Post/Author/DateTime	Post
ValaR 11-27-05, 11:38 AM	1. sry about my bad english :) I am DM-ing for my best friend but we didn't start yet. He is claric of silver flame, his great-grand -father was very famouse claric of silver flame too but that is all that he knows. He sow his picture and he looks very similar to him. I have first and second encounters but I am still thinking about main story line. Maybe his great-grand -father left him some book in wich is wroten somethink about mission that he startet and only his blood can comlete. Or that he was claric of hope for silver flame and when hi died all hopes died, almost all, only the flame knows about new claric in familly of old and famous claric. This where just ruff lines but I need something really creative and detailed , so plz help me if you can. THANKS
Majorafire77 11-27-05, 12:51 PM	Maybe the character could learn that his great-grandfather wasn't the good man the character thought he was but instead a corrupt and power-hungry cleric. It'd be kind of interesting to see how the character reacts to such a situation. Maybe the great-grandfather eventually gave in to his hunger for power and made a deal with Vol or someone like that and is now a lich. Maybe all of the problems that the character faces throughout the campaign were actually caused by his ancestor, which would make for an interesting final encounter (what would YOU do if one of your ancestors was the BBEG?).
Psionycx 11-27-05, 03:56 PM	Maybe the book contains information about a bound fiend whose containment needs to be renewed in the present time. However, clerics of the Silver Flame may be under some suspicion in Aundair these days since Thrane is occupying part of eastern Aundair and clerics of the Flame may be seen as Thranish sympathizers. To renew the demon's binding, the cleric (and their companions) must retrieve a relic from the city of Thaliost, which is currently in the hands of Thrane. The cleric may therefore have difficulty in both directions. Getting into Thaliost as a citizen of Aundair for starters. Secondly, getting back into Aundair to complete the binding, since Aundair authorities will be highly suspicious of a Silver Flame cleric venturing into Thrane-held territory and then trying to re-enter Aundair. All these political problems are nuisances, because the cleric's real goal is to complete his ancestor's work in re-binding the fiend before it is too late and it gets free.
ValaR 11-27-05, 04:27 PM	thx for your sugestions ! @Majorafire77 your replay is very interesting and I am going to think about it very seriously. :cool: @Psionycx your sugestion may come before character finds about real atensions of his ancestor. :cool: sry for my bad english again :) Any ideas from other DMs ?
Psionycx 11-27-05, 06:12 PM	Just to add some fun to the mix, the ancestor may also have been a Whispering Flame cultist. Maybe the fiend within the Flame corrupted him into actions he believed would advance the cause of Thrane in the Last War, but which were really for the benefit of the fiends. The hero may be foolishly following what they think is a holy quest to acquire relics their ancestor was supposedly going to use to bind a fiend, when in fact the real purpose was to release the fiend. The fiendish whispers may have convinced the ancestor that releasing the fiend in Aundair would lead the people to welcome "rescue" from Thrane, where Whispering Flame cultists had planned to seize a piece of Aundair for themselves. Now the ancestor is corrupted, either undead or a half-fiend, lairing under the Aundairan city of Askelios, where he himself was bound by an Aundairan Exorcist of the Silver Flame decades ago. He never acquired the relic from Thaliost before being trapped, and so could never free the fiend or complete the plans of the Whispering Flame. But the Whispering Flame was able to see that his descendent (the cleric) learned just enough of his "holy mission" to try and fulfill it themself. The cleric and his companions must see past the layers of propoganda and deception if they are to truly succeed for Good and the Silver Flame rather than for the fiends.
cancerousmango 11-27-05, 08:29 PM	Hey, your english is just fine, probably better than most of us can write in your language! :) Also, if he's a cleric, I'd just have lycanthropes be the main enemy the whole time, they'd hate your character because his great great grandpa killed many lycanthropes. I hate lycanthropes, and I'm glad they gave them the short-shrift in Eberron! Also, Psionyscx (or whatever) that is an AWESOME idea.
Errant 11-27-05, 09:38 PM	Maybe the PCs great grandfather is only believed to have been evil. What if the PCs great grandfather learned of the Whispering Flame cult and disappeared after leading an attack against a cult cell that was working with a demon. During the attack he invoked the Silver Flame to imprison the demon but was cursed to be trapped in the same binding flame, seeing his family tainted by darkness until one of his line arose to wield the Silver Flame and bind the demon again despite his tainted blood. In the aftermath, the Whispering Flame cult spread false rumours of the great grandfather's corruption and secretly ensured that all of his children were born tainted by dark power. It may be a family secret that several of his descendants grew up to be warlocks, one or two may have manifested fiendish traits as they grew older, others may have been tempted to actually serve the Whispering Flame, all due to the ongoing efforts of the cult to torment the champion of the Silver Flame that thwarted one of their major plots. The current PC might discover that in the stress of life-threatening battle his fists burst into black flame, manifesting the talent to become a warlock himself (not being able to properly wield the black flame unless he takes levels in warlock of course). Or he may find a trusted mentor within the Church of the Silver Flame suggesting ethically dubious actions (the mentor being a cultist trying to lure the PC to the darkside, see Star Wars episode III for an example of someone that fell for similar manipulation). To defeat the curse the PC has to: recover the right relic, or gain enough power to cast a Silver Flame binding (exact spells up to you as DM); resist moral challenges that tempt him to the evil acts; find the cultist base where his great grandfather remains trapped in a demon-binding silver flame; renew the Silver Flame binding to break the curse placed on the great grandfather; and (if you decide the ongoing taint is something independantly maintained by the cult) expose the true cultist(s) for what they are. Because of the rumours spread by the cult, the PC might never be of his great grandfather's fate until he finds the site where his battle against the cult cell took place. Maybe the great grandfather was only able to partially trap the demon and he is still in that cell base, possessed by the demon he tried to bind, and the demon can only be properly trapped if the great grandfather is exorcised so that he can aid the PC in re-casting the binding spell(s). How does that sound?
