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View Full Version : [Campaign] Trials of Beleb



Callos_DeTerran
2007-01-24, 07:31 PM
For my IRL campaign I will be setting up a new campaign for them kinda soon and wanted to work the kinks out of it. Of course my actual crunch is bit limited due to books currently aviable but I can put the fluff out there and take in some ideas.

What type of Campaign is it? (Action, mystery, puzzle solving, etc. etc.): A mix of action and mystery. My players prefer to be in combat interspersed with some periods of problem-solving and mystery solving.

Is there a focus for the campaign?: Abberrations. More specifically on aboleths, neogi, and psurlons. Not counting in their human and monstrous minions and cults.

Does it center around one specific area or is it free-roam?: Most likely one specific area. The coastal town of Beleb and the areas surronding it in all directions. From underneath of the town, to the surronding hills, all the way down to the depths of the ocean, to up in the sky even. Eventually it might take my players to other planes (Probably the Far Realm). Since a town doesn't exactly have all the resources a growing band of adventurer's would want though, probably include another civilized city to retreat (Though not easily) to recuperate and buy new things. Not to mention look for side quests.

What's the level range?: 5 and up. My preference is to take it all of the way up to 20.

Do you have a general plot?: Roughly. My group will be travelling to Beleb under the employ of Thoem Dynsam. Recently an outbreak of disappearances have begun to plague the costal town, and a sudden out pouring of money, that has drawn the attention of the Grey Guards of Inesang. Worried that a murderer was using the smaller town as practice, and would move unto their city once he had exhausted his supply, they asked an ex-Grey Guard (Thoem) to handle the problem for him.

Thoem is not without his own involvement in this entire ordeal. His wife, Samshya, had been on a recent trip into Beleb to buy a few rare flowers when she disappeared. Almost everything points to foul play yet no one investigated it or even admitted to Samshya visiting.

Once the group arrives in Beleb, they'll be quick to discover that the citizens aren't the most friendly of bunch and that there has been some recent changes to the town. A new town headsman had just been appointed and had started construction on a multi-deity chapel, but not to any god the PC's will have heard of. No one knows were the money for the construction is coming from though.

Not to mention that crime rates have dropped amazingly far recently, though this began before the disappearences even began. Any sort of lawlessness is met with a swift justice that has prisoner's sent out to Emthere Prison and Asylum for seemingly harsh sentences. Sentences so long that hardly ever of them have been completed in a single lifetime.

Emthere itself has a troubled history, previously belonging to a mad but unknown wizard before he was struck down by a band of travelling heroes. Standing out like an eye sore, perhaps 20 miles from the coast, it has long since been heard from as a haunted and miserable place. People talking about how the screams of the wizard's test subjects or the mysterious lights that shine from the windows on the harvest moon. It was only within the past century that it had been claimed by the kingdom for use as a prison and home for the insane. Not to many are sent there, for its seen as a last resort (Like Alcatatraz or a prison that gives the death penalty) for truly troubling and dangerous criminals. And of course, the stories of ghosts and mysterious lights continued, though now the screams and curses of the inmates could be heard on a clear night and someone listened carefully from the shore.

Something else that is certain to be considered odd, is that Beleb has no wall or organized form of law enforcement. When someone does something wrong, they're brought to a magistrate who judges them and rewards the citizen who helped out. But the wall is clearly an oddity since a variety of savage creatures do in fact inhabit the area surronding Beleb and have been the death of more then one hunting party.

All of that is basic elements that are going to be mixed into the greater plot, of which I have...

The normal citizens of Beleb may not know it, but their little town has become the epicenter of a great battle and an even greater evil. Long ago, a fearsome aberation was bound deep in the earth under the ground that the town was built on. Sealed away by a dead order who apointed new guardians whom they believed they could trust, a tradition that has kept on until recent times. Rumors turned to stories which turned to myths and the creature was all but forgotten in its prison. Until recently. A dungeon raider, who decided to test the truth of the myth, decided to plumb the earthen depths beneath Beleb with a team of dwarven diggers. Unfortunately for them, the current guardians intercepted them at the creature's lair and slayed them. Even more unfortunately the barrier keeping the creature imprisoned was ruptured in the battle and the creature was set loose. The guardians fled to seek help and prayed it would get lost in the labyrinth tunnels that led down there.

The beings awakening also drew the sinister eyes of a diffrent sort. An aboleth outcast named Eguatshactih felt the vibrations of the beings awakening in his aquatic home beneath the prison island of Emthere, were it conducts its own experiments on the inmates and staff of the prison. Seeing the oppertunity to return to it's home city in power, Eguatshactih garnered his minions and travelled through underwater pathways until finding the unleashed creature. Overwhelmed by it's presence the aboleth pledged itself and its minions as worshippers to the creature and lead it out to sea once more. Once there, the aboleth was quick to swim back to the sunken city of Naqulae (Aboleth city) to bring word of it's new god to it's brethren.

Some time passed then as the first disapperances were reported, these unfortunate victims were actually the creature dispatching it's cultists and Eguatshactih's creations to take revenge on the same order that bound it all those years ago. And things were even more turbulent under the water. With, roughly, half of the city now worshipping it's god, Eguatshactih found itself embroiled in a fierce war with the remaining non-believers. Unfortunately, the non-believers discovered that the creature's (Lets call it Egua for now because I'm tired of calling it " the creature" ) forces seemed to be limitless, while their own supply of thralls was dwindling. So they decided to recruit from Beleb (Most of the disappaerences, including Thoem's wife). To make matters worse, a tribe of troqlodytes worshipping Dagon have joined into the fray with a fervor and fury unlike either side.

