Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Charles Phipps 10-26-07, 04:57 PM	This is based on an idea I had with a cliche adventure hook. Basically, the idea is to foster folks into the intrigue and bizarre world of Eberron by pointing out that things can't be expected to go along a normal path in the conspiracy ridden Hell that is Khorvaire. Furthermore, to make it fun, it's also a contest with all readers as judges. Every Adventure hook should be rated with comments by our judges and those that are the kind you'd like to use should get a smiley face from the many facial expressions of our boards. Every post can enter up to five at a time but no more. I'll start us off in the format and I welcome Forgotten Freedom and Shadows over Cyre allumni. Hellcow is also free to give any thoughts he wants. Theme: Classic D&D Adventures in Eberron 1. Keep on the Borderlands A Brelish Duke has decided to construct a Keep on the Mournlands edge to conduct raiding across the Mournland, keep watch for activity from the Lord of Blades, and also to serve as a home for refugees that want to live in their new home. The construction of the keep has been hampered by bandits as well as monstrous humanoids. The Duke posts a reward for the player characters to deal with the horde of bandits and the horrible creatures that are curtailing his plot. Twist 1#: The bandits are actually a large group of Cyrean refugees that were pushed off their farms that was once part of the nation before being claimed by Breland. This act was, ironically, to construct the very keep whose people they're waylaying. If the player characters can contact the right authorities or bestow enough coin, they can make their way to New Cyre. Unless they bring in their militant leader at the very least, they'll recieve no reward for it, even if the bandit attacks stop. Twist 2#: Indeed; a large number of Kobolds, Goblins, Orcs, and Ogres have been assembled to attack Duke Aris' construction. However, they are doing so under the effect of a Wand of Mass Charm being used by Aris' Necromancer/Priest of the Dragon Below son. They're complete innocents in the affair. Aris wants his son eliminated and the body disposed of before it damages his career in Parliament. 2. Against the Giants A massive horde of giants has been assembled and started maurading across Western Breland! There's Frost Giants, Hill Giants, and Fire Giants that are working in alliance with many local humanoids to try and lay waste to the land. The PCs are hired to go forth and help slaughter the giants where they lay. Twist 1#: House Deneith has been paid a substantial sum of money to go forth and kill as many Giants as possible. They've been poisoning wells, leaving spell-trapped Giant Toys, killing their game, and butchering the young whenever possible. This mercenary army is meant to strike at the future of Droam so that ambitious Brelish Nobles can work on settling the land in the future. The PCs will discover their employer is a member of the Aurrum with ties to these unscupulous :censored: Twist 2#: The Giants are actually being directed, secretly, by Inspired. The leader of this crusade, a Half-Fire Giant/Half Hill Giant is actually Mind Seeded. Taking advantage of the existing situation, they've decided to expand the scope of the conflict into a full scale war with Droam. 3. Dragonslaying A Red Dragon has been seen in the immediate area with the magical beast having demanded that the townsfolk turn over a beautiful pure maiden to it every month in order to be devoured. Otherwise, he'll proceed to burn down the village. He then demonstrated by proceeding to destroy the Mayor's House with a gout of flame. Twist 1#: The Red Dragon is, actually, a disgruntled Aundair magician whom was recently expelled from the Arcanix for sexual impropriety and misuse of magic. His name is Felix. The young women he's demanding are being used in the rather disgusting way you might think with his spells keeping them as servants while he conjures his well crafted illusions (he'll then sell them into slavery after he's done). The Mayor's House was just to decapitate the locals of their leadership with a Fireball. Twist 2#: There IS a Red Dragon living in the area, which is part of the reason they believed his illusion. Glaumberg, is usually polymorphed by his magic into the form of a House Deneith mercenary whom chooses to live amongst the locals as a man. Recently, he was widowed and his adopted daughter is his most important possession. She was given over to the wizard Felix by the townsfolk who'd never liked her. After Felix is dealt with, he intends to sick his mercenary army on the town for their gross act of cowardice and defilement of his most favorite child. Twist 3#: Felix is, unknowingly, being used by an associate of his from college who placed this stupid scheme in his head. A Royal Eyes Arcanix wizard whom intends to use his much more powerful magic and Knights Arcane to either slay Glaumberg as a threat to the kingdom or enslave him to attack Thaliost for the Chamberlain. A perfectly deniable attack as well. Who will the PCs help and destroy?
