Plot Help

[FinnDragon]

Hi everyone, I have been reading this forum for about 2 years and first joined the site back in May. This is the first attempt at starting a thread. If you guys want to help keep reading please! :-)

I have been running a game for about 3 years and the plot is hitting the homestretch. My girlfriend's character is a homebrewed fey race ECL 14 rogue.

Her race was shunted off the prime material plane and she is soon going to discover their location. The ones who exiled them also made it impossible for the handful of fey still alive to return.

My question for you guys is what would be a cool puzzle-ish or otherwise interesting task she and the rest of the party can perform to allow her race to return?

[SamBurke]

Make it large, involving ruins ands gigantic stones. You can't go wrong.

Also, increase the price: make the cost of failure death, or anhillation of the race. Create tension, then don't end it in one session. Leave the final stage until next week... I guarantee all of your players will find a way to be there, no matter what's on their schedule.

[Savannah]

I would go to the fairy-tale type impossible tasks, like gathering moonbeams or water from a stone. Perhaps they need to get a certain number of that sort of ingredient before a certain date, then bring it all to a certain spot and perform some sort of ritual. Then you have the logic puzzle of how to do said things (personally, I wouldn't have any set way and let them figure something out, also remember that trickery is standard in that sort of tale, such as squeezing a...I think it was a cheese...that looked like a rock but would produce liquid), the race against time for getting everything, and of course the actual doing of the ritual (perhaps they would be attacked by minions of the guy who sent the race away who are determined to disrupt the ritual).

[Cole10000]

An interesting puzzle huh. Those are kind of difficult, there's a very fine line between interesting and annoying so watch your step here.

If it was me making this puzzle I would have it involve a long dungeon crawl and to procede to each seperate area you have to solve a puzzle, each different than the last before finally reaching the final puzzle that can either release the trapped plane or destroy the plane you're on.

For added flare I would make the puzzles linked with the background of the trapped race and the trappers.

[Kol Korran]

um, i think a bit more information would help us think of better suited ideas for your party.

1) who are the other characters? do they have any stakes in this affair, or do they just help their friend?

2) have you tried any puzzles with the players in the past? did they liked it? what did they like, what didn't they?

3) what was the home world/ plane like? typical fey world (for a certain value of "typical"... ) or something special? who banished the race? why? what were the terms of the banishement?

4) does the banishing fey of the home world has any special laws? traditions? anything we can use? who are their rulers or decision making people in this matter? what is the limit of their power and abilities?

5) any special themes in your world or campaign that you think might affect this matter? special rules for magic, for the fey, for other phenomenans or races?

i may have a few ideas, but the answers to these questions may help furnish them out.

[FinnDragon]

Thanks for all the great responses. I will try to answer your questions as succinctly as possible.

First let me give you a quick summary of the plot. The elves were engaged in a long and bloody war with the orcs about a thousand years ago. The elf king Neradanth was afflicted wit ha powerful curse by the orcs leaders the ogre maji. His high council cured him by using forbidden magic to make him a lich. His faith in Corellon Larethian kept his sanity intact and with his new found power began to lay waste to the orcish armies, calling down angels and the like. Gruumsh furious at his people's defeat struck down Corellon, losing his eye in the process. Corellon died, but as gods in my world can't truly die he was reborn twisted and insane, as Nerull. Corellon's body fell to the world an empty husk. The place where he was murdered became corrupted (a mix between effects of lingering evil from BoVD and corruption from Heroes of Horror).

Obad-Hai (who in my world is the creator, ruler of the gods type) created two races to deal with the corruption, called the Guardians. One is my girlfriend's race an aquatic fey race, they have access to spell like abilities (confusion, dimension door, mage hand, etc.), DR/cold iron and immunity to effects of corruption. The other race was a variant off the Galeb-Duhr (basically Galeb-Duhr with cleric class levels).

The elven priests of Corellon went insane as their divine connection to Corellon was instantly twisted to that of Nerull. They began trying to spread the corruption throughout the world.

1) The PC's in the party are:
-Gauge, my girlfriend's character an aquatic fey rogue, she was created by her people after they were banished to try and help free them and stop the spread of the corruption. She is only 6 years old (although fey are fully grown at their creation) and therefore has no idea who she is or who her people are.
- Tyber, a fighter/cleric/warpriest who started off the game as your typical in over their head guard. Now he is the leader of the party after the priests of Nerull attacked his homeland and he was drawn into the quest.
- Akorn, a pseudo-dragon sorcerer whose homeland was corrupted and is traveling with the party now. A relative coward but understands that the party needs his help as arcane magic is rare in my world.

The NPC's are:
- Kyrika, Tyber's wife and cleric of an island people who have taken it upon themselves to stop the corruption from spreading as their island is where the body of Corellon fell.
- Clover, a halfling druid whose people are devout followers of Obad-Hai and whose fiance was killed by priests of Nerull
- Zek, a poision-dusk lizard ranger whose family was killed in the attack on Tyber's homeland

2) I have tried puzzles in the past, a few complex traps and riddles. They liked them but I'm not sure if something that simple would work in this case.

3) The aquatic fey were being wiped out by the priests of Nerull and their allies and they tried to flee this plane to the elemental plane of water to try and regroup. When they first tried their experiment one of the leaders of the priests shunted their gate to the Etheral plane and destroyed the gate behind them. The remaining members of their race were slaughtered. The few fey who went through the first gate are now stranded in the Etheral plane barely able to interact with the Material plane. The gate they made still stands, a golden door at the bottom of a large lake.

4) The fey are incredibly tied to nature and water. They worship Obad-Hai and their ruler is their high priest or priestess chosen through an ancient commune ritual with Obad-Hai. My world has very very few PC classes, most people are warriors, experts, etc. Everyone of these fey had access to a PC class as well as the above mentioned spell-like abilities. The few surviving fey have chosen a leader amongst them, she is of corurse a cleric of Obad-Hai. They are able to cleanse corruption when it appears, but not the original site of it. They celebrate the phases of the moon and the winter and summer solstices. They do not have a complex structure of laws since their lives are filled with purpose. They hunt corruption and the unnatural, each fey does this instinctively and passionately.

5) Special rules, well there are no wizards only sorcerers in my campaign, they do not suffer from full-round metamagic. Everything else is pretty standard. The theme is really that dealing with unspeakable horror, evil and corruption will scar and change you irrevocably.

Sorry if that was wordy. If you have any other questions or would like some clarification I would happy to give it. I just didn't want to overwhelm you (hopefully i didn't already do that, lol)

[Kol Korran]

warning! this is long!

hhhmmmm... ok, thanks for the input. i'm stilla bit confused- you say the fey were banished, but then you say they were created to fight the corruption, and then you say that some ran to the ethereal plane, and they are the only survivors...

so i'm confused, WHO banished WHO? and where does Gauge fits into this? you say she was "created"- does that mean born? magically created? what? she's supposed to help fight the corruption... she alone? how? is there something inherently special about her? (child of destiny/ last jedi sort of thing?)

where is the race trying to get back to? to their land on the material plane? if they are locked in the ethereal, how do they connect the party?

ok, all those questions aside, i may have an idea or two. my approach to puzzles is not make them "now you enter a room and you find a puzzle", but rather incorporate a sort of riddle/ puzzle/ challenge into a whole adventure. here are my ideas:

the sunken depths of madness: the fey have monitored corruption strangely sipping from the depths of the ocean/ deep ancestral lake/ small sea. they are worried to it's source, and mostly to it corrupting their water, their life source. scrying and divination to the area results in glimpses of madness, and confusing visions.

one (or two) of them, fearing time is running out have went to try and explore, despite warnings, but they have not returned. if you can, have the PCs be able to question about these explorers, know them better, maybe even be handed with some book or other written form, in which there are sample secret signs (in my game it was from Druidic, but really it can be anything)

the site: the party will need acces to water breathing magic, as well as ideas how to move underwater and fight effectively there. underwater adventure, with it's restrictions can be a change of pace.

the site is full of caves, which twists and turn randomly, but more than that- the twisted magic keeps changing them! the tunnles change connetions, and also there is a strange magic that makes it hard to follow your intended direction. (you can have DCs for that and so on). as a DM you arrange a sort of random destinations from each cavern, linking to other caverns, with about 5-8 "repeating" themes (empty cave, cave with ancient ruins, cave with wondering monster and the like), but from some of the harder to reach caves, there should be some approach to more stable areas, rooms/ caves of actual importance to realizing what's going on here, and maybe leading deeper, to a second (smaller but more dangerous) set of caves.

