Akulatraxis
2010-09-22, 07:05 PM
Got a bit of a DMing question, more about story than actual crunch. It needs some serious back story though so sorry for the long post in advance.
I’ve recently finished DMing a 4.0 campaign from levels 1 to 8 where the party of 4 (Female Half-elf Paladin of Khord; Female Half-elf Bard; oft drunk Male Tiefling Wizard Summoner and Male Dwarf Warlord) all went on a crusade to wipe out various abominations that were coming from the swamps near their home cities. It is set in Faerun in the very north of the Shining South though most of the lore I use and know is from 3.X.
They went forth into the swamps and tracked the abominations into some ruins that were slowly sinking away into the bog. Eventually they overcame the horrors of the ruins and the abominations that lay within eventually finding out that while the monsters originated from the ruins in the swamp they were simply the work of one insane Sorcerer called Malcolm West.
Malcolm West has some back story as a basically good man who turns his mind to working out some way to raise the dead without the use of necromancy or divine intervention. He eventually came up with a way to chemically reanimate the dead with arcane concoctions of his own design. However he was frustrated by his work since he was unable to bring soul and body together without forcing the spirit to return through the use of necromancy. His ultimate aim is immortality without the use of necromancy. He fears his own fate should he die, he is effectively a catch 22 atheist (he doesn’t believe that mortals should follow the path gods set them and so to worship any god would just be lip service on his part). He knows the gods exist but cannot commit himself to any of them since he knows that he could not worship them wholeheartedly… he still fears The Wall of the Faithless however.
In the end Malcolm’s obsession sent him slightly insane, he was forced to constantly practice on the dead and dieing to try to perfect his arcane serums and normally met with only partial success. Many of the abominations he created were simply abandoned and left to roam the swamps. Others that he could control were sent out to bring him more fresh materials.
Our heroes eventually fight their way to his laboratory and force a final confrontation. In their battle they destroy much of the underground lab (mainly due to the summons of the intoxicated wizard) including several furnaces and a few structural pillars. They knock out Malcolm West and the whole place starts coming down around them. The heroes flee and ace a skills challenge to get out before they are crushed or incinerated.
I played the last battle and skills challenge hardcore and fluffed none of my roles… the Dwarf Warlord died in the final battle with West but the rest survived the campaign relatively unscathed (though the Paladin is now horribly scarred.).
And finally we come to the point of this post. I want to, at some point, bring Malcolm West back into our campaigns. However he is dead (crushed in the middle of the destroyed ruins), and should by all rights be headed for the wall. I’ve got a few half baked ideas but would be interested to know what the playground thinks on it all.
Do you have any ideas for West’s return? Paragon tier BBEG preferably.
(P.S this is a little bit of a request for critique, I’ve been DMing for years and always get positive feedback from my players but they are all my friends and I sort of want to know what a fairly neutral crowd think of the story I’ve come up with. The whole campaign had a fairly creepy abomination theme, and I wont lie about being inspired by H.P Lovecraft in more than one area. Malcolm West’s laboratory was meant to be a very disturbing and horrid place. The ruins were based on those of the Id from Lovecraft’s short stories in the Neconomicon and such. It may also be interesting to know what people think on the idea of running the last battle of any campaign hardcore, not fluffing any roles and just seeing if the PC‘s can survive.)
I’ve recently finished DMing a 4.0 campaign from levels 1 to 8 where the party of 4 (Female Half-elf Paladin of Khord; Female Half-elf Bard; oft drunk Male Tiefling Wizard Summoner and Male Dwarf Warlord) all went on a crusade to wipe out various abominations that were coming from the swamps near their home cities. It is set in Faerun in the very north of the Shining South though most of the lore I use and know is from 3.X.
They went forth into the swamps and tracked the abominations into some ruins that were slowly sinking away into the bog. Eventually they overcame the horrors of the ruins and the abominations that lay within eventually finding out that while the monsters originated from the ruins in the swamp they were simply the work of one insane Sorcerer called Malcolm West.
Malcolm West has some back story as a basically good man who turns his mind to working out some way to raise the dead without the use of necromancy or divine intervention. He eventually came up with a way to chemically reanimate the dead with arcane concoctions of his own design. However he was frustrated by his work since he was unable to bring soul and body together without forcing the spirit to return through the use of necromancy. His ultimate aim is immortality without the use of necromancy. He fears his own fate should he die, he is effectively a catch 22 atheist (he doesn’t believe that mortals should follow the path gods set them and so to worship any god would just be lip service on his part). He knows the gods exist but cannot commit himself to any of them since he knows that he could not worship them wholeheartedly… he still fears The Wall of the Faithless however.
In the end Malcolm’s obsession sent him slightly insane, he was forced to constantly practice on the dead and dieing to try to perfect his arcane serums and normally met with only partial success. Many of the abominations he created were simply abandoned and left to roam the swamps. Others that he could control were sent out to bring him more fresh materials.
Our heroes eventually fight their way to his laboratory and force a final confrontation. In their battle they destroy much of the underground lab (mainly due to the summons of the intoxicated wizard) including several furnaces and a few structural pillars. They knock out Malcolm West and the whole place starts coming down around them. The heroes flee and ace a skills challenge to get out before they are crushed or incinerated.
I played the last battle and skills challenge hardcore and fluffed none of my roles… the Dwarf Warlord died in the final battle with West but the rest survived the campaign relatively unscathed (though the Paladin is now horribly scarred.).
And finally we come to the point of this post. I want to, at some point, bring Malcolm West back into our campaigns. However he is dead (crushed in the middle of the destroyed ruins), and should by all rights be headed for the wall. I’ve got a few half baked ideas but would be interested to know what the playground thinks on it all.
Do you have any ideas for West’s return? Paragon tier BBEG preferably.
(P.S this is a little bit of a request for critique, I’ve been DMing for years and always get positive feedback from my players but they are all my friends and I sort of want to know what a fairly neutral crowd think of the story I’ve come up with. The whole campaign had a fairly creepy abomination theme, and I wont lie about being inspired by H.P Lovecraft in more than one area. Malcolm West’s laboratory was meant to be a very disturbing and horrid place. The ruins were based on those of the Id from Lovecraft’s short stories in the Neconomicon and such. It may also be interesting to know what people think on the idea of running the last battle of any campaign hardcore, not fluffing any roles and just seeing if the PC‘s can survive.)