Trying not be a **** as a DM

[Tim Proctor]

So we got a rotating DM planehopping campaign, anyways it is my turn and we've gone through 3 hackn'slash sessions and its time for a Socially based campaign, problem is that my PC is the only with the automagic 60 diplomacy, the automagic knowledge (anything), and the gather information checks. I was thinking about having them run into a village of cultists and running a little bit or a horror scenario, but my guy is also the one immune to fear.

We have a sundering master (Fighter/Exotic Weapon Master), a devout evangalist (Cleric), a sneak attack rogue (Rogue), and a planar ranger (Ranger), and my guy the tactful tactical leader (Marshal/Fighter/Legendary Leader/Exemplar). They are built for battle on a battle grid and that is why they always lead toward hackn'slash sessions, I want to change that up.

So I need ideas of stuff I can do that would help me out on that. Oh and we're level 12.

[limejuicepowder]

If you have a good idea for a horror plot, I say go for it. After all, just because your character is immune to the fear condition doesn't meant he's immune to Fear - plus, making the PC's wig out is what horror is all about anyways, so I don't see there being a huge problem with your character's abilities.

In my own campaign, which is horror, the PC's are currently trying to rescue a town from the evil influence of a sealing stone that has resided under the town for years. The PC's first learned something was wrong when they watched one of the townsfolk feed himself to the children: he was aware and actively encouraging the crowd of kids as they ate his flesh.

Immune to fear nothing, I think that's creepy xD. As did my players.

[nedz]

So you you want a role-play orientated session?
It sounds like your players will hate it, but it should be good for their soul.
With them not having the relevant skills should actually help.

Are they good at playing up on the Diplomacy fail rolls ?
No - then don't use them.

Unfortunately there are so many options here, so some more input would be useful.
Some Ideas:

A whodunnit ?
Politics/diplomacy (small d) ?

Diffuse a war ?
Start a war ?

Some trading ?


Any of these grab you ?
Then what are you considering ?

[Tim Proctor]

I think I'm kinda go with a town full of cultists and try to get a Doctor Who mystery theme, keeping violence to a low.

[ShadowPsyker]

Two questions; What are their alignments (IC & OoC) and how likely are they to just slaughter the entire town?

[Menteith]

So we got a rotating DM planehopping campaign, anyways it is my turn and we've gone through 3 hackn'slash sessions and its time for a Socially based campaign, problem is that my PC is the only with the automagic 60 diplomacy, the automagic knowledge (anything), and the gather information checks. I was thinking about having them run into a village of cultists and running a little bit or a horror scenario, but my guy is also the one immune to fear.

We have a sundering master (Fighter/Exotic Weapon Master), a devout evangalist (Cleric), a sneak attack rogue (Rogue), and a planar ranger (Ranger), and my guy the tactful tactical leader (Marshal/Fighter/Legendary Leader/Exemplar). They are built for battle on a battle grid and that is why they always lead toward hackn'slash sessions, I want to change that up.

So I need ideas of stuff I can do that would help me out on that. Oh and we're level 12.


Check out the Elder Evils book. It has a number of really interesting beings in it, who are all fleshed out quite well. If you're looking for a cult, I'd highly recommend a cult dedicated to summoning one of the Elder Evils (I personally would recommend Atropus, but they're all such good choices), and the party must stop them. Have the party actually fail to stop the initial ritual, and start having corpses across the countryside rise as Shadows (or another highly dangerous, contagious Undead) and now the party is in the middle of a Zombie Apocolyse on top of everything else.

[Tim Proctor]

@ShadowPsyker: in game we have a CG Cleric who is down for anything that is fun, probably the best player I've had in a long time. He intuitively knows how to bite when he is supposed to and follow when he should. The Rogue CN or NN is the Cleric's girlfriend she's not inexperienced but she just doesn't know how to optimize and she is probably the greediest player I've ever seen. The Fighter is CN or CG but the player is a metagamer from hell, but he wont just go out and kill the whole town. The Rogue is more likely to do something stupid like that, I was more likely going to use Zone of Peace or Sheathing spells on the players and 98% of the town, except the Brothers in the Deep Purple Cloaks.

I like the Elder Evils things but unfortunately I don't have that book, what is a good CR 14 monster for them to conjure? Also how do I play that out, any thoughts?

Here is an summary of what the adventure is going to be so far:
the group has ended up in a town of cultists, ones that worship a giant azure oyster, where the militant sect wears deep purple clothes, they have a prophecy about when there is smoke on the water and fire in the skies if they don't fear the reaper then they will live for eternity while 40,000 men and women die in the fires everyday (hope some of you know where this goes, goes its going off the deep end).

So the cult's enemies are Bear Warrior Druids called "Cura Ursus", and they don't like the emotionless state that the Cultists are supposed to achieve, etc. etc. so they are enemies. Anyways the leaders of the Cult are Brother Noheairt, Sister Shreeky, and a Bugbear named Beastly (We're half way off the deep end).

So the group ends up in a town of cultists and they have to get a Greater Portal Compass, which Brother Nohearit has in the treasure room of the great azure oyster. I got the dungeon down and it is all something that a level 14 wizard can do within 1 year within a couple spells of various levels.

I need help with the social roleplaying of the town (about 600 people). It is a rotating DM game and the social guy is mine (Marshal with a +59 to diplomacy - don't use in combat, but will use to keep out of combat), so I can't do all the social roleplay stuff as the DMNPC. We have a Necromancer, Planar Ranger, Aristocratic Rogue, Exotic Weapon Sundering Master, and a Fervant Evangelist of Pelor.

The campaign has a lot of hidden pop culture references which are worth a couple extra xp if players get them, with a good amount of humor and comedy intermixed. Also there is no segment that is considered offensive with this group , so no need to be mild.

Here is the only social encounter that I have:


On a Listen Check DC 15 the group hears two people exchange words
Man 1: How old were you when you first engaged in sexual activity with a partner?
Thick Accent Man: 14.
Man 1: How?
Thick Accent Man: With horse.
Man 1: [pause] How often were you having intercourse with animals at age 14?
Thick Accent Man: [stunned] It's true. I ****ed a pony. You are genius, how did you know?
Man 1: You just said you had
[pause]
Man 1: sex with horse.
Thick Accent Man: Nooo... Whores, not horse, *whores*.

[Menteith]

I like the Elder Evils things but unfortunately I don't have that book, what is a good CR 14 monster for them to conjure? Also how do I play that out, any thoughts?

"Atropus, known as the World Born Dead, is an undead planetoid whose coming is a harbinger of death and destruction."

It's attracted to life of any kind, and will enter orbit around a setting if called. Once in the sky, various events begin to occur depending on how powerful it gets. Any powerful undead can act as its harbinger, if you decide to go that route. If you do want to look at an Elder Evil, here's an example of how one can affect a setting, and how things can get out of control. (From the Book)
As an Elder Evil comes nearer, its sign increases in power. If the PCs fail to stop certain rituals, advance the sign, and have the being emerge if they fail to stop a ritual at "Overwhelming Sign".

Faint Sign - All Necromancy spells gain +2 CL. Whenever a creature dies, it has a 20% chance to return as a zombie in 1d4 rounds.

Moderate Sign - As before, but with a 40% chance to return. Every location shadowed under Atropus is under the effect of a desecrate spell (Consecrate will negate the effective for its duration).

Strong Sign - As before, but 80% chance. Bodies killed previous to Atropus's arrival will begin to animate as well. Every location under Atropus is under the effect of an Unhallow spell. All Conjuration (Healing) spells are impeded.

Overwhelming Sign - All creatures rise as Zombies 1 round after their death. All corpses immediately rise as Skeletons or Zombies. All Undead creatures gain an additional 2HP/hit die. All Undead gain turn resistance equal to 1/4 their hit die.

[Kol Korran]

I like the Elder Evils things but unfortunately I don't have that book, what is a good CR 14 monster for them to conjure? Also how do I play that out, any thoughts?



i personally think the necronaut (MM3) might be a good climactic battle, may need a bit of tweaking as to your party's particular optimization level, but on the whole i think it's a nicely themed "boss monster" for such an adventure.

[Aliek]

Strong Sign - As before, but 80% chance. Bodies killed previous to Atropus's arrival will begin to animate as well. Every location under Atropus is under the effect of an Unhallow spell. All Conjuration (Healing) spells are impeded.