Of course its not supposed to be easy for my PC's to get into the thick of things, espicially since that will be very very dangerous for them, so I also need some false leads. I already have two...

Garves: A fleshwarper and descendant of the old mad wizard, Garves is an embittered dwarf with a poigant dislike for his neighbors. Rather then take it out on them though, he decided to populate the woods with his own "children", creatures grafted to the point they can reasonably be considered their own species. Garves also hasn't moved because of an old text he found that detailed the presence of ancient power deep underground. The PC's might suspect him because most of the "parts" he gets are from Beleb's graveyard and on a monthly basis a home-made Chuul will take a payment of gold and gems down to the beach and he'll recieve live (savage and evil) test subjects to try out new grafts on. Supposed to be creepy but also isn't evil.

Nyast: Nyast actually is a far more sinister sort. As the town butcher, no one really complains about Nyast having his meat storage at his own home, but no one knows the dark secret either. Nyast had always had a fascination with eating meat, and the outbreak of disappaerences has given him the perfect oppertunity to take those fantasies to the next height. On a regular pattern (haven't decided what that is yet though), Nyast abducts a fellow towns person and takes them back to his home. There he kills and canabilizes the bodies, keeping the left overs with all of the other meat. And with a majority of the town under aboleth mind control, no one investigates these "miscellenous disappearences" thinking they are just unplanned "harvestings".

Other false leads shouldn't be that hard though. Perhaps a stern magistrate-type (Who isn't controlled) who is quick to send of minor offendors to the prison as an example and to keep the crime rate as far down as it is (He doesn't know th real reason thats slowed down).

This next one is as much a false lead as it is meant to be help for the PC's. A mysterious outsider (like them) who happens to be at the scenes of most of the trouble but also doesn't have any connection to them. I was thinking mostly of making this Mystery NPC a keeper of the Cerulian sign who is checking the seal's stability.


And that's most of what I have. The rest are half-formed idea's and thoughts that I still need to think through. An idea's for adventure's (within the campaign), NPCs, sub-quests, items, or even monsters and possible write-ups for NPC's already named would be a lot of help and I'll be adding things I came up with on my own as I come up with them.

Callos_DeTerran
2007-01-28, 03:02 PM
C'mon. I know someone some scathing critisism or helpful advice, don't be afraid to speak up.....








...Please?

Zeal
2007-01-28, 03:24 PM
A lot of good ideas but I'm kinda stuck of how Garves isn't evil, sure he hasn't attacked Beleb, but he's scattered hostile creations in the woods, which you mentioned had caused the death of more than one hunting party.

It seems like a "I'm not touching you, I'm not touching you, you can't do anything" situation. Also, willfully participating in a slave trade, even if the slaves are evil is a neutral act, leaning towards evil.

If I were running the game, Garves would be on the border between neutral and evil, but I'm leaning towards labeling him evil.

Aside from that, awesome ideas, I fully recommend the mysterious stranger NPC, maybe even more than one.

Callos_DeTerran
2007-01-28, 03:52 PM
A lot of good ideas but I'm kinda stuck of how Garves isn't evil, sure he hasn't attacked Beleb, but he's scattered hostile creations in the woods, which you mentioned had caused the death of more than one hunting party.

Garve's creations aren't the creatures who have been killing off hunting parties. Both "groups" of creatures are similiar in appearance and tempermant but I pictured Garve's as keeping them close to his home until they learned better then to pick fights. The savage creatures (to me) are the random encounters not to mention any aboloth or Egua minions in the area.

Callos_DeTerran
2007-02-04, 04:57 PM
These stats are courteously provided by the great King of Griffins for the fiendish Nyast

Nyast

Human Expert 6/ Cannibal 1

HP - 42
AC – 12 ( -1 Dex, +3 Padded Armor)
Init - -1

Keen Butchers Knife +8 / 1d6+2 / 17-20/x2


Fort +4/Ref +1/Will +8

Feats/Abilities – Power Attack, Cleave, Power Critical(hb), Run, Get ‘em Alive(hb), Fetish(hb)

Skills
Appraise +11, Climb +12, Craft(Knives) +11, Gather Information +12, Jump +17, Knowledge(Local) +11, Move Silently +9, Survival +11, Profession(Butcher) +11

Str 15/Dex 8/Con 14/Int 13/Wis 12/Cha 10

+2 Padded Butchers Apron
Ring of Jumping
2 Potions of Cure Light Wounds

4PP 24CP (Bank Notes: 24 PP)
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Nyast is a calm and polite personality for one who makes his living wielding knives as a butcher. He is always cordial, but typically reserved when expressing his opinion.

When stalking an individual to cannibalize, he will monitor their activity for a day or two (possibly even a week ahead of time) and wait for the best opportunity to snatch them out of sight.

While his new ‘habit’ of eating others has lead to a slightly more violent streak in him, he is prone to run at the first sign of danger than risk having he and his actions discovered. To run, he will jump try to find a way to jump up to a roof(taking best use of his ring) and jump from roof to roof until out of danger.

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Power Critical(Ex) – By taking a -5 penalty to attack, you Nyast may increase his critical multiplier by one step.

Get ‘em Alive(Ex) – If Nyast attack should bring a creature down to 0 health or lower, he may choose to deal Non-Lethal Damage instead of Lethal. The creature must make a Fortitude Save equal to 10 + Damage Dealt or be rendered unconscious for one hour.

Fetish(Ex) – If Nyast eats human flesh, he gains a temporary +2 dodge bonus to his AC and Initiative, and +2 to Strength for Checks and determining max load for 24 hours.