|
Post by zipp on Jan 6, 2009 8:50:16 GMT
Things I want to happen, current stat use... all that good stuff.
Scene 1: I want them to meet, and also to hear a mercenary talk about the towns in the Wildlands which are dead from the plague.
The explosion would be that a merchant at the bar has a heart attack (unrelated to plague, but it causes a general panic).
As a pre-scene, it doesn't give full experience, just a couple points for everyone, plus some for anyone who did anything particularly interesting.
|
|
|
Post by zipp on Jan 8, 2009 2:44:39 GMT
This night, the merchant and the mercenary (like a song!) talk of the plague. In the middle of the night, the players are awoken by a scream. IMPORTANT! The Mercenary must share the characteristics of the plague, showing that it just kills people.
When they enter Oasis, the characters should be prepared to be facing just a disease, not monsters.
The Merchant is dead (of a heart attack). The inn keep freaks out and yells about plague. The mercenary meets the group in the morning and signs on to go to Oasis.
Scene 2: day 1 passes without incident. The party leaves Holmgard and travels south, camping on one of the main roads. It isn't until Day 2 that they find the road blocked. Passing this, that night they camp along the road again, but they are attacked by giaks.
Scene 3: Day 3, they discover they are being tracked by doomwolves. Off the path lies the marshes, which they could enter to throw off any scent. Or they can continue down the main road.
The marshes leads to an old house (and an encounter with the plague, though maybe not the improved plague just yet). The road leads to fights with the doomwolves, and more plague victims.
Day 4 (or Day 5 if they took the marshes) sees Oasis. The marshes has other battles in it and dangers to surpass, but they reach Oasis all the same.
In either case they see the city is about to be attacked by a massive army.
Oasis is two layers: the first layer is the city surrounding the main dun. The dun has a huge central gate with one main entrance, and inside this is the wealthy inhabitants as well as the town hall and the main citadel (the seat of power, as it were).
|
|
|
Post by zipp on Jan 8, 2009 2:52:28 GMT
Don't forget to give them food for the journey in the morning (the innkeep isn't to be found, but he's left out enough provisions to reach Oasis).
Issues the party will have in Oasis:
1) they are out of supplies 2) the city is about to be sacked by a Darklord army 3) the plague... of course
The plague works like this... there are four basic zombies:
1- people who get the plague but are too weak to survive it. they die and become base zombies that only survive a few days
2- people that are strong enough to survive the plague they go nuts and become raving lunatics, spewing blood and attacking with super human strength and speed
3- people that have been exposed to the Claw of Naar they gain huge mutations and become true monsters
4- the people that have been using the Claw of Naar from the beginning there are only a very few of these. They've retained all cognitive abilities and have control over their mutations. They are essentially demons, though once human, and the lords of the new Oasis
|
|
|
Post by zipp on Jan 9, 2009 20:52:06 GMT
Free insanity triggered for scene 1: Bonnie feels like someone's in her room.
|
|
|
Post by zipp on Jan 12, 2009 0:31:23 GMT
The presence felt in Holmgard could easily be a figment of the imagination, or it could be something more sinister and mysterious. A good plot device when needed.
|
|
|
Post by zipp on Jan 12, 2009 1:06:23 GMT
When the characters get into Oasis, the gates close behind them (when they are too far in to notice). Plus, they are being chased by the army, which seiges the city.
Eventually, the army makes it in, and a great battle ensues. This is right before they make it to the Citadel.
Every act, they deal with another of the four lieutenants, making their way slowly to Valentine in the Citadel.
Each part of the city is controlled by another lieutenant. The brute controls the area outside the citadel, though he is the first they see. Vinlas controls the main area. Inside the citadel, illusion creates a city that seems fine. The citadel is patrolled by Garwiller, who hunts them.
Oasis is a half moon city, so the other side of the wall is steep walls.
|
|
|
Post by zipp on Jan 13, 2009 21:53:30 GMT
Start raising difficulty for skill checks. Minimum number of successes. Penalties for failure. Make them use those insanity points.
In the next scene, doomwolves chase the companions. They either continue down the road or head into the swamps. The road leads to two drakkarim manning a tower with arrows (one is on the ground with a sword). The wolves attack from behind, making for a hard fight.
If Owain leads the troops astray, then the wolves don't come behind.
|
|
|
Post by zipp on Jan 16, 2009 21:30:49 GMT
This fight could very well kill them all. The lancer will get first strike, with only his opponent reacting to him, though the others can fight the archers or try other attacks (Can Gregor use his lightning hand on the Drakkarim archers?)
If one of the archers dies, he drops his bow to the ground below and one of the characters can pick it up and use it.
After this battle, they have to scale the ravine to open the gates. They then get a choice once back on the road:
If they cut through the hills, they could reach Oasis tonight, if they ride without rest. If they continue to follow the road, it's going to be a full other day of travel.
|
|
|
Post by zipp on Jan 23, 2009 20:28:01 GMT
On the road they find a farmhouse, where a farmer is caring for a refugee from Oasis.
In the hills, they find a house filled with the dead (victims of the plague who killed each other before turning... though one is locked in the basement).
In Oasis, they find the alarums, people who scream at such a high pitch it gives insanity on the first listen. They call the other zombies while holding on to one of the party members (+1 insanity) and trying to keep them in the area.
In the morning, Michael leaves, with a note left for the party. They find him again in Oasis, working for one of the 5.
|
|
|
Post by zipp on Jan 30, 2009 21:49:56 GMT
In the marshes they find the house. Everyone's dead, except for a plague victim in the basement screaming for help. After a while in the house, the plague dogs come, four of them.
|
|
|
Post by zipp on Jan 30, 2009 23:27:43 GMT
The guy in the basement is Errol, a merchant who left the city before the plague. He's an ally, but his only ability is to soak damage and to give them information about Oasis. He's also immune to the plague.
Upstairs they find the family dead, the children and wife with their throats slit. The man of the house is gone, though they find a picture of him (now infected, he's on his way to Oasis).
|
|
|
Post by zipp on Feb 4, 2009 9:23:49 GMT
Sherri Mcfarland went to Oasis to see her sick mother. She then returned to the Mason house. Here she infected the house with the plague, which she is immune to. Lemuel Mason, seeing his family plagued, killed his wife and children, then tried to kill Sherri. She was protected by Thanh Koch, the other servant. She hid in the basement, and before Mason could find her, he lost his mind and started for Oasis.
Mason is a follower of the god Ig'lill, the rain god. Endowed with the powers of the plague, his elemental magic gained from following Ig'lill has grown to the point where he can create small storms (in fact, a storm always appears before he does). In going to Oasis, he becomes somewhat of a wild card, in which he's after the Hand of Naar for his own purposes. He's slowly gaining back his mental faculties as well.
The heroes meet him in their second scene inside Oasis.
|
|
|
Post by zipp on Feb 4, 2009 9:26:20 GMT
Once they get in Oasis, remind them to form alliances: everyone has their own goal.
Also maybe update the goals, so that everyone is always actively working towards it. Gregor and Aram are fine. Owain's goal is nice and destructive. Bonnie is doing fine, too. Meldorac and Bonnie might need some new goals, though.
|
|
|
Post by zipp on Feb 4, 2009 20:30:59 GMT
When it opens, everyone sees a young woman, barely 16. She is wearing a uniformed dress and a headdress that clearly marks her as a servant of the household. There is a long cut on her face that oozes blood, but otherwise she looks unharmed, merely terrified.
"I'm so glad help has finally come," she says. "Thanh isn't here, is he? He locked me in there when The Master went mad. I heard them fighting... but I'm not sure what happened.
|
|
|
Post by zipp on Feb 5, 2009 23:08:01 GMT
Consider just pushing everyone on to Oasis in the next scene: so they cross the hills, and then the army is there, and then the C's have to race to the city.
|
|