where is the puzzle? the puzzle is 3 fold:
-the fey that entered the caves before spent some time here, and tried to figure out how they work. s/he inscribed symbols at cave openings and in the tunnels themselves towards reasonable outcome. the symbols were meant to be cryptic though, so the denziesof the caves won't be able to decipher them (the caves keep others out, and them in). the party might find it usefull figuring out the signs

makes some signs, and combinations of, to depict simple meanings ("safety", "stable place", "empty", "next of monster" "dangeorus monster" "magical turbulence" and so on) and as the party searches, roll for the destination, and present them with the signs. you may give clues (clues only!) with successful decipher script or knowledge checks, but best leave them guessing. i suggest to not make the figuring out of the signs ESSENTIAL to the party, just hugely helpful.

the second "sort of puzzle" is the keeper/s of the caves- some creature/s who was deeply corrupted by the caves, and now acts to protect it. however, it does so not by directly confronting the invaders, but rather by powerful illusions, or mind compulsions, or triggering special effects and traps in the rooms. the idea is to make it feel (at least at first) as if the dungeon itself is harassing the party. the keys to this guardian is that hides/ is unseen/ almost never faces the party (but allow them to find some evidence of his existence- writings of the fey that come before, other creatures in the cave that tell of it, maybe refuse or tools it leaves, and at some point- the party should get a glimpse of it) and the mind affecting powers.

i know some don't consider this a puzzle, but finding out how to face a creature that doesn't want to be faced, navigates the surrounding better than you, and is becoming a greater and greater danger demands quite a bit of thought, trickery and inginuity. to me that's the definition of a puzzle.

suggestions:
some Abberation (i used an Aboleth- lots of powerful illusions., but my party was lower level, maybe some creature from Lords of Madness? they got wonderfull things there!)
something with psionic powers (would be terrifiying since they don't know the system and new powers)
perhaps an undead of some sort? (ghosts with class levels are particulairly fitting)
perhaps all together? (Aboleth ghost psionic?)

the third puzzle should be stopping the corruption: the party should find some clues (again perhaps by the previous fey) as to how it could be accomplished. perhaps some divine energy at a particular point, or joining some sacred sigils spread through out the dungeon (which would call to navigating it skillfully again) in a very particular order, or something else? this should be a simpler puzzle to figure, but a bit hard to execute i'd imagine.

other features that you might put in the adventure:
- once the party makes about 100 into the caves, they suddenly shut behind them! perhaps at their level they have the means to bypass it, perhaps not. you knowtheir abilities, i suggestto make it hard. they need to find a safe place to rest (if they don't figure the place in one go), and keep their underwater abilities up. (might not be a problem at this level, but perhaps it is? if it is, it's a lovely added pressure point) the party need to find an exit.
- creatures in the caves: some are natural, but most are corrupted some way. Scrags (underwater trolls) in numbers could be lovely, as well as animals with vile templates and the like. i'd suggest an abberation or corrupted magical beasts or two. have at least 1 of the species be intelligent enough to converse with (either through trade, diplomacy or threats), to gain more info if other routes don't go)
- corrupting effects: every some time, the party rolls will? fort? or they suffer some corruption (at your discretion)/ added atmosphere, and pressure.

Memories of the lost
in some slight ways this is similar to the previous idea, but in some ways different. this however may be much more atmospheric to the campaign i feel:
the fey, in their retreat of the world, have left something behind, something important. it was left in/ taken by the enemy to the core of corruption- the place perverted by Corelleon's dead body. the entire area around it is suffused by a misty deathly fog, from which few return. the "thing" was taken inside the zone, but no one knows how deep.

the fey have, overtime, sent their heroes in, trying to find it. but none succeded. few have returned, depressed, mad, insane with grief, but able to provide some confused bewildering clues. they talk about an ongoing endless war? a fabled city? gods and others?

the fey, knowing there is no chance the PCs will succeed, sent them mockingly to this impossible quest.

