Ideas to bring the party together [Archive] - Wizards Community

Ideas to bring the party together [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Tyveil
11-29-04, 09:41 AM I just started my Eberron campaign last weekend (I'm the DM). The players consist of an Elf Ranger (Krysalyn), Human Fighter (Qzzyt?), and Warforged Cleric (Sowat). The first adventure revolved around the Ranger, who lives near Greenheart and is associated with the Wardens of the Wood. Her Warden "mentor" druid asked her to assist a nearby farmer whos livestock was being killed/mutilated by some type of aberration. She was loaned a Byshek (sp?) scimitar to assist in this task and enough money to recruit help. The other 2 PC's were recruited from a nearby town.

Anyways, to make a long story short, the group tracked down the demon to it's lair and dispatched it. The 2 helper PC's were rewarded in gold (100 GP) while Krysalyn the ranger was rewarded with the scimitar, the thanks of the Wardens of the Wood, and the expectations that she will use the scimitar to help rid the Eldeen Reaches of other aberrations who may wander in from the Demon Wastes or be left from the daelkyr invasion.

Now.. another player would like to join the group. He's going to be playing a Human Wizard. He would like to be a member of a dragonmarked house. Because I wanted at least one PC to be dragonmarked, I've approved. The house he would like to be a part of is House Denith (Mark of Sentinel). So, the background we thought up is that he is a fledgling wizard of the house that was sent to Arcanix for training. This puts him somewhat close to the group (within 1000 miles at least).

So.. now I just need to come up with an idea to bring these adventurers together. How should I keep the existing group together? They all have different motivations. The Ranger (Krysalyn) wants to aspire within the ranks of the Wardens of the Wood. The Warforged Cleric (Sowat) is searching for his higher purpose in life. The Fighter is just in it for the money and glory. He's already caused some rifts in the group because of his greed and "finders keepers" attitude when it comes to treasure (he's roleplaying this type of character and I don't mind, it adds an interesting dynamic to the group). And how do I get the Wizard into the mix?

Just looking for ideas.
Tyveil
11-29-04, 12:03 PM I know there are some great ideas for a story out there :whatsthis
Gurv
11-29-04, 12:52 PM The fighter's motivation is money. The ranger's motivation is defeating aberrations for the Wardens. What does the warforged think? Who does it worship, btw, and what does it want to do?

Deneith doesn't have a large influence on the Reaches. Perhaps there is something in the area that they are interested in, and they need a couple of capable people to check on it. They've heard of the PCs, and they trust their own mage, and so they send him to hire them to go along a check it out.

Maybe it involves the Gatekeeper seals. The senior members of House Deneith might be interested in how they work, so their magewrights can improve their Sentinel-like powers. So the PCs are off to copy down the runes from couple of them. Of course, going from sacred seal to sacred seal will make the Gatekeepers paranoid that they are up to no good. And they might find out that some of the seals are no longer working as they once did...
Tyveil
11-29-04, 02:38 PM The fighter's motivation is money. The ranger's motivation is defeating aberrations for the Wardens. What does the warforged think? Who does it worship, btw, and what does it want to do?

Deneith doesn't have a large influence on the Reaches. Perhaps there is something in the area that they are interested in, and they need a couple of capable people to check on it. They've heard of the PCs, and they trust their own mage, and so they send him to hire them to go along a check it out.

Maybe it involves the Gatekeeper seals. The senior members of House Deneith might be interested in how they work, so their magewrights can improve their Sentinel-like powers. So the PCs are off to copy down the runes from couple of them. Of course, going from sacred seal to sacred seal will make the Gatekeepers paranoid that they are up to no good. And they might find out that some of the seals are no longer working as they once did...

The Warforged is one of the Eberron diety-less clerics. He acknowledges dieties and their power, but doesn't worship any of them or try to spread their principles. He is rather indifferent in most matters of faith or morals, and his alignment is true neutral. He believes that the gods may have some answers to his purpose of existance and that is why he practices divine magic.

I really like your idea about the gatekeeper seals and Deneiths interest in them. That could get them involved with several factions (Wardens of the Wood, House Deneith, Gatekeepers, Ashbound, more?) and from there a lot more options open up.
Just another user
11-29-04, 03:02 PM It is not very original, but what about this.

While doing research in the Twelve's library the wizard find a old book, very old dating to before the Last War. Even if barely readable, it reveal to be the diary, lab journal of a powerful wizards of the past. In it is said;

The wizard had a house/lair/ lab in the middle of the Eideen Reaches
-He was researching the druidic magic, with particolar reference to the gatekeepers's seal of contenment (the ones that keep Daelkyr prisoner and Xoriat away)
- basing his work form this studies he seems to have developed some interesting protection spells. no trace of this spells are in the notebook but there are some hints that could lead to the lab.

