way to handle things, but the mirror will captivate the kraken more or less automatically, allowing the party to deal with the scary fiend in true Big Bad Guy style.Note: the fiend will continue flying far from the PCs, and should have the deflect arrows feat to help reduce the damage they can do to him. He focuses primarily on counterspells, dispels, anti-scrying and so on. His real goal was to prevent action while the kraken attacked, so he's not really intent on fighting. He will likely run if he can't put a dent in the PCs, and they will have to wonder where he might show up again.This scenario can go a lot of ways, and lead to a lot of politics further down the line, depending on how well the PCs do. Repairing the resulting mistrust between the cities would be a MAJOR coup, as it would essentially alter the fiend's plot into a very, very good thing for the region. That will make a serious enemy out of the fiend, and lead to even more dastardly goodness down the line.</blockquote>

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