DragoonDarkfire 10-26-07, 05:17 PM	Evil Wizard Kidnaps Princess. One of the daughters of a nation's monarchic ruler (Boranel, Aurala, etc...) is kidnapped by a wizard named Yostraius who wishes to take her as his wife. The Dark Lanterns/Royal Eyes/etc... have hired the PC's to rescue her. Yostraius is assisted by a fighter bodyguard named Rorda who is exceptionally skilled with the blade. Twist #1: Yostraius isn't a real threat at all. He's a carefully crafted puppet that the Princess has crafted in order to fool her home nation into believing him to be a high standing member of an opposing nation's monarchy. She hopes to restart the Last War. Twist #2: The princess is doing this because she is possessed by a Rakshasa member of the Lords of Dust. Also explaining her magical abilities. She is in fact completely innocent from any of this and is being forced to do these horrendous deeds. Twist #3: Rorda is in fact a Lawful Good Silver dragon member of the Chamber who has been working for Yostraius for years to investigate possible involvement with the Lords of Dust. He is unaware that the princess is possessed by a Khyber fiend and the rakshasa has been observing Rorda carefully as well and it possesses it's own suspicions.
Charles Phipps 10-26-07, 05:30 PM	Well done there. Epic and interesting, big chance for PCs killing the wrong people. ;-) Plenty of room for further twists from various OTHER groups interested in rescuing or assassinating her while under the same false impressions that the PCs are.
Rechan 10-26-07, 10:51 PM	The PCs meet in a tavern. An old man has a treasure map. Twist 1 The map is to the home of a PC. Twist 2 The BBEG is a PC's MOM! Twist 3 AND IT'S ALL A DREAM. Kidding. ;)
Rechan 10-26-07, 11:38 PM	5 Humanoids invading Breland! Orcs, gnolls, and ogres are leading raids on Brelish settlements along the Droaam border. The Duke ruling over this area begs the PCs for assistance. Twist 1 The cause? The Droaam warlord closest to the Brelish border is a fourteen year old medusa. She has a secret crush on her pen pal, the Duke's son. However, he hasn't returned her letters since she sent him that full body sketch, and she isn't handling the rejection well. The raids are to get his attention, and show that she is not to be trifled with. Twist 2 The letters are being intercepted by agents of House Deneith. They are trying to spark a war with Droaam to fill their coffers while undercuting House Tharashk's mercenary business. Twist 3 An Illithid has a bet with a minor Rakshasa: it will become a warlord of Droaam. Thus, it has steered the medusa and Duke's son towards each other, and tipped off House Deneith anonymously. If the PCs usurp the medusa teen, a Cult of the Dragon Below, lead by the illithid, will stage a coup to seize power of the medusa's domain. The Rakshasa poses as the Duke, using the PCs to win the bet. 6 Tomb of Horrors Khorvaire is on the brink of another war. It is discovered that, with the Regalia of Galifar, the Five Nations could be once more reunited under Galifar. However, an ancient lich stole the regalia from King Jarlot (some say the true cause of Galifar's fraction). The PCs are approached by members of a summit representing the rulers of all four nations, and asked to delve into the depths of the tomb for the regalia. Twist 1 The members of the Summit are actually members of the Twelve, who want the Dragonmarked Houses to claim Galifar for themselves. Twist 2 The lich is actually the Real Jarlot. Seeing how corrupt his heirs were, and foreseeing the coming calamity, he secretly built the tomb as a Test. It would be a test to measure the most worthy to rule over the Five Nations - so when the PCs reach the lich, he begs them to take and use the regalia to rule Galifar themselves; they earned that right. Twist 3 Following the PCs invisibly is the right hand of Erandis d'Vol. It watches the PCs solve all the puzzles, and lets them lead it right to Jarlan's tomb. It carries an item that allows Erandis to teleport in, so that she can learn from Jarlot/absorb his power/get his autograph because he's just so dreamy. Bonus Silly Twist: 4 The LoD actually planted the idea in Jarlot's head to build the tomb, and switched the Regalia before he was put to rest. Why? They wanted an epic version of "Survivor" to watch.
DragoonDarkfire 10-27-07, 12:12 AM	Destroy the evil artifact. One piece of jewelry that a PC has found to have magical properties (such as a Ring of Invisibility) has been said to actually be the conduit for a dark warlords evil spirit. The PC's must fight a tribe of Orcs in order to get to a specific location to destroy it. Twist #1: The orcs are actually Gatekeepers who are trying to stop the PC's for the reason of Twist #2. Twist #2: A powerful member of the Council of Ashtak has possessed the item, thus explaining it's newly developed evil aura and dark tempting magics. The fiend is leading the PC's to this location as it is where a TRUE evil artifact is located and is protected by a powerful spell of good. The rakshasa needs to have itself carried to the place so it can safely cross the barrier. The Gatekeepers know this thanks to a prophecy foretold to them and they have vowed to stop the Rakshasa at all costs. That's really all I can think of for this one.
Charles Phipps 10-27-07, 12:22 AM	Both were absolutely demented, Rechan. Bravo. I especially loved the Tomb of Horrors and the idea of Erandis D'Vol wanting to meet with Jarlot because he's just that nifty. Dragoon, you get a :crazy: for the twisting of the Lord of the Rings.
Rechan 10-27-07, 12:34 AM	While I'm at it... 8 The Chosen One The Chosen One of Great Cosmic Importance (read: Prophecy) is born. This child has grown up to teenage years. The PCs come across the Chosen One's caretaker, dieing of an unhealable wound/incurable poison/Dues Ex Machina of your choice, who tells the PCs of the Chosen One's destiny. They must escort the child to the place where it will be protected. Naturally, forces are at work to prevent the child from making it. Twist 1 The forces at work are the Kalashtar, who believe that The Chosen One is a key the Quori need to help usher in their return. Twist 2 The Dragons know better - it's really the essence of a slumbering Rajah; at the Place where the Chosen One will Be Taken, the ritual will allow the Rajah to be reborn in the child. However, according to the Prophecy, they cannot get involved; thus they are manipulating the Kalashtar to do the dirty work. Twist 3 The child isn't important at all. The real Chosen One is the horse or dog that is inseparable from the child's side.
Charles Phipps 10-27-07, 01:03 AM	I like that one but I think I'll give my own take. The Child of Destiny The Dragon Prophecy says that a child will be tremendously important in the future. The Chamber dispatch their agents to recover him. Immediately, the Rakashasas make their own move. Also, the Emerald Claw and the Quori begin getting in on the act. The child's parents are killed as his village is burned around him while the PCs get into the act. Twist 1#: The Dragons are actually manipulating the Chamber. They want to draw out the agents of the Enemy into the open so they can be disposed of safely. This is all an elaborate plot to screw with the 1001+ plots of the Lords of Dust and Quori by getting them to react to a false emergency. or Twist 2#: The child dies of pnemonia, it turns out that he only might have been great.
Lanodantheon 10-28-07, 12:22 AM	I tend to favor more jokey twists and turns when I post, but am perfectly capable of dark, noirish twists that make you question your own existence. I just feel like the fun ones right now. Destroy the evil artifact. One piece of jewelry that a PC has found to have magical properties (such as a Ring of Invisibility) has been said to actually be the conduit for a dark warlords evil spirit. The PC's must fight a tribe of Orcs in order to get to a specific location to destroy it. Twist #3: The Ring's a fake! The story is a made up bunch of baloney meant to get a dumb group of adventurers to kill some troublesome orcs that have been bothering a group for many years. The Ring might actually be an artifact class Magical Bomb, Plague or other mean device meant to kill every orc within a certain radius around the place the PC's are going to in order to destroy it or it may be an aggression amplifier meant to make the PC's more violent than normal. The trick to this twist is presentation and perspective on the situation. If you treat it comically, it will never work. You have to present it Noirishly: The people who got this jewelry into the hands of the PC's are trying to use them to commit an act of Genocide directly or indirectly against a tribe of Orcs. Twist#4: The Jewelry is part of a tourist attraction from House Phiarlin. It's meant for nobles who want to feel like they're heroes. Basically, it's The Game, a noble finds the ring and identifies it as magical. Then, the noble finds the ancient runes on it and follows the path of the tourist attraction. It's meant to make you feel all heroic and stuff and is totally exaggerated with interactions by Phiarlin agents, including Femme Fatales. Rechan Said: The PCs meet in a tavern. An old man has a treasure map. Twist #4: The Map is real, but it's over 100 years old. The treasure has long since been found, looted and a noble's summer house has been built over its old location, where the map currently leads. Evil Wizard Kidnaps Princess One of the daughters of a nation's monarchic ruler (Boranel, Aurala, etc...) is kidnapped by a wizard named Yostraius who wishes to take her as his wife. The Dark Lanterns/Royal Eyes/etc... have hired the PC's to rescue her. Yostraius is assisted by a fighter bodyguard named Rorda who is exceptionally skilled with the blade. Twist #4: The plan went well...at first. The Wizard kidnapped the princess, then she woke up and turned the tables on him. She took control of all his Big, Bad, Evil mechanations and is plotting world domination of her own with her feet up on the Wizard's desk. This idea I admit is actually taken from Chuck Jones' Classic Short, The Dover Boys. I imagine the PC's finding the Wizard beaten and tied to a beam shouting, "HELP, STURM! HELP, FLINT!! HELP, TANIS!!!" Twist#5: Possibly combined with 4. The Princess actually falls in love at first sight with the Wizard. But, the Princess is more trouble than she's worth and by the time the PC's arrive, the Wizard wants out. The Wizard either gives up immediately to get her out of his hair or has been driven to madness by her and has already hanged himself. Eberron Classic Adventure: The Sharn Special A Dead Body Falls Out of The Sky Twist #1: The body lands on top of a PC. Twist#2: Possibly combined with 1. The dead body gets up to its feet and says, "Boy, did that suck!" Twist #3: The body lands, time stops and rewinds before the PC's eyes. The body goes back up into the air and so forth.... That's all I've got for now.