How awesome would that be in an Eberron campaign...

A bit more on topic now, stopping a ritual or some summoning may be your best bet. Especially on a small town setting, where they still have to discover where the ritual is ongoing.
If they don't like it, you could still just make the ritual successful and there you go, awesome climatic battle.

[Tim Proctor]

Wow, now I remember where I heard of Atropus, I have is a demoticon on my wiki page.

http://tricitiesdnd.wikispaces.com/file/view/tumblr_m3r589iZna1rv231do1_1280.jpg/351328678/576x460/tumblr_m3r589iZna1rv231do1_1280.jpg

I just thought it was a Spongemonkey Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY6insZjCfU), wow that makes a lot of sense and is strangely ironic that I have that on there.

Okay, well that inspires me to make this something really cool. I am thinking standard Doctor Who storyline that the lead brother isn't really a normal person but an Alienist who is attempting to bring Atropus to the planet, cause he's gone crazy...

Anyone have a level 14 Alienist build? Something crazy and evil, something that uses spells in a way that is super effective but totally not what they are meant to be?

[ThiagoMartell]

Just wanted to say that automatic success on Diplomacy, Knowledge and Gather Information makes social campaigns very, very boring.

[Menteith]

Okay, well that inspires me to make this something really cool. I am thinking standard Doctor Who storyline that the lead brother isn't really a normal person but an Alienist who is attempting to bring Atropus to the planet, cause he's gone crazy...

Anyone have a level 14 Alienist build? Something crazy and evil, something that uses spells in a way that is super effective but totally not what they are meant to be?

I can throw something together for you if you'd like, but an Alienist is more Ragnorra, Mother of Monsters's deal - Atropus's followers are generally involved with the undead, rather than the living, however twisted they may be. She's a bloated mass of positive energy that causes terrible mutations and disease to spread to those under her shadow, rather than turning them into Undead. Think Father Nurgle from Warhammer 40k, if you're familiar with it at all. A summoner creating her spawn fits an Alienist much better.

Signs
Faint - All spells that use Positive energy are cast at +1 caster level, all Conjuration (healing) spells are cast at +2 caster level, all turn undead attempts are done as if they were made by a cleric 1 level higher.

Moderate - As before, but whenever a living being receives a Conjuration (Healing) spell, blemishes and warts begin to grow from the subject (-2 on all Charisma checks). Once per day, a DC15 Fort save can be attempted to remove the blemishes; Spores fall to earth, taking root in rock, roof, and living creatures. Treat as a disease (DC15, incubation 1 day, damage 1d4 Con), but it requires 3 successful saves to remove it rather than 2. If a creature perishes of the disease, a mundane swarm (bats, rats, spiders, or locusts) are released from the corpses for every 5HD it had (min 1).

Strong - All Conjuration (healing) spells and spells that use positive energy are now impeded. The DC to resist the disease or remove blemishes increases to Fort DC20. Once per day, an injured living creature may heal 2d8+10 HP as though by an empowered Cure Moderate Wounds (CL20). Undamaged creatures gain this healing as a temporary healing. This unnatural healing corrupts creatures, and may be resisted by a DC20 Fort or Will save (spell resistance also applies). If the save fails, 1 HD of the creature is corrupted, giving a -2 to all Charisma checks. If all of a creatures HD is corrupted, it transforms into an Aberration, gaining +2 Con, -4 Cha, Darkvision 60ft, and the Aberration type.

Overwhelming - As before, with all save DCs increasing to DC25. Dead creatures rise as Aberrations after a number of days equal to their hit die. All exposed Undead are subject to the effects of a Greater Turning effect, as though from a Cleric of half Ragnorra's Hit Die. Undead may protect themselves by remaining 15ft or greater underground, or within a stone or metallic vault with walls 15ft or greater thick.

[Tyndmyr]

So we got a rotating DM planehopping campaign, anyways it is my turn and we've gone through 3 hackn'slash sessions and its time for a Socially based campaign, problem is that my PC is the only with the automagic 60 diplomacy, the automagic knowledge (anything), and the gather information checks. I was thinking about having them run into a village of cultists and running a little bit or a horror scenario, but my guy is also the one immune to fear.

Long story short, you're running the kind of campaign you like to play in. Instead, I suggest running the kind of campaign they want to play in.

[Tim Proctor]

Long story short, you're running the kind of campaign you like to play in. Instead, I suggest running the kind of campaign they want to play in.

No that is absolutely not true. All but one player (the Fighter) complained last sessions because the relentless hackn'slash.

[Tim Proctor]

So what I am going to do is have the group enter the town under a zone of peace, find the cultists, uncover that they are summoning an alien from the far realm, (so I need a Adept/Alienist CR 12 build, a Adept/Alienist CR 10 build and a bugbear warrior CR 9), and then for the aberration that they are going to summon I think that an Odopi, MM III, page 114, it looks crazy, has a decent build, etc.

I think I can just use the Adept NPC build and add Alienist levels to it for this, and make then somewhat competent without having the spell-casters totally overpower the group. Still need ideas for a mystery/horror theme adventure, unfortunately I'm not the best at this type of stuff.

[BRC]

Here's what you do.

Enter the town, the PC's start investigating, your character rocks the house with his diplomacy checks and knowledge skills.

In the first encounter, your character hangs back while the other PC's charge in and make a merry mess of some cultists. As the last cultist falls the PC's turn around...and find your character gone.

Now, deprived of their super-skillmonkey, the rest of the party has to save you before you are sacrificed and used as the host for an outer planes unbeing that seeks to devour the world.

[Tyndmyr]

No that is absolutely not true. All but one player (the Fighter) complained last sessions because the relentless hackn'slash.

There's a difference between "not hack and slash" and "the things my char has specialized in".

Look at their chars, and see what they've specialized in. If one of them has invested heavily in stealth, consider putting in stealth opportunities. If one of them is interested in economic activities, well, that's a potential opportunity. Look at how those things overlap.

[ShadowPsyker]

Does the whole town want this to happen? Are there reluctant or suspicious traitors within the cult who could help? Are there other adventurers that have tried and failed to stop this? Here's a roleplay suggestion; In town is a fallen Paladin who falsely believes the cult is helping him to atone when really they're setting him on the path for blackguard. Also, you might wanna come up with a reason for why they would want to summon this creature. It's a good monster, but are they themselves delusional about what's gonna happen or are they setting this monster against their enemy.

[Tim Proctor]

Does the whole town want this to happen? Are there reluctant or suspicious traitors within the cult who could help? Are there other adventurers that have tried and failed to stop this? Here's a roleplay suggestion; In town is a fallen Paladin who falsely believes the cult is helping him to atone when really they're setting him on the path for blackguard. Also, you might wanna come up with a reason for why they would want to summon this creature. It's a good monster, but are they themselves delusional about what's gonna happen or are they setting this monster against their enemy.

So I think that most people in the town are going to be unaware of what is going on, the leader of the cult Brother Nohearit (Wizard 5/Alienist 9) is insane and is gathering materials to summon an Elder Odopi, to stomp out the druids that are bothering him. Also at the same time Sister Shreeky a less powerful Alienist and herald of Nohearit thinks she can take control of the cult by killing Nohearit, so she uses a Candle of Invocation to summon an Odopi (regular one) but it is 2x her caster level and she can't control it and she gets eaten. I think the Odopi are a good fight as they look like something an Alienist would use and fit the bit of horror that I'm trying to come up with.

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mmiii_gallery/83028.jpg

So Shreeky's loyalists are going to try to manipulate the group against Nohearit, while Nohearit's loyalists are going to try to keep the group out of Nohearit's business. Then after a bunch of rumors about the infighting, the prophecies and their strange religion, etc. the group is going to be caught in a civil war and a random Odopi that is eating people? It'll give a good battle encounter at the end?

Thoughts on this and how to flesh it out?

[ShadowPsyker]

Seems like you have your plot. Now just let the players actions flesh out the story.

[Menteith]

It sounds like a good campaign idea and plot to me. If you're looking for more specific feedback, or want to post campaign logs, I'd be all ears.

