New Haven: help with Vampire Lord storyline

[Dr.Vino]

On this big island the characters are on lives a vampire lord deep inland and in a mountain castle. He used to be a lord of a town that has long since been destroyed/abandoned now making way for natural and unnatural creatures to roam the woods that have since grown back. This vampire is about 1000 years old.

I'm looking for some ideas for how the characters might find out about him and maybe some ideas of how he turned and how this town he lorded over was destroyed.

This is a Homebrew world and demons will play a big part.

These sorcerer's who worship demons are looking for demon stones to open a gate to unleash the demon abyss on the world. These stones are scattered throughout the world.

My initial idea was that a wizard who once worked for this lord open a demon portal unleashing demons. The Lord and his men killed the wizard, and the demons but not without great cost. The town was destroyed, the people killed, and the Lord left dying by the bite of a demon. Except he didn't die, he turned. Some of his men who didn't die eventually died by this new hunger of the Lord, some turned into spawn.

The Lord fed in the lands below, hunting whatever he could until a hill giant saw him hunting, his speed and strength awed the giant and thought this lord was a god. So he became his servant which he feeds off mostly.

This is just an idea, if anyone has any ideas on how to make it better, or has a different idea altogether. I'm not sure how the heroes find out about him as NO one in the town even knows the history of that town since it was so long ago. I don't want the whole people disappearing scenario as I feel that it's overused.

Any help would be appreciated!

[Dr.Vino]

Oh, and this wizard has one of the demon stones which is supposed to start the heroes off on the quest to find the rest, eventually.

[Unoriginal]

Well, the first advice I can give you is: since this vampire is 1000 years old, think of how much different life in your world was, at the time.

1000 years is a long time, even for long-lived species. Outfits, weapon aesthetics, architecture, philosophical currents, beliefs, language, and a thousand other things change in that time.

So, with that Vampire Lord, you got a portal to the past.

[Dr.Vino]

Well, the first advice I can give you is: since this vampire is 1000 years old, think of how much different life in your world was, at the time.

1000 years is a long time, even for long-lived species. Outfits, weapon aesthetics, architecture, philosophical currents, beliefs, language, and a thousand other things change in that time.

So, with that Vampire Lord, you got a portal to the past.

I didn't even think of that.... Lol I don't have a clue how things were back then. I mean it's not like he's only of those vampires that is around the current society. So he really wouldn't have changed.... I asked you to help not give me more work! 😋

[Dr.Vino]

Anyone else have suggestions?

[gfishfunk]

You need a food source: perhaps a tribal remnant that worship him as a god? Or a group of thirty inbred servants living within the castle? Or perhaps it hibernates - that could really work well if you want it to be an end-of-adventure encounter.

You can also have the abandoned village well preserved - or existing as a literal ghost town, unnaturally preserving the walls, doors, ceilings, furniture. Clocks still click without need to be wound.

Provide single page passages in the rooms of the ghost town to put together the story of the lord of the castle. The ghosts reenact scenes, like the townspeople fleeing, some getting trampled, and then the scene vanishes.

[Dr.Vino]

You need a food source: perhaps a tribal remnant that worship him as a god? Or a group of thirty inbred servants living within the castle? Or perhaps it hibernates - that could really work well if you want it to be an end-of-adventure encounter.

You can also have the abandoned village well preserved - or existing as a literal ghost town, unnaturally preserving the walls, doors, ceilings, furniture. Clocks still click without need to be wound.

Provide single page passages in the rooms of the ghost town to put together the story of the lord of the castle. The ghosts reenact scenes, like the townspeople fleeing, some getting trampled, and then the scene vanishes.

Lol can't go wrong with inbred servants! Thanks for the suggestions!