Kaizer_Ryu 10-28-07, 02:09 AM	11. The Most Dangerous Game An Aundarian Noble hires the PC's to protect him while hunting Wolves and their potentially Awakened leader. Many of his staff have been killed in recent weeks, often the stronger of them first, suggesting planning and strategy. Some have disappeared entirely, possibly to be fed upon. Twist #1: The Wolves are actually Werewolves. Twist #2: They are also members of said Nobleman's staff. Twist #3: The infected people have no idea what they've been doing. Twist #4: The Nobleman is in on the whole thing. Twist #5: Because he's the source of the infection.
Charles Phipps 10-28-07, 06:39 PM	Lanodantheon, I like your twists. Very well done on the Princess bit.
Need_A_Life 10-31-07, 04:10 PM	:bump:
Charles Phipps 10-31-07, 05:58 PM	Yep, alas no one's commenting on people's stuff and thus the thread will fail. Everyone always likes posting, less so reviewing.
DragoonDarkfire 10-31-07, 07:13 PM	Well I like your stuff Charles. At least I'm not a complete loser... possibly.
Need_A_Life 11-03-07, 08:26 AM	I only have one plot twist in mind, and normally I'd post it... but as I'm running it at the moment, I would hate for it to be spoiled. :weep:
JohnBiles 11-03-07, 04:25 PM	1. Keep on the Borderlands A Brelish Duke has decided to construct a Keep on the Mournlands edge to conduct raiding across the Mournland, keep watch for activity from the Lord of Blades, and also to serve as a home for refugees that want to live in their new home. The construction of the keep has been hampered by bandits as well as monstrous humanoids. The Duke posts a reward for the player characters to deal with the horde of bandits and the horrible creatures that are curtailing his plot. Twist #3: The humanoids and bandits actually work for the Duke; he has called for adventurers in order to test the strength of his own forces and to eliminate anyone who might meddle once he's ready to put his plans in motion. Twist #4: The Church of Chaos in said module is actually a group of Blood of Vol. They want the PCs to come in and slaughter the humanoids and bandits so they can animate them all as an undead army. 2. Against the Giants A massive horde of giants has been assembled and started maurading across Western Breland! There's Frost Giants, Hill Giants, and Fire Giants that are working in alliance with many local humanoids to try and lay waste to the land. The PCs are hired to go forth and help slaughter the giants where they lay. Twist #3: Said Giants originally came from Xen'drick, but have been magically transported through a subterranean gate by a group of Drow who take great delight in having brought the descendents of their former masters under their sway through the made-up cult of the Elder Elemental Eye. However, knowing little of Khorvaire, the Drow have actually bitten off more than they can chew, used to the low population densities of Xen'drick, where these three groups of Giants would be a LOT more formidable. (Not that this many giants is chump change anywhere in the world of Ebberon.) Twist #4: The Drow who organized the giants are not real drow. They're actually polymorphed humans from Q'barra, who are using these giants as pawns to attack one of the kingdoms which betrayed and destroyed Galifar! The Q'barran government would itself reject them, as this is definitely a dishonorable, non-Galifarian approach to things, but Section VII believes that the ends of Galifarian restoration justifies the means. Twist #5: The hidden Drow masters are themselves just puppets for a wizard who is one of the leaders of the Parliamentarian faction in Breland. This army was supposed to remain hidden until the King died, then be used to make any would-be successors look ineffective so they could be overthrown. Unfortunately, the giants lack...patience...so they started the party early. Twist #6: The real goal of the invasion is to collect plunder and loot which the drow masters of the invasion can use to subvert some of the local warlords in Droam. Their ultimate goal is to then overthrow the hags and take over Droam. Twist #7: Millenia ago, a group of giants sealed themselves off underground with their drow slaves, having foreseen the decline of the giants. Now they have awakened and are recruiting their lesser cousins to begin the reconquest of the world into Giant hands. 3. Dragonslaying A Red Dragon has been seen in the immediate area with the magical beast having demanded that the townsfolk turn over a beautiful pure maiden to it every month in order to be devoured. Otherwise, he'll proceed to burn down the village. He then demonstrated by proceeding to destroy the Mayor's House with a gout of flame. Twist #4: The Dragon has discovered that the town has fallen into the hands of a corrupt evil cult of the Dark 6, though not everyone is corrupt. His demand is intended to extract the uncorrupted women of the town so they can rebuild the town's population later, once the cult is wiped out. (Not being very good at human languages, he hasn't quite figured out that the town thinks he is asking for virgins, rather than non-cult members...) He toasted the Mayor because he expected the man was corrupt and to establish his place at the top of the food chain. He added the 'devouring' bit in the hopes this would lead them to give him non-cult members in expectation of their death. Actually, he's concealing them at his lair.