[nessus]

If you're guy is the guy that can do anything from a political standpoint and is immune to fear, arrange for him to be kidnapped and get the others to try and rescue him through horror and diplomatic means, if you are the DM for this game you can decide to not play your char. and concentrate on the DM'ing part for a couple of games
well thats what i'd do

[Tim Proctor]

So here is the adventure as it goes, it is lengthy, any feedback is a good thing, let me know what you think please. I need some help adding some suspenseful events but since I generally write these out and use them as guidelines off of how the player react I veer off in some areas.

And Natylie is a depiction of an intelligent cursed item that our cleric picked up, that really just argues with him about what god wants. Kinda like #6 from Battlestar Galactica but without the sex part. Kerwyn is the fighter, Chris is the Cleric and Keeneye is the Rogue. Rufys is the bard (NPC), I found a way to leave my guy out of this adventure.



At the edge of quaint fishing village, they see a normal quaint with a large stone stepped Pyramid in the center of it, the Pyramid base is 280ft and at its center 40ft high. A giant Oyster reflects the moonlight. The moonlight shimmers off of a large lake nearby.

Rufys says
“So they have the Compass in the pyramid, it is guarded by the Elder Brother NoHearit who is from what I can understand some type of spellcaster. This whole village is fanatics to the Azure Oyster a quasi-religion based off a prophecy about the end of time. The people are friendly enough unless you ask too many questions then the brother with the deep purple robes come and take you to the pyramid where people don’t come out of .”

As the group enters the town they must make a will save DC 21 or have all their weapons remain trapped in their sheaths for the duration, or until they leave the area. If subjects are attacked, they are immediately entitled to a second save to overcome the effect.

The group hears a wolf howl in the background. Natylie tell Chris that this place is creepy, anyone that can mistake dinner for god is not in their right mind.

In the center of town there is a clergy on a wooden crate preaching about a prophecy that states:

There with be smoke on the water and fire in the sky,
All our times have come, but soon they’re gone,
40,000 men and women every day ascend to eternity
Do not fear the reaper.

If Chris offers pamphlets to the town or any of the members then four members of the cult come out wearing deep purple robes (cultists) with a small box affixed to a leather cord and tied around the forehead, and approach the group.


“You are not allowed to spread your false teachings here, either stop or leave”. Natylie tells Chris “kill these heathens they don’t worship god but the devil”. If Chris continues to preach to people then they cast Cause Fear on him.

The group can fight the entire town if they wish, there are 30 cultists that will fight them, they come in at 1d4 a round after the first 4. The townsfolk will not fight the group and just ask them to stop slaughtering their family.

The Pyramid is a solid stone structure made of one giant stone not of separate stones. There is an entrance where it is a giant clam, the brothers outside tell the group that they can come back tomorrow but everyone that could help them is sleeping as it is the middle of the sleeping time for them.

There is a small tavern in the town called the Pearl of my Eye: The inn is a sprawling single story wooden building, with a single salvaged stone wall. Accommodations consist of straw mats near the hearth. The innkeeper, a male named Baitha.

Listen Check DC 15: the group hears two people exchange words
Man 1: How old were you when you first engaged in sexual activity with a partner?
Thick Accent Man: 14.
Man 1: How?
Thick Accent Man: With horse.
Man 1: [pause] How often were you having intercourse with animals at age 14?
Thick Accent Man: [stunned] It's true. I ****ed a pony. You are genius, how did you know?
Man 1: You just said you had
[pause]
Man 1: sex with horse.
Thick Accent Man: Nooo... Whores, not horse, *whores*.

Gather Information
<15:
All members of the small town are wearing clothes with a blue oyster with a pearl inside, they explain that the oyster is god and the pearl is the true knowledge that he gives his devout followers and they offer pamphlets.
16-25:
The town is a colony of Oysterites that travelled her to find the pearl of truth, they are led by Brother Nohearit who is a powerful wizard. He is the defender of the Oysterites against the Druidic Bear Warriors Cura Ursus who attack the town.
26-35:
Brother Nohearit has been the leader of the colony for over a hundred years, he is a stern ruler with little patience for most villagers and acts through his deputies the Brother in the Deep Purple robes and his herald Sister Shreeky.
36+:
Brother Nohearit is a tall man wearing a deep purple robe hood drawn to hide his race but the group can see his light blue eyebrows and red eyes, he uses his magic to contact the servants of the great oyster.

Creepy events of Night 1:

• Chris awakens to chewing noises beside her bed or bedroll, with no sign of what might have made them. Natylie tells him that this place is evil and the people must be smote.
• Kerwyn wakes up and sees frost forming on the window forming Damian’s face screaming in agony and then it fades.
• Keeneye’s reflection in a mirror is out of sync with her actions, delayed by a split second as if it had to wait to see what she did before mimicking her.

The towns people are unrespondant to the group if they mention the events and offer no explanation other than it is mostly weariness from travelling.

The group is able to meet with a Brother called John he is cordial to the group and will let Brother Nohearit know that the group is interested in the compass that he has, and explains that Brother Nohearit will most likely give it to them as the gift of the stranger is the most highly sought after religious experience that they can offer.

During the evening Brother John finds the group and tells them that Sister Shreeky is acting strange, she is gathering brothers to support her in a coup against Brother Nohearit. She has a strange candle that she is guarding and he has been having weird and creepy feelings and thinks something bad is going to happen. He talked with Brother Nohearit who will attempt to find where he put the compass tomorrow and they should have it within a day or two.

If the group attempts to leave the town they get feelings of dread and sorrow, detect evil makes it feel that whatever is outside is stronger than inside.

Creepy events of Night 2:

• Keeneye feels suddenly nauseous and vomits; mixed in with the half-digested food are recognizable humanoid parts.
• Kerwyn finds his favorite childhood toy at the bottom of his pack, an item he hasn’t seen since he was a child.
• Chris holy symbol begins bleed from nonexistent wounds. Natylie is freaking out and tells Chris that this is an unholy place and that she wants to leave.

During the next day. Everyone in town stops what he or she is doing, stares intently at the passing party, and hisses softly. They then resume their normal business, continuing conversations broken off in mid-word. If questioned, the townsfolk have no memory of the incident

As a PC stares at a portrait on the wall, its features change until they depict her own, but she is clearly older in the portrait. If a second PC does the same, the portrait again changes to mimic his features, but this time the face shown is clearly that of a long-dead corpse in an advanced state of decay. The portrait then slowly reverts to its original state.

Creepy events of Night 3:

• Keeneye is looking at herself in a small round mirror, her image is suddenly attacked from behind. She sees her reflection die in agony only inches away on the other side of the mirror, leaving behind only a blood-splattered surface, without ever seeing what attacked her image. Thereafter she casts no reflection for three days, after which her image appears as normal.
• Kerwyn awakens to find himself panting and sweating, his blade covered in gore, although he’s fought no enemies.
• Chris awakens to find he’s gripped his holy symbol so tightly that his hands are cut. Natylie is crying in the corner


The next day the group is approached by another Brother who says that Brother Nohearit is doing something evil and Sister Shreeky would like to speak with them privately so that they can come up with a plan to stop some strange events that have been happening in the town. Outside they notice that a thick fog has rolled into the town and set.

When walking around the group noticed that there aren’t any children anywhere, when yesterday there were. The townsfolk seem confused by the question and mention of children. The wind seems to whistle a nursery rhyme to Chris, Natylie tells Chris that this place is terrible.

The group enters a larger house that seems normal except a single window of the fine house appears to be boarded up for no reason, the Brother asks them to wait in the living room while he goes and gets Sister Shreeky. Characters who make Knowledge (history) or (nature) checks realize that the wood of the floorboards in one particular room is ancient, far older than the rest of the house. The PCs keep hearing what sounds like muffl ed sobbing, but there’s nobody around.

After only a few minutes a woman walks out with big grey eyebrows and red hair thanks them for coming. She explains that Brother Nohearit has been acting strange lately, while he normally travels for extended periods of time after he returned recently he refuses the speak with her and only with Brother John. Strange events have been happening lately and she believes that Brother Nohearit is at the heart of it. Tomorrow is the spring solstice and a festival will take place, Brother Nohearit leads the ceremony and she would like Chris to speak to him and find out what exactly is going on.

