Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Pallin Rahl 10-27-06, 12:20 PM	Note to my players: Get out! :D --- [Tad long, but I'd really appreciate the suggesitons here...] One of the PCs in the campaign I'm DMing was orphaned as a baby. Long story short, he ended up being raised by performers in a travelling circus. It was fairly pleasant for him growing up... he was kind of like the troupe's child, as opposed to being raised by a specific one of them. He took up archery at a young age and became a performance archer of some note... particularly in Breland where the troupe spent most of their time. One day (note: this is after he's grown to his upper-teens), tragedy befell the circus troupe. They had set up camp for the night, not knowing that they were near an opening to the Kyber. That night, a party of Mindflayers (and their dolgaunts, etc) were on a "food run" of sorts... they attacked the troupe. Events of the attack are a bit blurry to the PC. At some point during the slaughter he pretty-much blacked-out. He awoke in a cave (one that did not open to the Kyber ...just a small forrest cave) a short distance from where they had set up camp, to discover a Least Mark of Passage on the palm of his hand (it had manifested during the attack and he had, without even knowing it, basically Dimension Leaped away). Returning to the site where they had set up camp, the PC essentially found the vast majority of the troupe dead (the few missing were assumed as good as dead... and he's never found a sign that anyone survived). The PC ended up in Sharn some time thereafter... and (again) long story short ended up in a small, newly-started adventurer's guild. ...and the campaign kicked off around this point. --- That's basically the backstory that he presented. I'm looking to add in an interesting twist somewhere in the backstory. Now, having a survivor (someone missing and thought dead) show back up would indeed be "twisty", but I was looking for something a little more jarring than that (maybe toss this in sometime in the future, but not now). I was thinking that I could work something interesting into the blurriness of the event itself. ...and in the gap left when he "blacked-out". In the next adventure, my PCs will find themselves opposing the Dreaming Dark for the first time (well, at least the first time for this PC). At some point (likely during a physical confrontation) I was considering having one of the DD note a peculiar mental block in the PC (maybe a personal mental block or some type of magical one, not sure) and manifest a power to basically remove the block (if the PC fails his save to resist the power). For combat purposes this would stun the PC for a round (as the jarring memories flood back into his mind)... but for story purposes this give me an opportunity to put an interesting twist on the events of that key night in his character's life. What would you suggest I alter or add to the events of that event? Keep in mind, in this possible route I'm taking, his memory has either been altered by some outside source ...or his mind was blocking something out to protect him in some way... Any suggestions to get the creative juices flowing would be greatly appreciated. :D
Sereno 10-27-06, 02:25 PM	Hmmm, something twisty he doesn't remember. What if, for reasons unknown, the mark was transfered to him by some new magical abilities of the mindflayers. The mark is the "outer manifestation" of a deeper psychic "rearranging" ... some day, the PC will meet with the mindflayer that gave him the mark and the awful truth will be revealed ... he's actually a living bomb! The mindflayers anticipate using him at some future date. They will invoke the "rest" of their creation (perhaps some latent Dominate ability that the DD agents can see) and force him to go someplace (Flamekeep?) and activate the "true" power of his "false dragonmark" and Flamekeep (and Jaela) will go up in a world-shaking blast. How much of the truth behind his horrific fate can be revealed in a series of Quori-inspired dreams and odd fortune-tellings. The PC can gradually think that something is "wrong" with his dragonmark -- noticing very subtle changes in the pattern between his and other "true" Orien house members. However, it is always reliable and he can even take extra d'mark feats or even the D'mark heir PrC....
Melvin the Mediocre 10-27-06, 02:33 PM	Blasted sensless by the mindflayers, the members of the troupe were forced into their own animal's cage-carts. When the PC first began to groggily awake he saw the mindflayers twisting the flesh and minds of his companions, turning them into ghoulish monsters right before his eyes. One of the newly formed aberrations strethed it's long writhing tentacles towards the PC. He recoiled in horror, but the tentacles pursued him. Just as they reached far enough to touch his face... POP! He teleported to a cave, bashed his head and didn't wake up till morning. But the aberrations search for him to this day, waiting to reunite their troupe and perform for their Daelkyr over lords. The mindflayers weren't on a food hunt, they were scouting for new talent.