you know better how to build this, but i'll give a general idea:
- some difficulties getting there due to the elven clerics and other guardians of the "holy place"

once inside, they navigate not a territory, not a dungeon, but rather the twisted memories of both Corellean and Nerull, through their history, the history of the war, and what became after it. the party takes place in scenes of great battle, in powerful magic unleashed against the enemy, the elves going crazy and their slaughter crusade after it, they visit Corelleon's court and perhaps talk to the god, they visit Nerull's graveyard, and perhaps talk to him (or his advisers as well). you might incorporate that the party needs to act convincingly in each scene, while trying to find clues. some players like that, some hate it. you're the DM, you know better me.

but after each memory, they return to the real world (what IS real?) navigating the old site (where id Corelleon fall?), maybe using clues they got in the memoeirs to try and locate the object. they meet and fight abominations, mostly undead, perhaps perversions of the creature they meet in dreams, perhaps creatures feasting on dream energy (... not sure of their names.. but Fehir i think? MM2? there are Quori from Eberron Campaign setting) or perhaps living spells , which about in this magically high place. again, the idea is that the monsters, though they come in trickles, are basically endless, and you can't just obliterate them all.

the exact clues i leave to you, but they should bee cryptic enough. i suggest the fey have an ancient may pf the site, with key locations (20? 30?) that may help the party navigate, and supply a bunch of targets for exploration.

finding the object may be one thing, getting it may be another- you can either put a simpler puzzle, which relies on history/ culture/ religious knowledge, or some sort of elaborate magical trap, or perhaps some sort of powerfull guardian (hhhhhmmmm a uinque outsider who is both aspect of Corellen and aspect of Nerull at the same time? half this, half that? all mad?)
just thoughty of a nice riddle- "to gain the <object> you must appease the god. show your worship, and gain access" the thing is- they must find an act of worship that appeases BOTH of them. what the hell that might be? i don't know. but should be fun!

other aspects of the adventure:
-special forces of the nerull elven guardians might be sent of the party.i'm thinking undead/ golems, but you know best. it could be fun if they interupted in a dream, messing up getting the clue. it might make the players seriously want to cover their tracks.

- can the players rest in this place? which brings even the memories and dreams of god to life? do they dare sleep? do they dare dream? the players may need to figure out how to deal with this, either before hand, or in the adventure itself- acquiring magic items, rope trick spells, a safe place in the zone (unlikely, but perhaps if they gain the favor of the dead god's memory?) or the adventure could be short enough, or not rquiring lotsof resources (as it is mostly a puzzle, not a "hack through monsters" deal.)

- again, you may add corrupting effects of the zone, mostly mental i think. will save or ability DRAIN? requires Restoration. since wis gets damaged, it becomes harder and harder to resist. or you could choose more fancifull ideas, but i leave that to you.

- if the players are losing the trail, or finiding the clues too hard, they might meet with what is left of one of the previous fey who ventured here- dead body and some notes, deranged babbling shell of a fey, some undead can can speak through it's hate, shedding some more clues?

this adventure's advantage over the previous one is that it might enable you to shed some light on the past, the present, and if you wish- the possible future. if i guess right and the party will end up trying to solve the corruption, here might be some crucial seeds to that outcome.

ok, done harassing you with my overly long posts. good luck! and please tell use how it went!

[FinnDragon]

Thanks a lot for the suggestions. The second one in particular is excellent.

As to your questions i will try and clarify for you.

The fey were not actually banished, they tried to flee their destruction at the hands of the elven priests. A few of them fled but were shunted to the Ethereal plane and the rest were slaughtered.

Gauge was created thousands of years later when the fey managed to send a powerful intelligent weapon to the material plane (their home plane) and to use their connection to the weapon to magically create a new fey. Any influence they had on the material plane is now lost due to this ritual. However the intelligent weapon and Gauge's instincts are subtly guiding her to fight the corruption. Also, many creature recognize her race, however the weapon is not very forthcoming with answers as it is concerned that if Gauge were to fall into the hands of the elven priests they may learn that a few of the fey survived.

The rest of the party are completely separate from this plot except that they were personally invested in stopping the corruption before they even met Gauge. (The game started with Tyber at level 1 and Gauge did not join until he was about level 7. Akorn joined recently and the party is now around level 14 or 15).