Creepy events of Night 4:

• Kerwyn wakes gasping for breath and finds he is throttling himself with his left hand while his right hand lies numb and inert; it takes a round or two for his numb right hand to pry the left hand off, whereupon both return to normal.
• Keeneye character begins to dream of his companions each dying horribly; as the dreams progress through the night he realizes that he’s the one slaying them.
• Chris finds himself unable to say his god’s name during his prayers, every time he attempts to he begins to choke and vomit. Natylie looks just as bad as if these events have been plaguing her too, but she doesn’t say anything.

In the middle of the night when the group is awake, they hear screams from outside their room, first one and then hundreds of them. The town seems deserted, outside the fog is thick and they see footprints heading to the Pyramid. All of the trees are barren and lifeless with strange dark faces etched into them as if they were carved.

At the entrance to the Pyramid are dozen of dead bodies and an (Odopi) nightmarish monster with hundreds of warty, orange-skinned arms projecting from a muscular central body obscured by its flailing limbs. This body has no features except for a single toothless mouth that serves as the opening for its cavernous stomach. Each arm bears a five-fingered hand and long yellow claws. A baleful eye glares from the palm of each hand. Like titanic tumbleweeds, the creature is roughly 24 feet in diameter.

Cultist attempt to battle the Odopi but they are hopelessly outmatched, some of the brothers run up the Pyramid yelling that they need to get Brother Nohearit to stop the creature Shreeky summoned.

The group has 5 rounds of combat before Brother Nohearit appears at the top of the Pyramid, He proclaims that the group is responsible for Shreeky’s betrayal and knows that they spoke with her yesterday and convinced her to summon this beast. He will have his summoned aliens attack the group after the Odopi is dead.

His actions consist of:
Round 1 summon a Psuedonatural Fiendish Megaraptor,
Round 2 summon a Psuedonatural Fiendish Megaraptor,
Round 3 summon a Psuedonatural Chaos Beat
Round 4 summon a Psuedonatural Chaos Beat
Round 5 summon a Psuedonatural Large Monstrous Scorpion

Once the group has defeated Nohearit they find his chamber at the top of the Pyramid is full of treasures and all sorts of equipment including the Greater Gate Compass . It appears that he had been in contact with Aliens from the far realms and was gathering items needed to summon an Elder Odopi himself, except he wanted to be absolutely sure that he was in control of it. There is a portal in the room which teleports them to Sigil where they can spend money and buy anything that they can at 10% discount, they sell items for 10% discount.

[ShadowPsyker]

What happens if they attack shreeky thinking she has locked up the children (cause that's what it sounds like in your description of the house). I take it the group hasn't read heroes of horror, since your'e throwing in as many "creepy effects" as you can?
Personally, if random creepy stuff just keeps happening over and over it stops being creepy and starts being camp.

[Tim Proctor]

The shouldn't be able to attack her cause the Zone of Peace, but I do want them to snoop around, but there isn't anything there. I'm just trying to get a sense of paranoia and get them looking everywhere and doing all sorts of things. Ideally I'd like to have them think that a bunch of people took the kids.

If somehow they get around the Zone of Peace (which they probably can do it they want to), then she's just a lvl 6 Cultist from DMG II, they can easily mop the floor with her. In which case I'd have her or one of her goons use the Candle to summon the monster and have the fight happen there.

I should also state that I would expect my group to only go a couple days of the stuff happening before taking action, I'm just putting 4 days worth of stuff in case they don't take action themselves.

[The Glyphstone]

Zone of Peace is pretty easy to get around, actually. Even a pure bad-Will save class will have +4 base, assume non-negative Wisdom, and a +3 cloak, versus DC12+save DC - it'd need to be cast by someone with Int 20+ just to give the Fighter a 50% chance of failing the save. And even if he does, ZoP only creates a area-emanation Peacebond effect...natural weapons/fists are unaffected, as are spells, so at worst Mr. Fighter can pick up a chair and beat her to death.

[ShadowPsyker]

Sounds reasonable. But as a player (we aren't always reasonable) I would be convinced she has them after that description. And really, less is more. There's no reason to brow beat them with all those effects, especially since one day they might read that book. I don't want to sound mean, but it seems a little bit camp if after the second night the players could start taking bets on who gets hit with what kind of creepy effect.

[Tim Proctor]

Okay I can totally see getting rid of a couple of them. They are only there for my reference too, I'm going to have to describe them a bit differently than they are listed, obvious due to the gender reference it is just cut and paste.


Zone of Peace is pretty easy to get around, actually. Even a pure bad-Will save class will have +4 base, assume non-negative Wisdom, and a +3 cloak, versus DC12+save DC - it'd need to be cast by someone with Int 20+ just to give the Fighter a 50% chance of failing the save. And even if he does, ZoP only creates a area-emanation Peacebond effect...natural weapons/fists are unaffected, as are spells, so at worst Mr. Fighter can pick up a chair and beat her to death.

I was able to get it up to a DC 22, 10+spell level+modifier+some feats/items. He's a conjurer/transformation guy so having a high DC on both of those is important. But I'm sure the Cleric will find a way around it. I'm more concerned about the Rogue going invisible and instaganking people.

[ShadowPsyker]

My humble suggestion to replace any of those "Creepy effects" I killed;

Night 1) One of the PC's has a nightmare in which they recall a childhood friend they have not thought about in years. Upon waking they can't remember anything else about it.
Night 2) They again have a nightmare and upon waking remember the friend was the son of the half orc neighbor, but they still can't remember anything else.
Night 3) The nightmare returns and now upon waking they can remember having these nightmares when they were younger. They can't remember this friends name but are aware of calling him by a name in their dreams. They now know that the only way they can truly remember their friend is when they have nightmares, and those don't happen that often. 3 in a row was just a fluke.
Note: Do not have this effect go away after leaving. True horror does not stem from momentary shock. This can easily be a character hook that sticks with them so that they actually start to look forward to having nightmares, just so they can remember their friend.

Off topic (at least for this adventure) suggestion follows;
At some future point a hag could cast nightmare on them and they realize it's just a dream because they see their friend and so spoil the hags spell. Maybe the hag is enraged at this and the next time they have a nightmare their friend does not show...
Does the hag know how this strange curse began and has stopped it, Is the friend actually trapped in the nightmare realm and the hag has done something to him? These are only suggestions for a continued horror theme, maybe after a few more sessions they will just never find out and be left wondering.

[The Glyphstone]

Okay I can totally see getting rid of a couple of them. They are only there for my reference too, I'm going to have to describe them a bit differently than they are listed, obvious due to the gender reference it is just cut and paste.



I was able to get it up to a DC 22, 10+spell level+modifier+some feats/items. He's a conjurer/transformation guy so having a high DC on both of those is important. But I'm sure the Cleric will find a way around it. I'm more concerned about the Rogue going invisible and instaganking people.

I'd be more worried about improvised weapons, myself - even if that comes down to the players using their weapons, still inside their sheaths, as improvised clubs. Zone of Peace is remarkably ineffective at preventing violence if people want to do violence, it just reduces the rate at which they can dish it out by preventing the use of their preferred weapon.

Mod Powers Activate! Form of an unglitched thread!

[Tim Proctor]

I'd be more worried about improvised weapons, myself - even if that comes down to the players using their weapons, still inside their sheaths, as improvised clubs. Zone of Peace is remarkably ineffective at preventing violence if people want to do violence, it just reduces the rate at which they can dish it out by preventing the use of their preferred weapon.

Yeah I totally agree, there isn't a 100% sure way that I can keep them from derailing what I have planned. I'm guessing that what they are going to do is after the first night get pissed at the 'he's gonna look for it' thing and break in there and just pick a fight. I'm guessing that they will come up with a plan and the Bard will use Persistent Greater Invisibility on the Rogue and she'll go kill Shreeky in a massive blast of guts at something like 36d6+20.

I updated the encounter below, more feedback would be great. Also any other funny social encounters that the group can uncover would be good, something


TOWN:
At the edge of quaint fishing village, they see a normal quaint with a large stone stepped Pyramid in the center of it, the Pyramid base is 280ft and at its center 40ft high. A giant Oyster reflects the moonlight. The moonlight shimmers off of a large lake nearby.

Rufys says “So they have the Compass in the pyramid, it is guarded by the Elder Brother NoHearit who is from what I can understand some type of spellcaster. This whole village is fanatics to the Azure Oyster a quasi-religion based off a prophecy about the end of time. The people are friendly enough unless you ask too many questions then the brother with the deep purple robes come and take you to the pyramid where people don’t come out of .”