From a young wizard that aspire to an position of importance either accademicaly or into his House, all this is very interesting, expecially for a member of the Sentinel's house, with the Last War a lot of powerful magic gone lost (even if other powerful magic were discovered) this spells could be something unique in modern Khorvaine, beside in this lab there could be some cache of magic items, or at least some research notes. Heck, Even in the worst case from this could come out a good grade for History of Magic 101, prof Salimer is crazy for this Galifax era stuff. :)
So, after he had talked with his family and they have agreed to finance his little expedition, your wizard will arrive to the Eldeen reaches, of course the forest is no place for a City wizard as him is, he need to find someone pratical of the zone to help him found the Lab and some muscle to fight the critters that eventually they meet during and after the travel, and here is where enter your group. The druids want that the ranger help the wizard because and abbandoned magical lab is not something to be taken lightly (you can never know what you can find in it and what can start come out from it).

Some possibilities
1) The wizard of the diary was actually a member of the Dragon below, his lab is full of the adeguate kind of mostruosities.
2) more interesting, IMHO The cult of the dragon below is interested in the diary and the laboratory. If this wizard studied the Seals maybe he found some way to weaken them, this could lead to further adventure around Eberron if they are able to put their hands over the dead wizard's notes.
Gurv
11-29-04, 03:40 PM The Warforged is one of the Eberron diety-less clerics. He acknowledges dieties and their power, but doesn't worship any of them or try to spread their principles. He is rather indifferent in most matters of faith or morals, and his alignment is true neutral. He believes that the gods may have some answers to his purpose of existance and that is why he practices divine magic.

I really like your idea about the gatekeeper seals and Deneiths interest in them. That could get them involved with several factions (Wardens of the Wood, House Deneith, Gatekeepers, Ashbound, more?) and from there a lot more options open up.

He doesn't really have strong faith in anything though? Even a deity-less cleric should have to believe in something in order to practice clerical magic. Part of it might be learned by rote, but I thought the magic came from strength of faith.

Anyway, the whole point of my post was to help bring the party together. And the best way to do that is to give them a common cause. The next best thing is to give their patrons a common cause. It also makes for interesting party dynamics if the patrons have different ideas of what to do with what the party uncovers. Deneith has an almost scientific interest: they want to know how the seals work, so they can create equally powerful abjurations in their business. The Wardens are likely to be on the same page as the Gatekeepers, thinking that they shouldn't be tampered with too much. But the two sects are seperate enough that the Wardens won't mind if someone just wants to look, while the Gatekeepers would want to keep anyone away at all costs.

If the players discover that the seals are not holding as well as they need to be (perhaps leaking a couple of low CR aberrations from Xoriat), then they shouldn't give the faulty magic to Deneith. And someone should be informed that the seals need upkeeping. Of course, after the Gatekeepers told me to stay away from the seals, I might be a little nervious about what they'll think when they notice they're broken.

Or maybe some of the Gatekeepers have been corrupted by the forces of Xoriat. The PCs sneak past the Gatekeepers in order to check out a seal, only to find out that the guardians are really a Cult of the Dragon Below pretending to be druids. And, of course, they've found a way to break a seal, putting the world at risk, yada, yada, yada.
ReivaxZerai
11-29-04, 03:56 PM the crown of Aundair is bitter at the separation of Eldeen Reaches, and the ECS hints that Aundair would like to see the Reaches back under their rule.
One path to this would be to weaken the influence and power of the Wardens and Greenheart by sending this wizard in as a spy.

Here's the good part, make the wizard an unwitting spy. Take the wizard player aside, away from the other players and tell the wizard that someone approaches the wizard to do something seemingly innocent for them in the Eldeen Reaches, and that the wizard needs to find a party to protect him on route to Greenheart.

If you play it right, you could have a lot of fun with all the players, the wizard player thinks he 's in on something that the others don't know, and yet, he's just a tool for your plot :)
Tyveil
11-29-04, 03:56 PM He doesn't really have strong faith in anything though? Even a deity-less cleric should have to believe in something in order to practice clerical magic. Part of it might be learned by rote, but I thought the magic came from strength of faith.

I wouldn't say he has a strong faith really in anything except for true nutrality, and not in the sense that there should be balance (good vs. evil) but in the sense that who cares (hence the name "sowat"). He believes everyone makes their own fate and everyone can have valid reasons for any actions (good or evil). It's a rather selfish perspective. The following excerpts from the ECS contributed to this type of cleric.

