Book hunt against Atropus

[Andezzar]

So I got off the the plot about Atropus hinted in Elder Evils a little late. When Caira Xasten's minions steal the manuscript about the World Born Dead (EE p. 17), the six PCs are ECL 10.

I'm wondering what good choices for the thieving minions would be and how to insure that Caira Xasten reads the manuscript and it later becomes available to the PCs. This part makes no sense to me. If she has the manuscript she would either keep it (making it nigh impossile to get for the PCs at that level) or destroy it.

The campaign is set in Faerun by the way. So I'll have the manuscript stolen from a temple in Waterdeep. Are there any good maps of Waterdeep in general or temples in particular around the web?

Thanks in advance for the help.

[Asrrin]

The Manuscript is ancient and cumbersome (maybe being on large cow size sheets of vellum or even stone tablets) and she doesn't have the time or resources to transport it with her. Presumably she learns about the Book of Vile Darkness just like the PC's do, i.e. reading the manuscript, and immediatly sets off to find it. So she leaves her minions to guard whatever laboratory or mansion she has setup, and goes to grab a copy of the book.

The minions don't need to be anything special, a few hired henchman, maybe some cultists that fed her the information in the first place.

[DeltaEmil]

You could have the manuscript be destroyed actually, and the player characters only find few fragments that mention Atropus, but no further detail.

They can then find out about the rest when they are meanwhile hired to deal with a strange sky phenomena that was sighted a few days ago; a small ragtag fleet of nautiloid spelljammer-ships crewed by Illithids who once ruled the world of Glyth, before their empire was destroyed by Atropus. They fled to Toril to warn their brethren living in Faerûn's Underdark. The mind flayers then take an aggressive stance and start raiding the surface for slaves before they will continue to flee, and the player characters can find out from a captured thrall or one of the psionic dangers themselves what is spooking the evil squid thingies so much (or some kind of psionic library crystal that explains all the details and shows everything). Meanwhile, Caira has managed to finish most of the preparations of the apocalypse from the sky spell to hasten Atropus's descent upon Toril. The bodak general Gorguth and his army of demons and the undead could then slip into the world of the forgotten realms because of the constant psionic energies of the mind flayers weakening the boundaries in the world, or perhaps better yet, Gorguth is actually a direct servant of Atropus, sent by the wold born dead to weaken the defenses of Toril and its numerous high level / epic level champions, a measure that Atropus has learned after shattering the Illithid empire of Glyth.

This way, you have the panicked mind flayers preparing for their departure from Toril while causing untold damages and weakening the surface population, and Gorguth softening the resisting empires of the world, while Caira prepares to unleash the horrible spell on a city where most of the population of the world has gathered, which ironically is Waterdeep, having swelled to a few million inhabitants. Gorguth's undead army could of course possess a large number of undead nautiloid spelljammer ships crewed by undead mind flayer to strike terror and death everywhere on the planet.

Alternatively, instead of mind flayers preparing to flee Realmspace, they might actually attempt to summon Ragnora to combat Atropus, making the whole situation even more complex and chaotic, forcing the player characters to either stop the Ragnora-summoning mind flayers, stop Caira from destroying Waterdeep, or stop Gorguth's rampage, making it almost impossible for the player characters to save anyone, which helps with the apocalyptic feeling that Elder Evils instill. As an added complication, the Elder Evils already present on Toril, like the nightmare serpent Dendar and the Hound of Chaos Khezzef could also be stirred into action from all the panic and widespread destruction.

[Andezzar]

Great suggestions, thanks. I prefer too keep is simple though with only one Elder Evil.

Do you have a suggestion which language the manuscript should be written in?

While an "adventuring party" would make sense as the thieves of the manuscript. The PCs just faces something like that. Is there something similar to babau(s) possibly a bit more challenging?

[DeltaEmil]

Aragrakh, the ancient language of dragons could be used. It would show that this Atropus thingy must be very very old.

Alternatively, a language from one of the old and extinct creator races, like Batrachi, or Avian. Bar-Lguras from Fiendish Codex 1 could be used. Although they're only CR 5 (1 lower than babaus), their ability to pounce, and more importantly, their abduction ability allows them to separate enemies, which can be very dangerous for the abducted character who now must face several bar-lguras ganging up on the abducted. Replacing two of their their three (the ever-worthless Dodge and Mobility) feats with Ability Focus (Abduction) and Multiattack should make them far more dangerous.

