[3.5, Setting/Adventure Riff] The Astral Tarrasque

[Time Blossom]

"If a bag of holding is placed within a portable hole a rift to the Astral Plane is torn in the space: Bag and hole alike are sucked into the void and forever lost. If a portable hole is placed within a bag of holding, it opens a gate to the Astral Plane: The hole, the bag, and any creatures within a 10-foot radius are drawn there, destroying the portable hole and bag of holding in the process."
--Bogworth Pennyfarthing, halfling bard and alleged conqueror of the Tarrasque. Private journal.

Kind of an interesting effect, innit? No save DC, no spell resistance, no backsies, no nothing. It just... happens. Kind of like the Tarrasque itself just happens. No rhyme, no reason, just ancient undeniable hunger. The two were made for each other.

So, twenty years or so ago, the last time the Tarrasque awoke, a group of adventurers went out to try and stop it before it could devour the capital. So far as everyone knows, they succeeded. But the truth of the matter is that they used a strange, little-known-in-the-setting trick to send the beast off to the astral plane, where it could never bother anyone again. Maybe they even did it on accident.

But here we are, a couple of decades later... and everyone in the capital dies in their sleep overnight. And the next night, the same thing happens in the next town over. The kingdom is in a panic, and nobody knows what's happening or what to do about it.

So what's really happening? The Tarrasque is awake, and it's had twenty years for its abominably resilient body to adapt to the astral plane. Twenty years to dream, and learn how to find a new way to sate its ancient appetites.

Now, on the astral plane, the Tarrasque feasts on the souls of all who dream, and it will take more than simple tricks to stop it.

~ ~ ~

...Thoughts? Astral plane is a bit homebrewed, obviously, but I think that souls drifting into the astral while they sleep is a reasonable thing to do. Normally they'd have some sort of protection, I think; perhaps having such a faint impression that they're not even detectable by most creatures. But the Tarrasque is hungry, and has a powerful instinct for revenge against those who exiled it.

[W3bDragon]

I have recently finished running a pathfinder campaign that has very similar lines to this. In a campaign prior to that one, the finale had the PCs defeat Chemnosit, essentially the Tarrasque's worm shaped brother, and had him transported away. Unbeknownst to them, Chemnosit ended up on the Astral plane. This new campaign's premise was that Chemnosit was alive and kicking around in the Astral. He was feeding on the souls of the dead that travel through the Astral plane to reach their respective deities' domains. The effect on the Prime material was that, in a specific region, people who die there cannot be resurrected nor contacted via Speak with Dead, etc.

The PCs got several clues over the course of many adventures that they had to piece together to figure out what the problem was and how to solve it. The campaign worked rather well. If you need any specific advice, perhaps giving us the level bracket you had in mind as well as the area in which they'll start will spark some ideas.

[Time Blossom]

I wouldn't be running it, at least not any time soon. I just like doing some world-building every now and again. :)

I tend to think of the Tarrasque as a very high-level threat, but I'm sure there are plenty of people here in the playground willing to slap me with a fish and call me a liar on that front. :P

I like the way you handled it, from how it sounds. It makes the threat into a creeping mystery, very Lovecraftian horror fuel in the best kind of way. :smallbiggrin:

For this setting, though, I like the image of the Tarrasque as a rampaging monster that is turning entire cities into ghost towns. People are terrified to sleep, lest they feed the beast. On the astral plan, maybe there are legions of Githzerai losing their lives in battle to slow its march across the plane.

In short: it's a terrifying, imminent threat that's happening right now and needs to be dealt with as soon as possible. Although presumably "as soon as possible" can't be "right now," otherwise it would be a very short adventure. So maybe mid-level is the right spot for it. The PCs don't have easy access to planar travel, and most of the people who would know about that were in the capital and are dead already. So it's a frantic scramble to find a way to get to the Tarrasque, all the while building up the right resources to actually deal with the thing. And always, always, the quiet threat of what might happen should you fall asleep in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

[Brookshw]

I quite like the concept, kudos!

You'd need to tweak some raw obviously but it has a nice feel to it. Time on the astral poses some interesting questions as to how the twenty years passing pjays out but a hand wave sorts that. Any ideas how you'd modify the tarrasque? I was somewhat wondering if the realm of dreams but be better for the whole sleeping bit. Definitely will take some hints to point to the astral as the source, maybe refuge gith or something.