Lanodantheon 11-05-07, 03:07 AM	Thank you for your praise Charles. I like your twists too. Here's some more: Quote: Originally Posted by Charles Phipps View Post 1. Keep on the Borderlands A Brelish Duke has decided to construct a Keep on the Mournlands edge to conduct raiding across the Mournland, keep watch for activity from the Lord of Blades, and also to serve as a home for refugees that want to live in their new home. The construction of the keep has been hampered by bandits as well as monstrous humanoids. The Duke posts a reward for the player characters to deal with the horde of bandits and the horrible creatures that are curtailing his plot. Twist # 5: The keep wasn't actually built by Breland. The keep is actually an old Goblin Ziggaraut, an anceint piece of goblinoid history, that has been....refurbished. All of the old architectural artwork has been converted from goblinoid forms to Human ones. The art primarily depicted in the architecture was merely adapted from 3 dimensional tapestries of sculpture that tell the story of great and virtuous Goblinoid heroes into images of Humans killing said heroes during the Last War in ways that promote the Sovereign Host. You could say that this would be the equivalent of turning Notre Dame's architectural art into depictions of Romans feeding Christians to the lions. Twist #6: The mastermind of the attacks in #5 is not #7 : a member of the Aurum planning to make money on whoever wins or #8: the Lord of Blades trying to pit meatbags against each other #6(Contin.): it is a plain, old fashioned member of the Sharn Historical Preservation Society (SHPS). Not those brigands from Wayfinders or Morgrave U. the SHPS is dedicated to keeping history the way in which it belongs, alone and on the correct side of the border. The other possibility is #9: The SHPS wants to turn the Ziggaraut into a tourist attraction with cheap goblinoid labor. The final plan is a presentation that completely bastardizes the Dhaakani culture int a mere caricature, but they aren't telling the monsters they've hired that. 2. Against the Giants A massive horde of giants has been assembled and started maurading across Western Breland! There's Frost Giants, Hill Giants, and Fire Giants that are working in alliance with many local humanoids to try and lay waste to the land. The PCs are hired to go forth and help slaughter the giants where they lay. IMHO, this adventure doesn't need to be very complicated with stories of inspired and drow and what not. Twist # 8: The giants aren't raiding, they're trying to build a new home. Unfortunately none of the Giants speak common and none of the humanoids in the area speak Giant. Most of my twists have been comedic in nature so far, so I thought I'd try something different. Twist # 9: The giants are smart, unbelievably smart. Maybe they are throwbacks from Xen'drik or something, but they are not "Groth, KILLLL!!!!!!" stupid, run-of-the-mill giants. The Alpha Giant, Gronfain in particular is intelligent, methodical, patient and charismatic. He has access to magic and somehow knows how to hide and move 20ft giants in the middle of the 5 Nations. They don't throw boulders from the mountains, they Fabricate giant-sized siege weapons and forge the ammunition from metal. The have fighters in Plate mail and their bards' huge vocal cords allow their songs to be heard for miles. It is their plan to conquer Droaam and then use the Hags' makeshift nation's forces to take over Khorvaire. Now, I have always hated the idea of adventures like the following, but after watching 30 Days of Night (My opinion and your of the film is not the issue) I felt inspired to twist this classic Classic D&D Adventure: The Vampires are coming & the Book of Thoth will tel us how to fight them!!!!! There is a coven of Vampires that have moved into town and have been taking townspeople. As more people slowly disappear, the town gets more on edge until they break when the mayor is attacked in his own home. The PCs are hired by Isik, the one town resident brave enough to make it to the big city to find someone to kill the coven & rescue the town. Twist #1: The PCs make their way to the town to find the town in shambles. People seem afraid to come out of their houses. Then the PCs find the bodies of other adventures that are being bled for