Heros_Backpack 10-27-06, 03:09 PM	Perhaps, to spice up their 'food' with a little extra horror and terror, the mind-flayers dominated the PC and had him slaughter the rest of the troupe - and he's blocked out the memory because he doesn't want to remember?
bobberry109 10-27-06, 03:42 PM	I don't know how the mark of passage works. However I'm guessing it works like a dimension door from what people have said. How about the first time it happens have it work like a baleful transportation, (I'm guessing houserule but no biggie its already happened). after beaing caught and bundled into the meat wagon his minds eye searched the nearby area to find another humanoid, and swap places with them. Unfortunatly the only near by humanoid in a position of safety was Cyril his old circus buddy (yes I do suck at names). Who had escaped to the safety of the cave when the attack started. Then his mind subconciously blocked out the sacrificing of his best friend cyril to the mind flayers meat wagon.
Ryuu_Tenshi 10-27-06, 03:50 PM	Going with the womgz mind-flayer magic idea... In the first Eberron novel by Keith (I forget what it's called), one of the major plot points is that a mind-flayer servant of the Daelkyr has been capturing Dragonmarked and seeking ways to "bottle" their dragonmarks. This consists of flaying the skin carrying the dragonmark off and somehow extracting its essence (this is never specified) Thus, what if the dragonmark was NOT a natural manifestation at all. Indeed, he isn't a blood relative of House Orien at all... he's an experiment by the mindflayers and Daelkyr on transfering dragonmarks to new individuals. What actually happened, is that while the group WAS on a food run, one of the mindflayers was a leader in the aforementioned project. He'd been looking for someone suitable to experiment upon for some time, and came across said PC. the PC was of the right age, and perhaps there was something else about him that was appropriate - I don't know what - for this particular experiment. Said mindflayer said, "Hey, guys, this kid here, let's not eat him. He's too young to be particularly tasty" (brains apparently taste better the more knowledge is in them, according to Lords of Madness) "and he's perfect for my little project." The other mindlflayers agree, and said kid is taken away to be experimented on horrifically, River Tam style (if you don't know who River Tam is, go watch Firefly, you heathen) Feel free to fill in the details of the experiments as you see fit, but they should culminate in the addition of the dragonmark and have no other effects. The mindflayer then sticks a mindblock in the kid - no problem for a mindflayer - and shoves him in said cave. Since that time, the mindflayer has been using various and sundry methods to watch this character... always simply watching, never interfering. He takes copious notes about the character's uses of his dragonmark and how the dragonmark works. Thus far he has been moderately pleased - it functions just as if the character really were a member of House Orien. Now then!!! You can do all sorts of nasty, nasty things with this. First of course is that the character now has a mindflayer who's been watching his entire life unfold. Second is that his dragonmark isn't natural and that he isn't of house Orien... which could lead to a whole lot of really, really uncomfortable questions if it gets found out (to which said PC may or may not know the answers). Third, again, the dragonmark isn't natural, and while you should def. discuss this with the player first, it may start doing Weird Things to him. Fourth, if/when the Dreaming Dark finds out about this procedure, what horrible things might THEY do with this information? I imagine they'd be quite interested in all that, after all... Oh, right, and you can also be as cruel/sadistic/creepy as you wish with the descriptions of the actual experiments. They're mindflayers working for Daelkyr, after all... go crazeh! moof. x.X that was long.
Pallin Rahl 10-28-06, 12:55 AM	Great ideas, all... I'm strongly considering using a couple things you've brought up already. :D Feel free to add any other suggestions... as tonight I'll be wrapping up my prep for game tomorrow afternoon... :)
Edymnion 10-28-06, 01:07 AM	Oh, what could possibly be so horrible that the PC would block it ever happening out of his mind? Or, better yet, what else could be blocking it out of his mind? A reason that he survived the raid, when surely a bunch of mindflayers could have easily found him in the short range a DD would have taken him? What if the last thing he saw before blacking out was a mindflayer larva being inserted into his head? The horrible secret is that *HE* is going to become a mindflayer as the larva matures and begins to take over his brain. If he can't find a way to get it out, you could even use the Half-Illithid template from Lords of Madness.