From pages 34-35 of the ECS:
Other clerics across Eberron serve no church and claim no allegiance to any diety. They recognize the power of the deities, but not their authority over mortal life...
They hold principles of alignment or other abstract ideals higher than the deities who claim these ideals...
...they draw divine power from the pervasive spiritual force in the world instead of channeling it through deities.

The reason why the Warforged has chosen this path is for 1) power and 2) because he's looking for answers to his existance and he believes the path of the cleric may lead him to enlightenment.
Tyveil
11-29-04, 04:02 PM Thanks everyone else for the ideas too. Lots of good stuff to work with here. I don't know about sending the wizard in to do something shady to the Wardens of the Wood, seeing as how that is the main organization for the ranger. I might end up with 2 groups unwilling to work with each other :tantrum:
ReivaxZerai
11-29-04, 04:07 PM Thanks everyone else for the ideas too. Lots of good stuff to work with here. I don't know about sending the wizard in to do something shady to the Wardens of the Wood, seeing as how that is the main organization for the ranger. I might end up with 2 groups unwilling to work with each other :tantrum:

No, wouldn't have to be shady, at least to what the wizard is told. I.e., wizard *thinks* he's doing something good and useful, but he just can't talk about it.
So, in the end, this good thing that he thinks he's doing is really just him being manipulated. As long as his heart was good in the first place.
Unless this is a high-Wisdom wizard, I guess. :)

Whatever you do, have fun and keep the players on their toes :P
Splendide
11-29-04, 05:30 PM For a short term solution, the simple thing is to create the villain for all of them.

Stage 1: Some magical thing is causing regular animals within the woods to become aberrations...ranger is investigating, as is wizard. The other two seem likely to follow along, as until the source of this mutation is found, there's a lot of aberrations to kill.

Its a living Polymorph Other, released by a mage that has been trying to duplicate the living spell effect that he saw in the Mournlands/Cyre, where he himself went a little bit funny in the head. If you wanted to give him some nasty template from Savage Species, it would be appropriate.

His motivation? Well, maybe he just hates druids, maybe he wants every other nation to share Cyre's fate, maybe he's just a mad magician that wants his own corrupted evil army! Its all good.