blood like cattle. Isik is actually a lure sent by the vamps to get new victims into town. Twist#2: The Coven is an old Karrnathi infiltration unit. The mayor of the town was its old commander during The Last War. The Vampires have been acting as the Mayor's secret police and the crime rate is actually the lowest in all of Karrnath because of it, so no has every suspected a thing. Isik is actually a conspiracy nut who has pieced this all together, but nobody in town believes him. In fact, he made up the part about the attack on the mayor if not actually doing it himself to make it look like vampires did it to get the PCs there. When the PCs arrive in town, nothing seems wrong and Isik seems out of his mind. That is until one of the coven recognizes one of the PCs from the war. Twist#3: During the Last War, King Kaius commissioned the Necrogenesis program to R&D undead for the Karrnathi military. (This has been established in Magic of Eberron the rest is mine.) The most top secret project of Necrogenesis was Project Sunrise. Sunrise was a search for a cure for Kaius' vampirism. The project was a failure, but the research that experimented with rare Deathless parts yielded the Coven of the town. The Coven are a new breed of Deathless Vampire. Althouigh they possess most of the vampiric weakness, they feed on positive energy and all forms of light so they are the exact opposite of regular vampires in some respects. This includes they fact that the darkness actually kills them and are hot to the touch instead of cold and gain energy from holy symbols. In addition, the positive energy gives them an aura that common man would mistake as saintly. In this variant, the coven came into town looking like they were the second coming or something and had everyone in town in the palm of their hand.
Charles Phipps 11-05-07, 08:00 AM	Awesome adventure hooks you two. My favorite has to be the Keep Twists both of you came up with. 12. Caravan menaced by Evil Monsters The PCs have been hired by some locals to guard a caravan. Along the way, they are attacked by several monsters until they can get its loot/passengers successfully to its destination. Twist 1#: The "Caravan" is actually a Lightning Rail by House Orien and they're to guard it against a group of banditos out to take the shipment of Gold Ingots going out to pay the soldiery of an important fortress! Twist 2#: The PCs are, unknowingly or knowingly, scabs. House Deneith has refused to provide guards to their employer because a suspiciously large number of his prior ones have died due to his unwillingness to provide them information about the nature of the missions (specifically, he's attracted the enmity of a powerful evil like the Lord of Blades or a Lord of Dust). Twist 3#: The PCs have actually been hired by an Intelligence agency of their home nation to see a package safely delivered across country. The "Caravan" is actually a House Sivis courier whose location is believed compromised. The PCs, if they identify he's about to be attacked, must go Italian Job with full permission to commander Lightning Carts, Hippogriffs, or the more to get it to safety. Twist 4#: The PCs notice that the attackers seem more interested in destruction than looting. They're trying to kill the employees of the Guild and destroy the (worthless) material in the caravan to get the insurance money. The real supplies have been stolen. 4b. For a further twist, the guy handling this job is actually already dead by the Mob and they believe that the PCs (being hired at the last minute by the man) know where he stashed the loot. Even if they successfully get the loot to the destination, they recieve accusations of collaboration and are marked. 4c. The PCs also were left the company and the mountain of debts by the late man! 4d. Oh yes, and he's at a House Ghallandra resort island. It was all a fake out on his part. 13. Ravenloft The terrible Vampire Strahd murdered his brother for his brother's bride after making a pact with death! He haunts the ruins and has kidnapped the Mayor's daughter! Twist 1#: The whole legend of Strahd is a rooster and bull story. "Tatyana" in this game is actually an agent of the Emerald Claw with her adoptive father being a man that she's mesmerized to believe what she tells him. This helps explain why a girl raised by a Mayor is a seasoned warrior. King Kaius had his entourage wiped out by a High Level Emerald Claw party that was mostly wiped out before he fled into a largely abandoned castle with the remains of his guard. Tatyana is depending on the PCs unfamiliarity with the area and the misdirection after misdirection (including some of Kaius' guards whom will attempt to kill the PCs to protect Kaius' secret and absolutely won't reveal their Royal Service nature) to convince them to kill the vampire while he's relatively isolated. The locals know some of