As the group enters the town they must make a will save DC 21 or have all their weapons remain trapped in their sheaths for the duration, or until they leave the area. If subjects are attacked, they are immediately entitled to a second save to overcome the effect.

If the group attempts to leaves the town, there is a 10% chance of fighting
1d4 Greater Shadows. The closest town is on the other side of the lake (70 miles around, 15 miles across), where the Bear Druids of Cura Ursus are, they tell of the evil of the Wizard Nohearit and how they are battling him, but he has set it up so they can’t enter the town.

The town is under the effect of Unhallow/Dimensional Anchor/Magic Circle against Good/Protection from Good; they also get feelings of dread and sorrow. Subjects gain +2 AC and +2 Resistence verses good characters, cannot be effected by mind effects, cannot be touched by good characters.

The group hears wolves howl in the background, which are abruptly ended and the wimpers from many of wolves takes over. Natylie tell Chris that this place is creepy, anyone that can mistake dinner for god is not in their right mind.

In the center of town there is a clergy on a wooden crate preaching about a prophecy that states:


There with be smoke on the water and fire in the sky,
All our times have come, but soon they’re gone,
40,000 men and women every day ascend to eternity
Do not fear the reaper.

If Chris offers pamphlets to the town or any of the members then four members of the cult come out wearing deep purple robes (cultists) with a small box affixed to a leather cord and tied around the forehead, and approach the group.

“You are not allowed to spread your false teachings here, either stop or leave”. Natylie tells Chris “kill these heathens they don’t worship god but the devil”. If Chris continues to preach to people then they cast Cause Fear on him.

The group can fight the entire town if they wish, there are 30 cultists that will fight them, they come in at 1d4 a round after the first 4. The townsfolk will not fight the group and just ask them to stop slaughtering their family.
The Pyramid is a solid stone structure made of one giant stone not of separate stones. There is an entrance where it is a giant clam, the brothers outside tell the group that they can come back tomorrow but everyone that could help them is sleeping as it is the middle of the sleeping time for them.

There is a small tavern in the town called the Pearl of my Eye: The inn is a sprawling single story wooden building, with a single salvaged stone wall. Accommodations consist of straw mats near the hearth. The innkeeper, a male named Baitha.
Listen Check DC 15: the group hears two people exchange words
Man 1: How old were you when you first engaged in sexual activity with a partner?
Thick Accent Man: 14.
Man 1: How?
Thick Accent Man: With horse.
Man 1: [pause] How often were you having intercourse with animals at age 14?
Thick Accent Man: [stunned] It's true. I ****ed a pony. You are genius, how did you know?
Man 1: You just said you had
[pause]
Man 1: sex with horse.
Thick Accent Man: Nooo... Whores, not horse, *whores*.

Gather Information
<15: All members of the small town are wearing clothes with a blue oyster with a pearl inside, they explain that the oyster is god and the pearl is the true knowledge that he gives his devout followers and they offer pamphlets.
16-25: The town is a colony of Oysterites that travelled her to find the pearl of truth, they are led by Brother Nohearit who is a powerful wizard. He is the defender of the Oysterites against the Druidic Bear Warriors Cura Ursus who attack the town.
26-35: Brother Nohearit has been the leader of the colony for over a hundred years, he is a stern ruler with little patience for most villagers and acts through his deputies the Brother in the Deep Purple robes and his herald Sister Shreeky.
36+: Brother Nohearit is a tall man wearing a deep purple robe hood drawn to hide his face but the people can see his light blue eyebrows and red eyes, he uses his magic to contact the servants of the great oyster.



Creepy events of Night 1:
• Chris awakens to find he’s gripped his holy symbol so tightly that his hands are cut. Natylie is crying in the corner.
• Kerwyn has a nightmare in which they recall a childhood friend of his and Damian’s that he had not thought about in years. Upon waking, they cannot remember anything else about it.
• Keeneye’s reflection in a mirror is out of sync with her actions, delayed by a split second as if it had to wait to see what she did before mimicking her.
The group is able to meet with a Brother called John he is cordial to the group and will let Brother Nohearit know that the group is interested in the compass that he has, and explains that Brother Nohearit will most likely give it to them as the gift of the stranger is the most highly sought after religious experience that they can offer.

During the next day. Everyone in town stops what he or she is doing, stares intently at the passing party, and hisses softly. They then resume their normal business, continuing conversations broken off in mid-word. If questioned, the townsfolk have no memory of the incident

Gather Information
<15: The towns people are unrespondant to the group if they mention the events and offer no explanation other than it is mostly weariness from travelling.
16-25: The Oysterites shun emotions, fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to eternal suffering. The Cura Ursus are against the Oysterites and want them to explore their feelings but that only leads to pain and suffering.
26-35: Strange events like those described by the group happened once before, over thirteen years ago when when the group was attacked by Cura Ursus and they summoned an evil monster to destroy the town, but Brother Nohearit fought them off.
36+: Brother Nohearit is said to be hundreds of years old, and he originally was a normal person but during the first major battle when the druids summoned and evil monster, Brother Nohearit became tainted by the magic and his eyes turned red. He has been seeking a way to cleanse himself since then.

During the evening Brother John finds the group and tells them that He talked with Brother Nohearit who will attempt to find where he put the compass tomorrow and they should have it within a day or two.

He also tells them that Sister Shreeky is acting strange, he thinks she is gathering brothers to support her in a coup against Brother Nohearit. Brother Nohearit left a couple weeks ago looking for a magical piece and since he returned their relationship has been estranged. She has a strange candle that she is guarding and he has been having weird and creepy feelings and thinks something bad is going to happen.


Creepy events of Night 2:
• Keeneye stares at a portrait on the wall, its features change until they depict her own, but she is clearly older in the portrait. If a second PC does the same, the portrait again changes to mimic his features, but this time the face shown is clearly that of a long-dead corpse in an advanced state of decay. The portrait then slowly reverts to its original state.
• Kerwyn again has a nightmare and upon waking remembers the friend was the son of a neighbor, but they still can’ts remember anything else.
• Chris holy symbol begins bleed from nonexistent wounds. Natylie is freaking out and tells Chris that this is an unholy place and that she wants to leave, this place is terrible.

When walking around the group noticed that there aren’t any children anywhere, when yesterday there were. The townsfolk seem confused by the question and mention of children and don’t recall there ever being children in the town. The wind seems to whistle a nursery rhyme to Chris.

Gather Information
<15: Sister Shreeky is the second in command of the Oysterites. is a purple and teal-haired young girl with bushy eye brows and dark purple eyelids.
16-25: During Nohearit’s last travelling Shreeky somehow gained a stripe of teal through her hair, no doubt from the taint of evil might that comes from fighting the Cura Ursus.
26-35: Shreeky is a bard and also loud, bossy and arrogant, she tends to be verbally abusive and rude to others, lately there seems to be some divisiness between Nohearit and Shreeky. She has been grabbing the Brothers, the ones in deep purple robes and aligning them to her, but her poor leadership style and many people fear a civil war between the Oysterites.
36+: Nohearit is Shreeky’s uncle, her parents were both killed by Cura Ursus thirteen years ago. While she is the herald of Nohearit she blames him for not protecting her parents, he arrived late to the fight because he was travelling searching for whatever secrets it is that he searches for.

That evening a Brother approaches the group and says that Sister Shreeky would like to talk with them, she has some concerns about the recent events and understands that they have a member of the clergy in the party.
The group is escorted to Shreeky’s house, a fine house that is above the grade of all of the others, they are asked to sit in a living room area. She explains that people in the town don’t even remember that they have children, no one knows that happened to them, but these events started at the same time the group came to town and at the same time that Nohearit returned from his travels. She suspects that something bad has happened to him, he refuses to speak to her.

She wants them to sneak into the top of the Pyramid where his personal chambers are and find out what is going on. She suspects that the Cleric will be able to help (Sense Motive 42 to identify the bluff).