So basically, the Ranger wants to save the woods, the Fighter gets to kill showy things, the Cleric gets to do some vague good and the Mage gets to find out what happens when arcane magic goes bad.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Tyveil 11-29-04, 09:41 AM	I just started my Eberron campaign last weekend (I'm the DM). The players consist of an Elf Ranger (Krysalyn), Human Fighter (Qzzyt?), and Warforged Cleric (Sowat). The first adventure revolved around the Ranger, who lives near Greenheart and is associated with the Wardens of the Wood. Her Warden "mentor" druid asked her to assist a nearby farmer whos livestock was being killed/mutilated by some type of aberration. She was loaned a Byshek (sp?) scimitar to assist in this task and enough money to recruit help. The other 2 PC's were recruited from a nearby town. Anyways, to make a long story short, the group tracked down the demon to it's lair and dispatched it. The 2 helper PC's were rewarded in gold (100 GP) while Krysalyn the ranger was rewarded with the scimitar, the thanks of the Wardens of the Wood, and the expectations that she will use the scimitar to help rid the Eldeen Reaches of other aberrations who may wander in from the Demon Wastes or be left from the daelkyr invasion. Now.. another player would like to join the group. He's going to be playing a Human Wizard. He would like to be a member of a dragonmarked house. Because I wanted at least one PC to be dragonmarked, I've approved. The house he would like to be a part of is House Denith (Mark of Sentinel). So, the background we thought up is that he is a fledgling wizard of the house that was sent to Arcanix for training. This puts him somewhat close to the group (within 1000 miles at least). So.. now I just need to come up with an idea to bring these adventurers together. How should I keep the existing group together? They all have different motivations. The Ranger (Krysalyn) wants to aspire within the ranks of the Wardens of the Wood. The Warforged Cleric (Sowat) is searching for his higher purpose in life. The Fighter is just in it for the money and glory. He's already caused some rifts in the group because of his greed and "finders keepers" attitude when it comes to treasure (he's roleplaying this type of character and I don't mind, it adds an interesting dynamic to the group). And how do I get the Wizard into the mix? Just looking for ideas.
Tyveil 11-29-04, 12:03 PM	I know there are some great ideas for a story out there :whatsthis
Gurv 11-29-04, 12:52 PM	The fighter's motivation is money. The ranger's motivation is defeating aberrations for the Wardens. What does the warforged think? Who does it worship, btw, and what does it want to do? Deneith doesn't have a large influence on the Reaches. Perhaps there is something in the area that they are interested in, and they need a couple of capable people to check on it. They've heard of the PCs, and they trust their own mage, and so they send him to hire them to go along a check it out. Maybe it involves the Gatekeeper seals. The senior members of House Deneith might be interested in how they work, so their magewrights can improve their Sentinel-like powers. So the PCs are off to copy down the runes from couple of them. Of course, going from sacred seal to sacred seal will make the Gatekeepers paranoid that they are up to no good. And they might find out that some of the seals are no longer working as they once did...
Tyveil 11-29-04, 02:38 PM	The fighter's motivation is money. The ranger's motivation is defeating aberrations for the Wardens. What does the warforged think? Who does it worship, btw, and what does it want to do? Deneith doesn't have a large influence on the Reaches. Perhaps there is something in the area that they are interested in, and they need a couple of capable people to check on it. They've heard of the PCs, and they trust their own mage, and so they send him to hire them to go along a check it out. Maybe it involves the Gatekeeper seals. The senior members of House Deneith might be interested in how they work, so their magewrights can improve their Sentinel-like powers. So the PCs are off to copy down the runes from couple of them. Of course, going from sacred seal to sacred seal will make the Gatekeepers paranoid that they are up to no good. And they might find out that some of the seals are no longer working as they once did... The Warforged is one of the Eberron diety-less clerics. He acknowledges dieties and their power, but doesn't worship any of them or try to spread their principles. He is rather indifferent in most matters of faith or morals, and his alignment is true neutral. He believes that the gods may have some answers to his purpose of existance and that is why he practices divine magic. I really like your idea about the gatekeeper seals and Deneiths interest in them. That could get them involved with several factions (Wardens of the Wood, House Deneith, Gatekeepers, Ashbound, more?) and from there a lot more options open up.
Just another user 11-29-04, 03:02 PM	It is not very original, but what about this. While doing research in the Twelve's library the wizard find a old book, very old dating to before the Last War. Even if barely readable, it reveal to be the diary, lab journal of a powerful wizards of the past. In it is said; The wizard had a house/lair/ lab in the middle of the Eideen Reaches -He was researching the druidic magic, with particolar reference to the gatekeepers's seal of contenment (the ones that keep Daelkyr prisoner and Xoriat away) - basing his work form this studies he seems to have developed some interesting protection spells. no trace of this spells are in the notebook but there are some hints that could lead to the lab. From a young wizard that aspire to an position of importance either accademicaly or into his House, all this is very interesting, expecially for a member of the Sentinel's house, with the Last War a lot of powerful magic gone lost (even if other powerful magic were discovered) this spells could be something unique in modern Khorvaine, beside in this lab there could be some cache of magic items, or at least some research notes. Heck, Even in the worst case from this could come out a good grade for History of Magic 101, prof Salimer is crazy for this Galifax era stuff. :) So, after he had talked with his family and they have agreed to finance his little expedition, your wizard will arrive to the Eldeen reaches, of course the forest is no place for a City wizard as him is, he need to find someone pratical of the zone to help him found the Lab and some muscle to fight the critters that eventually they meet during and after the travel, and here is where enter your group. The druids want that the ranger help the wizard because and abbandoned magical lab is not something to be taken lightly (you can never know what you can find in it and what can start come out from it). Some possibilities 1) The wizard of the diary was actually a member of the Dragon below, his lab is full of the adeguate kind of mostruosities. 2) more interesting, IMHO The cult of the dragon below is interested in the diary and the laboratory. If this wizard studied the Seals maybe he found some way to weaken them, this could lead to further adventure around Eberron if they are able to put their hands over the dead wizard's notes.