the details but generally know Castle Ravenloft has been abandoned for centuries. "Strahd" is just a local scare legend she's concocted. Twist 2#: The Holy Symbol of Ravenkind projects a concentrated beam of Continual Light and the Sunsword is actually worthless with a Nystul's Magic Aura on it and a similiar spell. Strahd has left them lying about with obvious clues to their awesome power. He intends to fake his death with the PCs help so the land can be reclaimed by his distant cousins, modernized by the state, and he can take over later on. Twist 3#: Tatyana is actually a Dark Cabinet Agent made up to look like Strahd's lost love by King Kaius as a psychological weapon. He wants to reclaim the Barovia province from the Emerald Claw supporter. The PCs will be amply rewarded by the Central Committee of Karrnath and Herr Kaius for the vampire's elimination *clicks heels*
Charles Phipps 11-06-07, 05:00 AM	Lanodantheon, I salute the write up of the Project Sunrise projects and the idea the Vampires have taken over without a fuss as well. Those are also exceptionally well done write ups. I also like the Giants and human linguistic barrier, simple yet effective. JohnBiles , the Dragon twist is awesome.
Charles Phipps 11-06-07, 05:46 AM	14. A Warlord is trying to take over the PC's home nation Inside the PC's home nation; a Warlord has managed to convice a group of the Army, Mercenaries, and humanoids to join together in an attempt to overthrow the government before ceasing power. The PCs must defeat his various lieutenants before defeating him in personal combat. Twist 1#: The Warlord in question is leading a crusade of SOME legitimacy. He's a member of the Church of the Silver Flame and wants to start an independent theocracy, he's a Cyrean out to build a new home for his people, or he's honestly just too sick of war that he intends to carve his own nation as a buffer state to keep his former nation from restarting the Last War. Good, Evil, and Neutral will perish equally on both sides. Twist 2#: The Warlord is actually purely a cipher for the Twelve. Coin from House Kunderak, Mercenaries from House Deneith, equipment from House Cannith with all of it being done to settle the debts of the country in question that they defaulted on. Ridiculously, no one realizes this as it would break the Twelve's neutrality. Worse, the country's leadership intends to "wait out" the war until the Twelve decide to normalize relations because it's just not profitable enough to continue. Twist 3#: The Aurrum have engineered the Warlord's rise in order to be increase the value of weapons sales, ores, war production, and so on. The Mourning and Treaty caused a massive defaulting on numerous businesses that cost them 50% of the society's wealth. They don't intend to continue the war indefinitely, but long enough to liquidate their assets so the losses are mitigated or perhaps a small profit turned.... 15. A Cult is at Work in a Village The PCs find evidence of a terrible ritual murder that was conducted in a town and decide to investigate. There's terribly unnerving evidence the town is "Just Not RightTM" and "Not of the LordTM." They will discover that the town is under the control of a powerful cult that holds the people in the grip of fear. Twist 1#: That's exactly right, primarilly in fear of the Silver Flame. The town is a vast collection of Shifters with about a dozen True Lycanthropes living amongst them. The priest of Boldrei that controls the town is one that believes they have to destroy the intruders or they'll all die in flame. The murder was by, ironically, a Werewolf pelt hunter. Twist 2#: The Cult is a Radiant Idol Cult and they're not of the Lord because EVERYONE in the town is LG. There's a ridiculous population of Aasimar as well, all of them ready and willing to serve the glories of Pazriel. The problem is that Pazriel is getting a little aware that his community is running out of fresh blood (especially since he routinely samples the young ladies of the town). The PCs have been brought in as breeding stock and offered vast gold to take the Hyper-Goodies out into the world to seek brides. Oh yes, given he's a Deva, he'll probably destroy every nearby town in a storm of Hellfire if they don't cooperate. Twist 3#: The Cult is a bunch of Puritan Silver Flamers whom are really just deeply insular and zealotous people that don't want to get help from outsiders. In truth, the town is being menaced by a bunch of ghasts that the populous is pretty helpless against because they've lost their last magic user due to their distrust of even 'miracles.' Will the PCs help people who hate them? 16. "Beyond the Barrier Peaks" A mysterious comet has crash landed into the middle of the Barrier Peaks and there's all manner of strangeness that has emerged from it. Will the PCs be able to decipher the oddites of it or be