Creepy events of Night 3:
• Keeneye is looking at herself in a mirror, her image is suddenly attacked from behind. She sees her reflection die in agony only inches away on the other side of the mirror, leaving behind only a blood-splattered surface, without ever seeing what attacked her image. Thereafter she casts no reflection for three days, after which her image appears as normal.
• Chris finds himself unable to say his god’s name during his prayers, every time he attempts to he begins to choke and vomit. Natylie looks just as bad as if these events have been plaguing her too, but she doesn’t say anything she just wimpers.
• Kerwyn wakes gasping for breath and finds he is throttling himself with his left hand while his right hand lies numb and inert; it takes a round or two for his numb right hand to pry the left hand off, whereupon both return to normal. He remembers having another nightmare about his friend and they were fighting the Undead in the borderland, he remembers calling the person by name and remembers that he was a close friends in the nightmare, but once awake he cannot remember the specifics.

The town seems deserted, outside the fog is thick and they see footprints heading to the Pyramid. All of the trees are barren and lifeless with strange dark faces etched into them as if they were carved.

At the entrance to the Pyramid are dozen of dead bodies (including those of Shreeky) and a (Odopi) nightmarish monster with hundreds of warty, orange-skinned arms projecting from a muscular central body obscured by its flailing limbs. This body has no features except for a single toothless mouth that serves as the opening for its cavernous stomach. Each arm bears a five-fingered hand and long yellow claws. A baleful eye glares from the palm of each hand. Like titanic tumbleweeds, the creature is roughly 24 feet in diameter.

Cultist attempt to battle the Odopi but they are hopelessly outmatched, some of the brothers run up the Pyramid yelling that they need to get Brother Nohearit to stop the creature Shreeky summoned.

The group has 5 rounds of combat before Brother Nohearit appears at the top of the Pyramid, He proclaims that the group is responsible for Shreeky’s betrayal and knows that they spoke with her yesterday and convinced her to summon this beast. He will have his summoned aliens attack the group after the Odopi is dead.

[Endarire]

As GM, there are two things that are often competing, and are never fully reconcilable:

-Having the PCs/players do what you want.

-Free will.

If doing what you had planned is genuinely in the group's best interest, they'll do it, sometimes without even knowing they're following your plans.

Still, plan for variants! If you expect combat, also plan for diplomacy. And stealing the guy's pants. And whatever else.

[Tim Proctor]

Well the event was a big success all around, probably one of the better sessions. Everyone liked it, especially all of the fear/alienist stuff. Thank you everyone for helping me with it.

If you guys want a play by play let me know and I can give a recap.

[ShadowPsyker]

Vote = Recap.

[only1doug]

I'm sorry, there just isn't enough space on the boards for another session recap...

:smalltongue:



Post it!

[Batou1976]

If you dont recap it a catgirl will die. :eek:

[only1doug]

If you dont recap it a catgirl will die. :eek:

Win-Win scenario, Hurrah!

[Tim Proctor]

WARNING: the entire campaign is littered with pop culture references, they will be throughout the quest, a summary will be at the bottom.

So we start off with the group just used a portal to escape from a vampire king and a bunch of Gythankyi (long story). Mid jump, the portal color changes from the blue/green that is common to a prismatic array of all types.

The group teleported into the middle of a blizzard at night, snowdrifts decorate the area around the portal pocketing areas of deep snow. And they froze out (for a while) there because none of them put points in survival or knowledge nature, nor spells for the cold and decided that they were gonna start wandering in a random direction.

After an hour, an older man with silver grey hair balding with a ponytail appears on a horse the steed has a black head and body, gray mane and tail, and smoke-colored, insubstantial hooves that make no sound, as it seems to ride on top of the snow.

“I am deeply sorry for being late, this storm caused a bit of a delay in getting here, please give me a moment”. Nearly instantly an opaque blue sphere surrounds the man with a 20ft, Radius the snow falls on top of the sphere and creates a sort of wall; it is 70 degrees in the area (Leomund's Tiny Hut).

“Again I apologize for being late; this weather was more severe than I anticipated. I am Rufys , I must say it is an extreme pleasure to finally meet the legendary Wyld Stallyns.” He will heal any of the group that is injured with his Healing Touch (none of them were at less than half cause a cleric can keep people alive). Rufys explains the following:

He is from another verse in the multiverse one that is peaceful, clean and united by music where humanity and other races found peace through the cosmic orchestra and the eternal song. He is specifically from a planet called San Dimas where the Sublime Cords reside and study the cosmology, which is roughly 700 year in the future but that is because time is relative and not always constant.

The material plane that they are in and familiar with is an infinite expanse of space, time, matter, magic and energy. When those forces combine, they create things like people, planets, music and such. Now the odds of that happening are very low, like rolling twelve-hundred dice and them all coming up as 6s. Well with an infinite number of throws that will happen and not just once but an infinite number of times. You also get 1,199 sixes and a five or a four and that creates an infinite number of infinitesimally small variations, or infinitesimally large variations. Therefore, in some verse of the multiverse he is an evil dictator of the universe, in some they are, all things that can possibly exist, do exist, and not just once but an infinite number of times. You are currently on one of those variations of your home world right now.
In general probability, the group was fighting an empire that was threatening their home world usually the Illithids sometimes Gythyanki and occasionally Raggymuffins. Either way the group, is responsible for establishing a perfect verse in my home world and the greatest band ever, a group of epic Kobold bards called Dragonforce. The verse he is from is solidified by one common philosophy ‘be excellent to each other’.

This ejection from their normal verse and the travels they are about to have make the biggest probable change in the events of the future and it is his job to make sure that they have an excellent adventure and not a bogus journey.
As they were shifting and were ejected from the material plane a massive burst of positive or negative energy happened either from a star exploding which is called a super nova or from the formation of a black hole. Either way it completely overloaded the portal system and scrambled it sending them here into a variant reality. Their armband probably won’t work for close to a year, furthermore the runes in this alternate reality will be different, and they can end up in all sorts of weird locations.

Regardless, we need to find an item called a Greater Gate Compass, this item will lead you to the area that you desire or through a segment of portals that will get you there. They have been used to get travelers back to their homes before but the journey is often arduous and always dangerous as thieves and planar pirates are constantly looking out for them. Luckily there is a compass not too far from here in a Monestary of the Gadavida, which is about 200 miles south of here where it isn’t quite a frigid hell.

Natylie tells Chris “I don’t believe him, god sent you here for a reason, I doubt it was just to get back.”

Rufys will answer any questions that he can (they don't a single one that matters, they ask all sorts of weird crap). He does explain that the planet is always in darkness here, they have to travel to the other side of it and then it is always in light. The Group was able to bypass the next part of the quest because I forgot the NPC had teleport.

The group has to travel, they can use any sort of means to travel the total. Speed = x10 per hour in miles, they can move 8 hours per day w/o Force March checks.

The first 50 miles are around 20° F with a 5% chance of encounter an hour (Frostworm) at ¾ movement.
An unprotected character in cold weather (below 40° F) must make a Fortitude save each hour (DC 15, + 1 per previous check) or take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage. A character who has the Survival skill may receive a bonus on this saving throw and may be able to apply this bonus to other characters as well.
A character who takes any nonlethal damage from cold or exposure is beset by frostbite or hypothermia (treat her as fatigued). These penalties end when the character recovers the nonlethal damage she took from the cold and exposure.
A fatigued character can neither run nor charge and takes a -2 penalty to Strength and Dexterity. Doing anything that would normally cause fatigue causes the fatigued character to become exhausted. After 8 hours of complete rest, fatigued characters are no longer fatigued.
After 50 miles of travel, the temperature warms up to 47° F but dips below if at night and the desolated wilderness becomes more a cold forest where there are slight signs of life such as old campfires, game trails, etc. Frontier/wilderness 8% chance per hour (1d8 Winter Wolves)
After 100 miles of travel the cold forest because the far outskirts of a hamlet with a 10% chance per hour (1d4 Greater Shadows).

TOWN:
At the edge of quaint fishing village, they see a normal quaint with a large stone stepped Pyramid in the center of it, the Pyramid base is 280ft and at its center 40ft high. A giant Oyster reflects the moonlight. The moonlight shimmers off of a large lake nearby.

Rufys says “So they have the Compass in the pyramid, it is guarded by the Elder Brother NoHearit who is from what I can understand some type of spellcaster. This whole village is fanatics to the Azure Oyster a quasi-religion based off a prophecy about the end of time. The people are friendly enough unless you ask too many questions then the brother with the deep purple robes come and take you to the pyramid where people don’t come out of.”