Gauge has been slowing putting together the pieces of what happened to her people along with trying to accept the duty of destroying the corruption and its servants but being the only fey left. The party has become like a surrogate family to her and they are already fighting the corruption and therefore assisting Gauge.

The party is going to be traveling to the Etheral Plane soon and meeting one of Gauge's race there who will fill in the last few missing gaps. However, they are not able to leave the Etheral plane unless something happens to unbind them from it. (When they fled one of the elven priests, Authmeran, corrupted the gate and bound the fey to the Etheral Plane. Therefore, barring their return to the Material plane).

Sorry for the confusion it's hard condensing two years worth of plot down to a few paragraphs that are easily understood. Yet, still give enough detail that you can use to help me out. I really appreciate the help you have already given, great ideas! :smallsmile:

[Karoht]

Hi everyone, I have been reading this forum for about 2 years and first joined the site back in May. This is the first attempt at starting a thread. If you guys want to help keep reading please! :-)

I have been running a game for about 3 years and the plot is hitting the homestretch. My girlfriend's character is a homebrewed fey race ECL 14 rogue.

Her race was shunted off the prime material plane and she is soon going to discover their location. The ones who exiled them also made it impossible for the handful of fey still alive to return.

My question for you guys is what would be a cool puzzle-ish or otherwise interesting task she and the rest of the party can perform to allow her race to return?

They find a prophecy that indicates that these people would return when X happens. The prophecy tells them that they need a magical mcguffin/s and they have to do something special.

Once the party acquires the magical mcguffin/s required to bring this person back, they have to ennact a special ritual, in a special place. The directions to, and incantation/directions of the ritual, are actually the prophecy itself.

IE-Slayers Try (english version), Dominic Deegan did this once with very mixed results, I'm sure I've seen another show do it.


Of course, at the last moment, before it all completes, with time running out, there is a final battle, and the last boss is actually defeated by completing the ritual. Thats a fun twist to it.

But yes, Ruins, runes, and stones. Oh, and maybe some magical trees. Can't go wrong.

[Piggy Knowles]

In an old abandoned temple on a rocky shore, there is a dry fountain with a crack running through the bottom. This small fountain is seemingly mundane – it appears plain, barely finished stone and it radiates no magical auras. However, every time water is poured in, it immediately drains away.

It’s not a huge crack. But it’s enough. No matter how fast you pour water into it, it can never quite get filled. Close, just not all the way there.

Attempts to fix the crack always fail. Mundane fixes (filling the crack, adding a new layer, etc.) just never seem to work. The crack re-opens, the brick crumbles, whatever. It doesn’t seem overtly magical (it’s not like the second you place bricks there, they crumble to dust), but you can never get the fountain filled, because somehow the cracks reform and it starts draining away.

Magical fixes are even less useful. Magic simply does not work. It doesn’t even feel like the spell fizzled. It just… doesn’t work! Mending, Stone Shape, even Wish or Miracle have no effect on this fountain.

It’s an old, old temple. The walls and ceiling have long since collapsed. Exposed to the elements, the idols and statues have crumbled and faded. There is the barest hint of a figure that once poured water to the fountain, but it is worn so smooth you can’t even tell what it is anymore. It’s amazing that the fountain is even still there at all.

Let the mystery of the fountain percolate for a while. Legend Lore and Vision don’t give you much. Then one day the party finds an ancient frieze relating to the fall of Corellon. In the middle of the frieze is one image that appears to be a fountain in a temple somewhere. Close inspection reveals it to be an image of the temple as it once was. Based on the image, they can see there was once a statue of one of the aquatic fey, pouring liquid into the small fountain.

The secret to the puzzle is simple. The crack only drains water. For the fountain to be filled, it must be filled as it once was – by the water of life, pouring from one of the aquatic fey. Her lifeforce must pour into the fountain. And it must be given voluntarily. Once it is full, the fountain becomes a portal to her home realm.

But although the fountain is small, it is just large enough to contain the entire lifeforce of a member of the aquatic fey. That is the sacrifice. To open the door between the realms, she must die. Perhaps magic will let her live again, but perhaps it won’t. This is an ancient magic, drawing from the very essence of reality....