Gurv 11-29-04, 03:40 PM	The Warforged is one of the Eberron diety-less clerics. He acknowledges dieties and their power, but doesn't worship any of them or try to spread their principles. He is rather indifferent in most matters of faith or morals, and his alignment is true neutral. He believes that the gods may have some answers to his purpose of existance and that is why he practices divine magic. I really like your idea about the gatekeeper seals and Deneiths interest in them. That could get them involved with several factions (Wardens of the Wood, House Deneith, Gatekeepers, Ashbound, more?) and from there a lot more options open up. He doesn't really have strong faith in anything though? Even a deity-less cleric should have to believe in something in order to practice clerical magic. Part of it might be learned by rote, but I thought the magic came from strength of faith. Anyway, the whole point of my post was to help bring the party together. And the best way to do that is to give them a common cause. The next best thing is to give their patrons a common cause. It also makes for interesting party dynamics if the patrons have different ideas of what to do with what the party uncovers. Deneith has an almost scientific interest: they want to know how the seals work, so they can create equally powerful abjurations in their business. The Wardens are likely to be on the same page as the Gatekeepers, thinking that they shouldn't be tampered with too much. But the two sects are seperate enough that the Wardens won't mind if someone just wants to look, while the Gatekeepers would want to keep anyone away at all costs. If the players discover that the seals are not holding as well as they need to be (perhaps leaking a couple of low CR aberrations from Xoriat), then they shouldn't give the faulty magic to Deneith. And someone should be informed that the seals need upkeeping. Of course, after the Gatekeepers told me to stay away from the seals, I might be a little nervious about what they'll think when they notice they're broken. Or maybe some of the Gatekeepers have been corrupted by the forces of Xoriat. The PCs sneak past the Gatekeepers in order to check out a seal, only to find out that the guardians are really a Cult of the Dragon Below pretending to be druids. And, of course, they've found a way to break a seal, putting the world at risk, yada, yada, yada.
ReivaxZerai 11-29-04, 03:56 PM	the crown of Aundair is bitter at the separation of Eldeen Reaches, and the ECS hints that Aundair would like to see the Reaches back under their rule. One path to this would be to weaken the influence and power of the Wardens and Greenheart by sending this wizard in as a spy. Here's the good part, make the wizard an unwitting spy. Take the wizard player aside, away from the other players and tell the wizard that someone approaches the wizard to do something seemingly innocent for them in the Eldeen Reaches, and that the wizard needs to find a party to protect him on route to Greenheart. If you play it right, you could have a lot of fun with all the players, the wizard player thinks he 's in on something that the others don't know, and yet, he's just a tool for your plot :)
Tyveil 11-29-04, 03:56 PM	He doesn't really have strong faith in anything though? Even a deity-less cleric should have to believe in something in order to practice clerical magic. Part of it might be learned by rote, but I thought the magic came from strength of faith. I wouldn't say he has a strong faith really in anything except for true nutrality, and not in the sense that there should be balance (good vs. evil) but in the sense that who cares (hence the name "sowat"). He believes everyone makes their own fate and everyone can have valid reasons for any actions (good or evil). It's a rather selfish perspective. The following excerpts from the ECS contributed to this type of cleric. From pages 34-35 of the ECS: Other clerics across Eberron serve no church and claim no allegiance to any diety. They recognize the power of the deities, but not their authority over mortal life... They hold principles of alignment or other abstract ideals higher than the deities who claim these ideals... ...they draw divine power from the pervasive spiritual force in the world instead of channeling it through deities. The reason why the Warforged has chosen this path is for 1) power and 2) because he's looking for answers to his existance and he believes the path of the cleric may lead him to enlightenment.
Tyveil 11-29-04, 04:02 PM	Thanks everyone else for the ideas too. Lots of good stuff to work with here. I don't know about sending the wizard in to do something shady to the Wardens of the Wood, seeing as how that is the main organization for the ranger. I might end up with 2 groups unwilling to work with each other :tantrum:
ReivaxZerai 11-29-04, 04:07 PM	Thanks everyone else for the ideas too. Lots of good stuff to work with here. I don't know about sending the wizard in to do something shady to the Wardens of the Wood, seeing as how that is the main organization for the ranger. I might end up with 2 groups unwilling to work with each other :tantrum: No, wouldn't have to be shady, at least to what the wizard is told. I.e., wizard thinks he's doing something good and useful, but he just can't talk about it. So, in the end, this good thing that he thinks he's doing is really just him being manipulated. As long as his heart was good in the first place. Unless this is a high-Wisdom wizard, I guess. :) Whatever you do, have fun and keep the players on their toes :P
Splendide 11-29-04, 05:30 PM	For a short term solution, the simple thing is to create the villain for all of them. Stage 1: Some magical thing is causing regular animals within the woods to become aberrations...ranger is investigating, as is wizard. The other two seem likely to follow along, as until the source of this mutation is found, there's a lot of aberrations to kill. Its a living Polymorph Other, released by a mage that has been trying to duplicate the living spell effect that he saw in the Mournlands/Cyre, where he himself went a little bit funny in the head. If you wanted to give him some nasty template from Savage Species, it would be appropriate. His motivation? Well, maybe he just hates druids, maybe he wants every other nation to share Cyre's fate, maybe he's just a mad magician that wants his own corrupted evil army! Its all good. So basically, the Ranger wants to save the woods, the Fighter gets to kill showy things, the Cleric gets to do some vague good and the Mage gets to find out what happens when arcane magic goes bad.