As the group enters the town they must make a will save DC 21 or have all their weapons remain trapped in their sheaths for the duration, or until they leave the area. If subjects are attacked, they are immediately entitled to a second save to overcome the effect. (Zone of Peace, and it worked perfectly the Cleric made his save but the Rogue and Fighter were unable to use their preferred weapon)

If the group attempts to leaves the town, there is a 10% chance of fighting 1d4 Greater Shadows. The closest town is on the other side of the lake (70 miles around, 15 miles across), where the Bear Druids of Cura Ursus are, they tell of the evil of the Wizard Nohearit and how they are battling him, but he has set it up so they can’t enter the town.

The town is under the effect of Unhallow/Dimensional Anchor/Magic Circle against Good/Protection from Good; they also get feelings of dread and sorrow. Subjects gain +2 AC and +2 Resistence verses good characters, cannot be effected by mind effects, cannot be touched by good characters (which the group did discover).

The group hears wolves howl in the background, which are abruptly ended and the wimpers from many of wolves takes over.

Natylie tell Chris "that this place is creepy, anyone that can mistake dinner for god is not in their right mind".

In the center of town there is a clergy on a wooden crate preaching about a prophecy that states (done in the voice of the preacher from Coming to America):
There with be smoke on the water and fire in the sky,
All our times have come, but soon they’re gone,
40,000 men and women every day ascend to eternity.
If loving the lord is wrong, I don't wanna be right.
Do not fear the reaper.

Chris (the cleric commonly gives out pamphlets) offered pamphlets of his god to the town and four members of the cult come out wearing deep purple robes (cultists) with a small box affixed to a leather cord and tied around the forehead, and approach the group.

“You are not allowed to spread your false teachings here, either stop or leave”.

Natylie (an intelligent cursed item that creates an apparition that only he can see/hear/interact with) tells Chris “kill these heathens they don’t worship god but the devil”.

There is a small tavern in the town called the Pearl of my Eye: The inn is a sprawling single story wooden building, with a single salvaged stone wall. Accommodations consist of straw mats near the hearth. The innkeeper, a male named Baitha.

The Rogue does a listen check and ease drops on the conversation of two other patrons.
Listen Check DC 15: the group hears two people exchange words
Man 1: How old were you when you first engaged in sexual activity with a partner?
Thick Accent Man: 14.
Man 1: How?
Thick Accent Man: With horse.
Man 1: [pause] How often were you having intercourse with animals at age 14?
Thick Accent Man: [stunned] It's true. I ****ed a pony. You are genius, how did you know?
Man 1: You just said you had
[pause]
Man 1: sex with horse.
Thick Accent Man: Nooo... Whores, not horse, *whores*.

That got a good laugh out of the group and everyone was happy about it.

Apparently no one in the group put points in Gather Information, so Rufys had to inform them that:

All members of the small town are wearing clothes with a blue oyster with a pearl inside, they explain that the oyster is god and the pearl is the true knowledge that he gives his devout followers and they offer pamphlets.

The town is a colony of Oysterites that travelled her to find the pearl of truth, they are led by Brother Nohearit who is a powerful wizard. He is the defender of the Oysterites against the Druidic Bear Warriors Cura Ursus who attack the town.

The group was mainly concerned with keeping the Cleric away from the Cultists cause they didn't want to fight the entire town and they were really placid at this point. The rogue went shopping, the cleric stayed in the inn and the Fighter watched the Cleric to make sure he didn't leave. So I had the use the Bard to go get more information by speaking to the people at the Pyramid.

He returned and said that he was able to meet with a Brother called John he is cordial and will let Brother Nohearit know that the group is interested in the compass that he has, and explains that Brother Nohearit will most likely give it to them as the gift of the stranger is the most highly sought after religious experience that they can offer.

So the group decided to just sit tight in the inn and do nothing.

Creepy events of Night 1:
• Chris (Cleric) awakens to find he’s gripped his holy symbol so tightly that his hands are cut. Natylie is crying in the corner.
• Kerwyn (Fighter) has a nightmare in which they recall a childhood friend of his and Damian’s that he had not thought about in years. Upon waking, they cannot remember anything else about it.
• Keeneye’s (Rogue) reflection in a mirror is out of sync with her actions, delayed by a split second as if it had to wait to see what she did before mimicking her.

At this point the player who plays the Fighter checks out and starts playing on his Laptop adding almost nothing to the group. He says it is because he hate fear, compulsion and mind affecting effects because all of his characters can't beat them so he just doesn't use them. Yeah he's a pain in the ass sometimes.

The group brushes off the events and doesn't bother talking about them.

During the next day, when Keeneye is shopping. Everyone in town stops what he or she is doing, stares intently at the passing party, and hisses softly. They then resume their normal business, continuing conversations broken off in mid-word. If questioned, the townsfolk have no memory of the incident

The Rogue actually rolls a 20 on her Gather Information check (but has no skills in it) and finds out:

The towns people are unrespondant to the group if they mention the events and offer no explanation other than it is mostly weariness from travelling.

The Oysterites shun emotions, fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to eternal suffering. The Cura Ursus are against the Oysterites and want them to explore their feelings but that only leads to pain and suffering.

Strange events like those described by the group happened once before, over thirteen years ago when when the group was attacked by Cura Ursus and they summoned an evil monster to destroy the town, but Brother Nohearit fought them off.

Brother John finds the Cleric and Fighter and tells them that He talked with Brother Nohearit who will attempt to find where he put the compass tomorrow and they should have it within a day or two.

He also tells them that Sister Shreeky is acting strange, he thinks she is gathering brothers to support her in a coup against Brother Nohearit. Brother Nohearit left a couple weeks ago looking for a magical piece and since he returned their relationship has been estranged. She has a strange candle that she is guarding and he has been having weird and creepy feelings and thinks something bad is going to happen.

Chris attempted to give Brother John a Pamphlet, well they exchanged Pamphlets and quickly tossed them when out of sight of the other.

The group decided to just sit there and wait, not wanting to explore or anything, just sit tight and make sure the Cleric doesn't incite a riot.

Creepy events of Night 2:
• Keeneye stares at a portrait on the wall, its features change until they depict her own, but she is clearly older in the portrait. She does it again, but this time the face shown is clearly that of a long-dead corpse in an advanced state of decay. The portrait then slowly reverts to its original state.
• Kerwyn again has a nightmare and upon waking remembers the friend was the son of a neighbor, but they still can’ts remember anything else.
• Chris holy symbol begins bleed from nonexistent wounds. Natylie is freaking out and tells Chris that this is an unholy place and that she wants to leave, this place is terrible.

The group is actually bought in at this point and are starting the get into the mood at the point, except the Fighter who is still checked out but is paying attention.

The group tells Chris about their events, and he tells them that it happens cause they are heathens and if they worshiped the correct god then crap like that wouldn't happen to them.

So they decide to go the Pyramid together and demand to talk with Brother Nohearit because they believe that from the words yesterday the the town is about to get attacked.

When walking around the group noticed that there aren’t any children anywhere, when yesterday there were. The townsfolk seem confused by the question and mention of children and don’t recall there ever being children in the town. The wind seems to whistle a nursery rhyme to Chris.

They get to the Pyramid and meet Brother John, who doesn't allow them to enter the Pyramid and explains that they can't enter, if Brother Nohearit is disturbed then he wont have spells for the day and he needs to continue his magical endeavors.

The Rogue blows her Gather Information check and finds out:

Sister Shreeky is the second in command of the Oysterites. is a purple and teal-haired young girl with bushy eye brows and dark purple eyelids.

During Nohearit’s last travelling Shreeky somehow gained a stripe of teal through her hair, no doubt from the taint of evil might that comes from fighting the Cura Ursus.

That afternoon a Brother approaches the group and says that Sister Shreeky would like to talk with them, she has some concerns about the recent events and understands that they have a member of the clergy in the party.
The group is escorted to Shreeky’s house, a fine house that is above the grade of all of the others, they are asked to sit in a living room area. She explains that people in the town don’t even remember that they have children, no one knows that happened to them, but these events started at the same time the group came to town and at the same time that Nohearit returned from his travels. She suspects that something bad has happened to him, he refuses to speak to her.

She wants them to sneak into the top of the Pyramid where his personal chambers are and find out what is going on. She suspects that the Cleric will be able to help (Sense Motive 42 to identify the bluff, they don't).