ValaR 11-28-05, 06:02 AM	wooow great idea, really great. THX m8 !!! I will now start working on details NPCs, encounters ....... Any help in that area would be welcome :)
Errant 11-28-05, 08:48 AM	My first suggestion would be that you let the cleric's background develop over several adventures. Start off with a few NPCs reacting badly when they learn who the PC is. After that happens two or three times have a "friendly NPC" apologise for a companion's behavior and say something like "of course with your family history I'm sure it doesn't surprise you". That should introduce the PC to his family's bad reputation, something he may have been sheltered from previously. If the PC challenges his family (or whoever raised him) they may grudgingly admit there were a few black sheep in the family over the last couple of generations, including a couple of warlocks and at least two cases of suspected demonic possession. If the "friendly NPC" is a mid-level priest of the Silver Flame, it can also have introduced the PC to his "mentor" of the Whispering Flame. An adventure or two later, the PC's "mentor" sends him on a mission that sets him up against his warlock uncle, an uncle also deceived about his family history, and either tricked into serving evil, or set up to look like he is. Just pick an adventure you'd like to run where you the boss bad guy might actually be a dupe. Not sure what to suggest there, but it should end with the PC having to either live with defeating his "evil" uncle in battle (most likely to the death, if your players are anything like mine), or with the dubious act of sparing him. Of course the uncle must be left dead or fled into hiding with the PC left wondering about his guilt for this to work best. If the PC investigates his uncle, he's only able to turn up inconclusive rumours, some of which (fed to him by whispering flame agents, or those paid by them of course) are quite nasty. Hopefully by then the PC will be worried about his family history and ripe for the revelation that there is a curse laid on his family. Rumours of family members being possessed by demons should definitely be at least mentioned, to encourage the PC/player to plan for ways he can fight that kind of attack (important later). Throw around a few suggestions that there might be a secret movement within the Church to free the Speaker of the Flame from corrupt influences at work (have the "mentor" send the PC to discretely pick up messages from his "trusted" contacts "passing him details of the plot"). Drop in another meeting with the PC's "evil uncle", where the uncle passes on an ancient tome, or a mysterious magical item (whatever you think the PC needs most), telling him to keep them secret from everyone. Whatever it is, it was something owned by the PCs great grandfather, something the PC will need to complete the binding and free his grandfather. Then the cultists set the PC up to rescue a captured cultist (the "mentor"?) by making him think the cultist is a true follower of the silver flame and his guards the cultists. If the PC gets the guards talking (which will depend a lot on his approach since they'll think anyone standing in their way is a cultist too), they'll claim they're faithful of course, but "detect evil" or the like could give off false readings due the the captured cultist's confiscated possessions in the guards' possession. If the PCs rescue the cultist, he "reveals" that he had discovered their lair and leads the PCs to a secret, evil temple: the scene of great grandfather's battle. Now of course, the great grandfather looks like a lich (whether he is or not depends on how powerful the PCs are by that stage of course), kept alive in his extreme old age by the dark powers of the demon that possesses him. If the PC has revealed the item his uncle gave him to his "mentor", or even better surrendered it to him, the mentor tries to get him to destroy it (thus breaking the partial binding done by the great grandfather). If the PC has figured things out for himself and refuses, the mentor will try convince him he's doomed anyway (reminding him of all the "innocent" blood he has shed if he was tricked into killing any of the faithful). If the PC still manages to use the item against the "lich" after all that, he permanently binds the demon and frees his great grandfather - after a suitable battle with the mentor and his cultist allies of course. Naturally all this should take place over a long period. By the time the PC gets to the final battle, the player should be chaffing at the bit to destroy the evil that has plagued his character's family for so long. Hopefully, he's figured things out and despite possibly (hopefully?) feeling guilty for things he's been tricked into doing he keeps fighting to the end, proving his true heroism not in being infallible, but in refusing to knowingly surrender to evil. If the PC puts himself in a no-win situation for the final battle (actually agrees to destroy the item needed to win for instance), a warning yelled from the shadows by the uncle (who's naturally been keeping tabs on things and secretly following the PC) could provide a dramatically clumsy last clue to set things right. There's always the risk the PC does surrender to evil of course, but that'll be a whole new adventure. More detailed adventures, settings and encounters will depend a lot on the abilities of your PCs group and your group's playing style. Something to remember is that along the way you might face a couple of challenges when it comes to the alignment of Whispering Flame cultists and PC use of divination spells, especially Detect Evil. Since Detect Evil has no saving throw, either the cultists concerned will need to be non-evil, and presumably dupes themselves, or they'll need to be under the influence of Undetectable Alignment or something similar to avoid giving cautious players early "proof" one way or the other. If I understand the official guidelines on costs for creating magic items correctly, an Amulet of Undetectable Alignment (Continuous use wondrous item duplicating a 24 hr duration L2 spell) would have a market value of 5,000 gp. Expensive for minions, but essential equipment for important cultists. If the PCs do try to detect the Mentor's alignment and fail, they'll be reassured that you weren't fudging when they find such an amulet upon searching his dead body. Hope that helps some more. :D
ValaR 11-28-05, 04:34 PM	You are very helpfull, helpfull indeed ! :D Maybe I can use you as adviser for this campaign ;) When we starplaying you will know all the details !
Errant 11-28-05, 07:36 PM	You are very helpfull, helpfull indeed ! :D Maybe I can use you as adviser for this campaign ;) When we starplaying you will know all the details ! You're welcome, glad to be of assistance. I look forward to hearing how it plays out. :cool: