Campaign Advice

[JNAProductions]

Players in Pop Goes The Paladin, DO NOT READ. SERIOUSLY.

The general story thus far is that Paladins of the Church of Feca have been getting murdered. A lot. So the party was called in to investigate it. While they were getting to know the High Pristess of Feca, they grew suspicious of an acolyte named Gerald. Gerald, in this case, is actual Evers, one of four assassin dragons who have been committing the murders. In addition, while they were chasing down Evers, another one of the group, Calli, murdered the High Priestess and took her form. They have no idea yet.

The dragons' goals are simple-wipe out humanoid life to make way for their own era. They were awoken because the Church of Feca was doing an archaeological dig and nearly discovered some Dofuses (dragon eggs) and they're determined to pave the way for the reign of dragons.

The four dragons are Evers, Calli, Cull, and Vindi. Each one is a highly capable combatant, with specialties, and capable of shapeshifting into nearly any form.

Evers specializes in melee.

Calli in deception and surprise.

Cull in anti-magic.

Vindi in long range combat.

Currently, I have a player tracking Evers, but it's not likely he'll be able to find him.

So, any advice on where to go next?

And I repeat-IF YOU ARE PLAYING POP GOES THE PALADIN, DO NOT READ!

[Final Hyena]

I'm reminded of the story of a cleric who would always yell his equivalent of blood for the blood god in combat. It was a tradition that everyone joined in, until the session the player didn't because the PC was replaced with a shapshifter. The point being have a quirk/behaviour you can add/remove from the priestess's normal mannerism.

For the "bigger picture" it is worth knowing the relative power of the dragon assassins the party and the church.
For instance are the assassins far too powerful, but more distracted with the church to allow the PCs to do stuff without direct confrontation?
Or could the group take them on one at a time, then it is a case of finding clues/creating traps to catch them?

The party probably wants a source of information so they know what they are dealing with, what about discovering an informant for the dragon assassins? Or could they see an assassination/shapeshift from a distance/place of hiding?

Imagine it one of the players see's down a long alleyway. a priest turns into a maid before disappearing into the night. They are too far and at the wrong angle to be able to recognise who this person is (supposed to be), but they know a shapechanger is about. They are suddenly in an awkward position of trying to discover who it is all the while not trying to give their knowledge away, but will they realise that there is more than one before it is too late?

[JNAProductions]

I'm reminded of the story of a cleric who would always yell his equivalent of blood for the blood god in combat. It was a tradition that everyone joined in, until the session the player didn't because the PC was replaced with a shapshifter. The point being have a quirk/behaviour you can add/remove from the priestess's normal mannerism.

For the "bigger picture" it is worth knowing the relative power of the dragon assassins the party and the church.
For instance are the assassins far too powerful, but more distracted with the church to allow the PCs to do stuff without direct confrontation?
Or could the group take them on one at a time, then it is a case of finding clues/creating traps to catch them?

The party probably wants a source of information so they know what they are dealing with, what about discovering an informant for the dragon assassins? Or could they see an assassination/shapeshift from a distance/place of hiding?

Imagine it one of the players see's down a long alleyway. a priest turns into a maid before disappearing into the night. They are too far and at the wrong angle to be able to recognise who this person is (supposed to be), but they know a shapechanger is about. They are suddenly in an awkward position of trying to discover who it is all the while not trying to give their knowledge away, but will they realise that there is more than one before it is too late?

The PCs can probably take the assassins one at a time. It'd be a damn hard fight, and no guaranteed victory, but they could do it.

They're already suspicious that they're dealing with shapechangers, but that's not a bad idea to make it a little more obvious. Thank you.

[Corinath]

What does the party seem inclined to do next?

I admit I'm DMing for the first time, but I'm trying to have my players do a lot of the leading in my campaign. For the most part, it's worked. The last few days it hasn't, but that's a different story. :P

There are some elements that would be fun to play with.

1) Has there been precedence in your world for this before? Was there an attempt by these dragons to demolish life and/or was it recorded? If so, it might be fun to introduce a side quest wherein a character happens to be obsessed (dramatic irony for you) with the history of this previous attempt.

2) The "Blood for Blood" comment is pretty on point, but also very on the nose. They'll have their suspicions confirmed at that point.

3) The movie/book "The Thing" by Stephen King introduced an interesting element to shapeshifting. How do you know who is who? Effectively, they wound up having to devise a test that would prove if an ally was an ally or an alien. Do your party members ever separate from one another? Maybe, after shapeshifters are more or less revealed (so as not to jump the shark on the plot point), you, the DM, have conversations with separated party members, as other party members, while secretly being one of the dragons with proper motivation, such as recon and/or sowing discord in the group. This might prompt secret passwords and the like between them. Hopefully your players don't meta game too much.

4) I'm sure you have, but make sure there's a great reason the dragons don't kill the party members right away, as you mention they're stronger right now. If you have a reason they're holding back from assaulting the party, then you have a reason for them to not only continue deception, but for them to pry and manipulate the party.

5) Last but not least, introducing a new character can always stir things up if nothing is happening. Maybe a random divination wizard has foreseen the events and is being blunt about it. Maybe a druid, somehow tasked with protecting the planet from their scourge, condemns everyone to being a shapeshifter and requires them to publicly suffer the effects of the "Moonbeam" spell, a spell only druids know which can kick shapeshifters into their true form. Maybe that druid appears with the wizard? Maybe with an army demanding a lockdown and a crucible style witch hunt? Who knows?

Good luck! :D