Shady314 10-28-06, 03:54 AM	It appears I'm too late but I just have to say... Traveler! Traveler! Traveler! I've wanted to use him so badly for so long. Of course there is nothing to prove he is THE Traveler. But I think that would be so great. What is his class exactly? I'm guessing bard if he was in a troupe. A bard with the mark of passage is someone I could definitely see a traveler type person taking an interest in. Rough Draft: So the troupe is attacked and the PC runs getting some good distance when he bumps right into a cloaked traveler with a walking stick knocking him down. Rather than keep running to save himself he stops to help the stranger back up and urges him to flee as fast as he can. Suddenly he realizes the hood the traveler wears is so deep and black it is like a hole sucking him in. Suddenly he finds his mind turning to mush and dumbly follows in a trance this mysterious stranger as he walks slowly away from the carnage. The mindflayer looking confused in the background as it finds no tracks near the camp and cannot sense him. Eventually it turns back to the rest of the troupe. The traveler walks slowly and steadily across rocky uneven terrain and somehow the PC keeps up until they reach the cave. The PC sits down and suddenly there is a campfire. The PC thanks him for saving his life and though the traveler does not speak he can somehow understand the traveler was impressed that he had stopped to help him. The traveler offers him a gift.... Dun Dun Dun. He accepts, the traveler touches his face and a voice in his mind tells him to rest and to remember nothing until the time is right. The PC awakens remembering nothing but with a spiffy new DM. What I like is it opens up whole new mysteries and roleplaying opportunities to the PC. Does he become a pious worshipper of the traveler? Or does he shrug it off as a fevered dream he repressed. Perhaps it was some other powerful entity that used the spell modify memory. In which case he did manifest a DM and use it to get away before he encountered some other creature (Chamber agent) that wanted to remain anonymous. But a DM as a gift just works so perfectly. Being a foundling can be a blessing or a curse for someone and it is definitely a touch of destiny. I'd throw in any adept or Cleric of the traveler sees the holy symbol of the traveler on the characters face and considers him to have been touched by their god. If that gets out the Cabinet of Faces and the Tyrants now have an interest in the PC. Again... blessing or curse?
krappleby 10-28-06, 11:51 AM	ok .. lets see, what if the character was befriended by a mindflayer, and somehow, ended up betraying the circus, (reason for it to be forgotten) which could be another reason for him being in the cave. then you could also add some fo the other stuff. However, you would need a reason for this to happen, maybe they offered him info on his real heratage, As the son of a high ranking official in the house, and as such he made a mistake.. you could also add in that bit about the maggot :) i know silly but hey not bad for me lol
Ryuu_Tenshi 10-28-06, 08:42 PM	When you're done, please do tell us what ideas you used, and your player's reaction!
Edymnion 11-08-06, 06:12 PM	When you're done, please do tell us what ideas you used, and your player's reaction!Yes, please do.
Pallin Rahl 11-09-06, 01:09 PM	Yeah... I planned to have it pop up last adventure... but fate proved me wrong :P However, I still planted the seed that something was up, so it should work out fine. :) During a conflict with a couple members of the Dreaming Dark, I had one of their Psions identify that the PC's mental block existed ...and try to effect the PC in question with a homebrewed/plot-device power I had worked-out. ...basically, if the PC failed his WILL save (vs this level 5 power I cooked up), the block would be removed - causing him to re-live the event in his mind. In-game effect, he'd be stunned for a round as I basically retell what he had blocked out... Problem is, he resisted the power... all three stinkin' times I used it on him... with two excellent rolls (one a 19 and the other a natural 20) and one decent roll (a 14) that he immediatly followed up with an action point (that yielded an additional 6). So all he knew was that the Psion kept trying to use some mind-effecting power on him that he kept luckily shrugging off. ...didn't expect him to resist it three times - he has the WILL save of a Fighter-type for cryin' out loud. :P However, after all was said and done (and the DD in question taken care of) the Kalashtar in the party arranged for the group to have a fairly-skilled Kalashtar psion give them the mental once-over, if you will (to basically make sure no one was mind-seeded or anything from the encounter... not that any of the DD in the encounter were high enough level to actually manifest that particular power :P). The Kalashtar Psion, while mentally scanning the PC in question, identified the block and brought it to the PC's attention... noting that he was not yet certain if it was a natural mental blocking-out of something horrible (to protect his own sanity or whatnot) or if it was the after-effect of an intentional, malicious psionic attack (the fact that it happended during an encounter with Mindflayers concerned him). The Kalashtar Psion said that he could possibly remove the block if and when the PC feels he is ready for such a thing (noting that it could be quite traumatic... depending on what the block was ...well ...blocking). As it was pretty much the tail end of that nights session, we kind of left it at that. The PC told the Psion he'd get in touch with him if he decides to have the block removed... but he is unsure if he wants to in-character (what if the block is simply a natural defense mechanism... so he doesn't have to remember every detail of the gruesome slaughter of his pseudo-family?). However, I'm sure curiosity will get the better of him eventually. ;) What will he find if the block is removed? I had planned out something if it was removed last session... however, with a little extra time to play with, I'm rethinking things a bit. ...so any further suggestions are still appreciated. :D
Edymnion 11-09-06, 08:27 PM	I still like the idea of him having an illithid slug larva in his head, and the area behind the block being the little hole the thing carved out for itself in his psyche.