driven mad by the experience? What is this strange ship that has crash landed with machine-men inside and strange energy weapons? Twist 1#: The U.F.O is actually one of Aaren D'Cannith's last experiments that was stolen by some Cannith researchers from Merrix's "Area 13" base in Breland in order to sell to Zorlan D'Cannith. The device is well more advanced than any Airship previously designed with a "Void Elemental" powering it. It's also going to release said extremely :censored: Void Elemental unless the PCs get the thing shut down. Twist 2#: The U.F.O. is actually a hoax of the Lord of Blades whom has modified a Lyrander Airship with materials that make it seem like an alien ship, including Mongrelmen created from fused together humanoids in the Mournlands as aliens. The actual ship is meant to be recovered by House Cannith and brought back to one of their headquarters, there it will detonate and take out the most talented portion of House Cannith's staff, including a Baron. Twist 3#: The PCs are actually knocked unconscious this entire time and placed in a Inspired Prison Cell in the Barrier peaks with an elaborate dream fantasy that no one will believe. The Inspired are currently conducting mental experiments on the populous and only by figuring out this is all a Dream can they break free and overpower the relatively helpless Inspired Scientists to recover their weapons.
LivingShadow 11-06-07, 07:20 AM	17. Delivery The PCs are called to deliver a package to The Citadel. Twist 1: Everyone else wants it and attacks repeatedly to get it. Twist 2: The package is a powerful artifact which bonds to the PCs and will work for noone else until they are dead. Twist 3: The opponents have similar artifacts and need to be magically mainatined every day in order to stay alive. They are being forced into doing the will of one of the Arcane Congress who wants to get the set of artifacts (the one the PCs have and the ones held by various opponents.) for himself. (Stolen from ZX and ZXA.)
Lanodantheon 11-10-07, 03:23 PM	3. Dragonslaying A Red Dragon has been seen in the immediate area with the magical beast having demanded that the townsfolk turn over a beautiful pure maiden to it every month in order to be devoured. Otherwise, he'll proceed to burn down the village. He then demonstrated by proceeding to destroy the Mayor's House with a gout of flame. Twist #5: The PC's heroically come to kill the Dragon in typical D&D fashion. But, something is wrong, the town is more than happy to give a Virgin to the dragon every month, but the Dragon doesn't look all that tough. In fact, the townsfolk are actually trying to stop the PCs from killing the dragon. They are helping the dragon because the dragon makes them rich and crime is at an all time low. The Dragon makes them rich because he is actually in a previously undiscovered mine full of rare minerals(Adamantine, Mithril, gold, etc.). Twist #6: The town is protecting the dragon from 5 not because he pays them from his horde, but because the horde is so dang big. The Dragon's Horde is HUGE! It is so big in fact and combined with the wealth of the mine, the bean counters in town estimate that the influx of that much valuable minerals into the local economy would drop their prices by 50%. If the dragon dies, the local economy collapses.... The Vampires are coming & the Book of Thoth will tell us how to fight them!!!!! There is a coven of Vampires that have moved into town and have been taking townspeople. As more people slowly disappear, the town gets more on edge until they break when the mayor is attacked in his own home. The PCs are hired by Isik, the one town resident brave enough to make it to the big city to find someone to kill the coven & rescue the town. Twist #4: The Vampires are actually a group of Lawyers(Oratory Bards) fighting for Undead rights from the Karrnathi government. They are actually using Warforged as a legal precedent and demanding reperations from Kaius and are trying to show that they are not inherently evil, just misunderstood. A Mysterious Stranger!!!!! A Dark and Mysterious Person, dressed all in black walks through town warning the town's people that Doom is on the horizon. Twist #1: The Stranger or a PC dressed like said stranger is immediately arrested by the city watch. It turns out the Town has an ordinance banning anyone dressing, "Dark, Mysterious, Spooky or in an otherwise unpleasant manner." The town made the law because folk like that cause nothing but trouble, The Stranger or PC is Banished from town untill they dress in more pleasant and nonspooky attire. Twist #2: The Stranger is actually advirtising, "Dum", a House Phiarlin play about an averted apocalypse. The messanger just doesn't peak common very well, but he vamps everybody up. Twist #3: The Stranger immediately turns into a Big Bad Evil thing and tears up the town.