On the way back the Rogue fails her Fortitude save and pukes up her lunch and pieces of food that are clearly humanoid. Which actually freaks out the player, and she also fails her will save and becomes Shaken.

So they decide that breaking into a Wizard's private sanctum is a good idea but they go back to the inn to develop a plan. During that time the follow happens:

• Keeneye is looking at herself in a mirror, her image is suddenly attacked from behind. She sees her reflection die in agony only inches away on the other side of the mirror, leaving behind only a blood-splattered surface, without ever seeing what attacked her image. Thereafter she casts no reflection for three days, after which her image appears as normal.
• Chris finds himself unable to say his god’s name during his prayers, every time he attempts to he begins to choke and vomit. Natylie looks just as bad as if these events have been plaguing her too, but she doesn’t say anything she just wimpers.
• Kerwyn wakes gasping for breath and finds he is throttling himself with his left hand while his right hand lies numb and inert; it takes a round or two for his numb right hand to pry the left hand off, whereupon both return to normal. He remembers having another nightmare about his friend and they were fighting the Undead in the borderland, he remembers calling the person by name and remembers that he was a close friends in the nightmare, but once awake he cannot remember the specifics.

Keeneye fails her will save again and becomes Frightened, Rufys who went to scout out the Pyramid rushes back into the inn and tells them that they need to go, right now.

The town seems deserted, outside the fog is thick and they see footprints heading to the Pyramid. All of the trees are barren and lifeless with strange dark faces etched into them as if they were carved.

At the entrance to the Pyramid are dozen of dead bodies (including those of Shreeky) and a (Odopi) nightmarish monster with hundreds of warty, orange-skinned arms projecting from a muscular central body obscured by its flailing limbs. This body has no features except for a single toothless mouth that serves as the opening for its cavernous stomach. Each arm bears a five-fingered hand and long yellow claws. A baleful eye glares from the palm of each hand. Like titanic tumbleweeds, the creature is roughly 24 feet in diameter.

From me just reading the description the Player with the fighter knows that it is an Odopi and starts talking about Metagame. Luckily the other players don't really care and ignore him.

Cultist attempt to battle the Odopi but they are hopelessly outmatched, some of the brothers run up the Pyramid yelling that they need to get Brother Nohearit to stop the creature Shreeky summoned.

But luckily the Fighter is now attentive to the situation cause he loves the fighting parts. Rufys casts Persistent Greater Invisibility on the Rogue, the Cleric casts Divine Might on himself. and the Fighter charges the Odopi and hits it for a good amount of damage. The rogue runs up to the Pyramid to try to get Brother Nohearit.

The next round the Rogue just behind the cultists that were running up there watches them explode in a rain of gore as they trigger a trap and then sees all sorts of traps and crap outside the top of the Pyramid and decides to run around instead of trying to disarm all of them. Rufys casts Inspire Greatness with a Horn of Resilience so they get 50 bonus hp and a couple buffs. The Cleric casts Bulls Strength on the Fighter and the Fighter goes to town against the Odopi. The cleric gets grappled by the Odopi and starts taking massive amounts of damage.

The next round the Rogue sees traps on the other side and runs back to the other side. Rufys casts Persistent Sonic Shield on the fighter, Chris fails his grapple check, and Kerwyn full attacks the Odopi. The Odopi deals a bunch of damage to the Cleric but the Fighter has an AC of like 32 or something right now cause all the buffs and escapes unscathed.

The Rogue attempts to disable some of the traps but triggers a fear effect which she fails and become Panicked (and starts taking off). Brother Nohearit exits the Pyramid and is cursing at the group claiming that they ruined his life, hundreds of years ago when he was a towns person and they blamed the murder of a bunch of the townsfolk on him (a kickback to the first session where they had a mystery trying to find a serial killer. They worked with authorities to find this murderer and they got a bunch of evidence for the Alchemist killing people to make potions with the parts, but it was really a Chained Devil. Anyways the group found out it was the chained devil and let the alchemist get arrested and tried for the murders, because they thought it would be better for the townfolk to think the place was safe and not worry about devils.). Rufys uses Inspire Courage and the swift casts Battlecry for the +8 against fear effects, but the Rogue still fails to recover, but the Fighter finally makes his save to draw his sword (which quadruples his damage output). The Cleric fails his grapple check, and the Fighter does about 120 points of damage in a single round. The Odopi can't his the fighter and is crushing the **** out of the Cleric.

The Rogue fails her save again and starts to run away. Brother Nohearit casts quickened Evard's Black Tentacles on her and summons a Psuedonatural Fiendish Megaraptor (cause he's an Alienist). Rufys blasts Noherit with an Orb of Sound which actually did a decent amount of damage. The Fighter dispatches the Odopi, and the Cleric starts healing himself. The Raptor jumps on the Fighter and hits him for a butt ton of damage (cause it can't see the invisible Rogue cause it doesn't have true sight).

The Rogue makes her fear save, fails the grapple save. Brother Nohearit summons another Psuedonatural Fiendish Megaraptor. Rufys blasts Nohearit with another Orb who makes his save an takes like 10 damage. Kerwyn attacks the Raptor and nearly drops it in a full attack. Chris casts a mass heal spell and moves towards the Rogue's direction (he's not 100% where she is at). The Raptor attacks Kerwyn and misses, the other attacks Chris who gets torn to shreds (like 70ish damage) thanks to Smite Good.

The Rogue makes an escape artist save and gets out of the tentacles and runs towards Nohearit. Nohearit hits her with a disintegrate for 97 damage nearly her entire HP (the Bonus from the Inspire Greatness saved her), the Raptor jumps on Chris who doesn't take nearly as much damage. Kerwyn drops the Raptor and moves towards the other. Chris calls heal on the Rogue restoring her to full.

The Rogue attempts to hide (don't ask me why). Nohearit summons twin Psuedonatural Chaos Beasts, the Raptor attacks the Cleric. Rufys blasts Nohearit with a fireball. Kerwyn kills the Raptor. Chris heals himself.

The Rogue figures that she can't hide and attacks the Chaos Beasts. Nohearit is somewhat short on spells at this point and brings out 4 Greater Shadows that he controlled from inside the Pyramid, The Chaos beats hit Kerwyn but he makes the fort save and doesn't turn into a pile of goo. Rufys grabs Kerwyn and casts Dimension Door landing right next to Nohearit, contingent Wall of Iron triggers and they both get engulfed in a cylinder of Iron. Chris casts a spell that hurts the Chaos Beats (can't remember).

The Rogue continues to attack the Chaos Bests. Nohearit summons a Psuedonatural Fiendish Huge Monstrous Scorpion (I didn't template these out, I took from the list and added the template to them), the Chaos Beasts attack Chris but miss. The Shadows attack Chris and two hit for 2d6 strength damage, he thinks he's dead and start rolling a new character. About 20 seconds into making his new character he realizes that Divine Might or something saved him and he's got like 4 strength left. Rufys casts Wail of Doom which kills Nohearit. Kerwyn breaks the wall down with his sword (designed for sundering). Chris casts restoration on himself and gets his strength back.

The Rogue attacks the Chaos Beasts killing one of them. Rufys uses versatile spell caster and casts Cure Mass Wounds on everyone except the Chaos Beast. Which solidifies the win, because Chris does the same except his heal spells do a butt ton of damage to undead.

So the group finds the greater gate compass and a bunch of other gear and ends up porting to Sigil. There the next DM (guy who plays the fighter) leads us into the next adventure. Basically he resurrected his dead character and his girl friend's dead characters made the chosen to Bahmut (in direct contact with the god) and says that we're going to raid a temple of Tiamat. At this point I was a little pissed because the next couple are just going to be this dude masturbating his failed characters concepts.

But the other players said it was one of the funnest sessions and they liked how close the battle was, the creepy effects, etc.


Rufys is similar to Rufus from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure/Bogus Journey.

Oysterites of the Azure Oyster, are a tribute to the Blue Oyster Cult

The Brothers in Deep Purple robes are a tribute to the band Deep Purple

The Bear Druids of Cura Ursus, Cura Ursus is latin for Care Bear.

No Heart is one of the main Villians (Familiar named Beastly) in the series, and Shreeky is his niece.