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Darcand
2010-04-21, 06:39 AM
I have an idea kicking off in my head. It starts with bandits stashing their loot in a burial mound which results in a (something awesome) and then canniblistic cultists of Orcus and drow slavers of Kiaransalee converge on the area and fight it out over the (something awesome) at the expense of the local population.

So, what are they fighting over?

Jack_Simth
2010-04-21, 06:57 AM
Hmm... perhaps some necromancer came up with a way to make Lesser Liches - bind lots of people to the same phylactery, potentially against their will. Catch: Anyone bound to this phylactery drops dead when the phylactery is destroyed. The original necromancer is long gone (he had a seperate phylactery, which was destroyed) and this special phylactery was long lost... but when the bandits went to stash their loot, they found it, and accidentally bound themselves to it during a night of drunken revelry (it's very easy to use - you just spill some of your blood on it, without giving the blood time to cool. There was an argument on how to divide the loot... and being violent bandits, they tried to settle the argument violently). In the morning, when they found they could no longer die, they started looting.

Catching wind of the bandits that went from small-timers to immortals, the leaders of the cultists and slavers (having been bound to it centuries ago) want the phylactery both so it doesn't get destroyed (which would kill them), and so that they can use it's power to raise unkillable armies.

Tyrmatt
2010-04-21, 07:53 AM
Bodger, Glint and Stunt were thieves just for the thrill of it.

One night as they tried to turn over a crypt for the valuable jewellery that the noble family that it belonged to. Imagine their surprise when they fell through a portion of the floor into a deeper tomb and came across the hidden grave of Guild Master Bartemius, a legendary thief from 60 years ago. As they try to pry the odd dagger that's driven through the coffin from it, Bartemius rises again and makes them his undead enforcers. Determined to recover his lost wealth and avenge his betrayal by the next Guildmaster, Bartemius sets out to capture several powerful items that made him the legendary thief he was, supplemented by his newfound undead abilities in order to start a new criminal organisation, one not hampered by mortality.

Moving into smuggling powerful items that aid the undead and providing mindless, obedient slaves (skeletons/zombies) to the less moral nobles outrages the slavers and when the Orcus cultists try to make Bartemius pay homage to their lord, he turns them into his own minions and has them wage outright gang war against their former brethren.

I'm not hugely familiar with most types of undead but rough starting points for these would be:
Bartemius - Some kind of Death Knight/Rogue type. Possibly a mummy if you want to reuse and power up The Giant's Lenrin the Painless.
Bodger - Bane Wraith from Heroes of Horror. Formerly a safe cracker and trap disarmer, now he just floats on through.
Glint - Huecava maybe, he'd like the idea of having gems for eyes. Someone who loves the flashier prizes when theivery was undertaken.
Stunt - Second storey man. Some kind of undead with good jumping ability.

Extrapolate from there if this pleases you. Can either be made into a few levels adventure or an entire campaign if you want to make Bartemius particularly powerful.

TheMadLinguist
2010-04-21, 08:09 AM
A map to the last place on earth where the blood lilies grow.

Legend has it that so long as you carry a flower from a living plant, death's grip on you will forever be tenuous. Rather than die and move on, you glide along the border between life and death and slip through when another perishes.


Or something like that.