[Andezzar]

Aragrakh sounds good. some PCs have connectiosn to dragons but none of them speak that language. It uses the same alphabet as draconic, right?

Wow, those apes are bad, especially with exchanged feats. I like it.

[atemu1234]

In terms of cheesiness:
Since Atropus' true form isn't statted, it has no hit dice. Therefore, a level one cleric can destroy it.

[Andezzar]

In terms of cheesiness:
Since Atropus' true form isn't statted, it has no hit dice. Therefore, a level one cleric can destroy it.Even if it were true that no mentioned hit dice are equal to zero hit dice, good luck for the cleric getting within 60 ft of Atropus.

Update, part one has been completed. I stole an idea from TESV. Below a current temple was an earlier temple that featured a stone relief with the information from the manuscript. When the PCs came by the one Bar-Lgura was copying it with coal and paper and the others delayed/tried to kill the PCs. The copier teleported away. We ended the session when the fight was won and they were standing in front an draconic letters they could not make sense of.

So now they need to identify the text or have the priests identify it and then find the BoVD. The text would probably contain that the World born Dead exists and that the BoVD can hasten its arrival. Any ideas how to put in some hints of its location without directly saying oh its in this or that dungeon? A co-DM (and current player) plans on doing an interlude with the Expedition to the Demonweb Pits. Ways to connect that module to information about the BoVD's location or even the book itself, would be especially appreciated. Avoid/minimize spoilers about the module please, because I will be playing it.

[DeltaEmil]

So now they need to identify the text or have the priests identify it and then find the BoVD. The text would probably contain that the World born Dead exists and that the BoVD can hasten its arrival. Any ideas how to put in some hints of its location without directly saying oh its in this or that dungeon? A co-DM (and current player) plans on doing an interlude with the Expedition to the Demonweb Pits. Ways to connect that module to information about the BoVD's location or even the book itself, would be especially appreciated. Avoid/minimize spoilers about the module please, because I will be playing it.Well, if the group finds out that they must search for the Book of Vile Darkness, going to a vile place of darkness (the Demonweb Pits) can surely yield some information about that book's location if they ask some of the fiends or Lolth-worshipping fiendish drow that live there, or raid their personal libraries. Also, the BoVD is an artifact of pure evil with a will on its own, so it might be very possible that it currently is in the Abyss, where the Demonweb Pits are located. To make it more difficult, it might be that the denizens of the Demonweb Pits only possess faulty and incomplete copies of the original Book of Vile Darkness, or even just copies of book's pages that must then be put together to recreate the information they seek.
You could have some several side quests where you have to kill a demon for another demon because that demon once stole that other demon's lollipop when they were both baby dretches, and then the other demon will allow the group to take a look at his copy of page 666 of the BoVD, and promise to only hunt and kill and torture the PCs after 66 hours have passed (with the demon of course cheating and having crossed his vile fingers so that he can hunt them after 6.6 hours, or selling the location out to the local demonic police force).

The Demonweb Pits are also a location full of fiendish spiders and therefore Bebilith demons. Hiring such a demon to search after the bar-lgura demon that copied the relevant information and fled is a possibility.

In the end, everything's possible.

[Andezzar]

Well, if the group finds out that they must search for the Book of Vile Darkness, going to a vile place of darkness (the Demonweb Pits) can surely yield some information about that book's location if they ask some of the fiends or Lolth-worshipping fiendish drow that live there, or raid their personal libraries. Also, the BoVD is an artifact of pure evil with a will on its own, so it might be very possible that it currently is in the Abyss, where the Demonweb Pits are located. To make it more difficult, it might be that the denizens of the Demonweb Pits only possess faulty and incomplete copies of the original Book of Vile Darkness, or even just copies of book's pages that must then be put together to recreate the information they seek.
You could have some several side quests where you have to kill a demon for another demon because that demon once stole that other demon's lollipop when they were both baby dretches, and then the other demon will allow the group to take a look at his copy of page 666 of the BoVD, and promise to only hunt and kill and torture the PCs after 66 hours have passed (with the demon of course cheating and having crossed his vile fingers so that he can hunt them after 6.6 hours, or selling the location out to the local demonic police force). :smallbiggrin: demonic lollipops. Nice idea.


The Demonweb Pits are also a location full of fiendish spiders and therefore Bebilith demons. Hiring such a demon to search after the bar-lgura demon that copied the relevant information and fled is a possibility.I think they will start by trying to translate the relief, since the Bar-Lgura teleported away and most likely has already given the copy to its employer before they can be on its tail.