Post/Author/DateTime	Post
DragoonDarkfire 04-15-07, 12:13 AM	I'm running a high level campaign where the PC's will encounter Dyrrn the corrupter himself. Yes you heard me, they're going to meet the king Daelkyr. But I was wondering how I should portray him. It's not like daelkyr are easy for one to know how to behave. Especially the king daelkyr but then I got this idea... what if he were to be like H.P. Lovecraft? Just imagine an insanely powerful daelkyr saying this to a group of PC's. I have dwelt ever in realms apart from the visible world; spending my eons and ages in ancient and little-known books, and in roaming the wasts and tunnels of the region far from my ancestral home. I do not think that what I read in these books or see in these wasts and tunnels was exactly what others would read and see here; but of this I must say little, since detailed speech would but confirm those cruel slanders upon my intellect which I sometimes overhear from the whispers of the stealthy attendants around me. Life is a hideous thing, and from the background behind what we know of it peer daemoniacal hints of truth which make it sometimes a thousandfold more hideous. Magic, already oppressive with its shocking revelations, will perhaps be the ultimate exterminator of your kind and brethren -- if separate kinds we be -- for its reserve of unguessed horrors could never be borne by mortal brains if loosed upon the world. Despite my most careful searches and investigations, I have never since been able to find the Rue d'Auseil. But I am not wholly sorry; either for this or for the loss in undreamable abysses of the closely written sheets which alone could have explained the music of Erich Zann. I personally think this would be an awesome way to portray him. What do you think?
shadyspace 04-15-07, 06:44 AM	I absolutely agree. Lovecraft hints at a form of truth too profound for a “mere” mortal’s mind to comprehend. The Universe is alien and moves in dimensions that rotate along axis of existence our minds couldn’t hope to appreciate, even with our finest mathematics. This is the perfect out look for a Daelkyr, one that sees the machinations of apparent chaos as simply the beautiful rotation of an Escher drawling. If you can convey that with words, you’ll have your PCs speechless and screaming for more.
Nundahl 04-16-07, 10:10 AM	First, great idea, I'm not dogging you here. Second, you will (or at least I would) have trouble keeping the mood. Unless you can constantly and perfectly shoot out quotes like the ones seen here when the PC's attempt to interact with him, the scene may feel rehearsed and trite. I'd love to hear how it goes though, if you pull it off, you get a cookie!
Faithful_One 04-16-07, 11:25 AM	He could make some statements of his own. Read enough Lovecraft and prepare your self to speak like that and you could create stuff on the go. It would be hard but doable.
DragoonDarkfire 04-16-07, 07:57 PM	I went down with it. Basically they were set up with, what they thought would be, this horrifying monster (I never really told them what a daelkyr looks like, they just knew it created aberrations like Mind Flayers and beholders so I think they just assumed it would be like an elder brain) but when I described Dyrrn as being- A human of unearthly beauty and grace, his eyes carry a deepness and his form is of unearthly quality, his body is perfectly sculpted and his form is that of a god. Yet when he moved you see a strange almost illusion standing in the same place as he stood just a second before, a horrifying and twisted humanoid figure thats skin is black and pulsating muscle and tendrils with deformed features and hideous mutations. The contrast gives him a truly disturbing aura. So essentially it started with the fighter drawing his sword and moving toward him but he got confused and then was pulled away by the wizard who made the will save. Then the rouge started to speak to him. Basically the conversation went with the rouge trying to diplomacies out of getting their bodies reformatted into shapes of a thousand horrors. I think my H.P. Lovecraft impersonation was pretty good and I managed to creep out a few of them. Keep in mind none knew who H.P. Lovecraft was so they thought that my act was pretty unique. I spent a good number of hours thinking of how I could try and get them out (keep in mind this was before the session actually took place) when I got an idea. Basically the "druid" who came along with them to help try and seal Dryyn down in Khyber for another hundred thousand years was actually a Rakshasa member of the council of Ashtarak (I can't recall the name) who wanted to destroy Dyrrn and then imprison his soul so he could channel his corrupting power within his own body. Without going into details they imprisoned Dyrrn and the Rakshasa inside a Khyber dragonshard the size of a small house.
Nundahl 04-17-07, 06:36 PM	Well congrats, and thanks for keeping us updated. Cool idea and I'm glad it went well, sounds like a successful night if they trapped both a Dyrrn and a Rakshasa!. Though I can't believe they didn't know who Lovecraft was ...
Zombomaniac 04-18-07, 09:25 AM	Though I can't believe they didn't know who Lovecraft was ... I've been reading Lovecraft lately and a lot of people don't know him apperantly. The few who read as many books as me know him, but most everyone else didn't.:(
Evilmonster 04-20-07, 12:46 AM	The Lovecraftian speaches would serve you better comming from an expert on Xorat, madman, and minions of the nightmare than from the Thing-that-should-not-be himself. Have the PC's meet several "people" in the know and have them creep out the players. I would think that something that different from humans would have as much luck talking to a person as a person would have talking to a bug. Sorta the "Do you think your more advanced than a roach?" "yes." "Have you ever tried to explain yourself to one?" type deal. Lovecraft's big time god-monsters tended to communicate with people (when they could be bothered to anyway) telepathicaly through images, nightmares, and inspeakable compulsions. If you need to have the King talk to the characters I would suggest he do so through a second party, like some poor soul the King has kept alive for just that reason. That way you only need some premade scairy speeches for the experts and the rest can be handled by discriptive telepathic images and insain ramblings.
ChaoticGood 04-20-07, 09:37 PM	Except... he already had the session and he said it went well... But I'm sure that advice will help out someone in the future, Evilmonster. :)
Vharuck 04-21-07, 03:07 AM	The Lovecraftian speaches would serve you better comming from an expert on Xorat, madman, and minions of the nightmare than from the Thing-that-should-not-be himself. Have the PC's meet several "people" in the know and have them creep out the players. I would think that something that different from humans would have as much luck talking to a person as a person would have talking to a bug. Sorta the "Do you think your more advanced than a roach?" "yes." "Have you ever tried to explain yourself to one?" type deal. Lovecraft's big time god-monsters tended to communicate with people (when they could be bothered to anyway) telepathicaly through images, nightmares, and inspeakable compulsions. If you need to have the King talk to the characters I would suggest he do so through a second party, like some poor soul the King has kept alive for just that reason. That way you only need some premade scairy speeches for the experts and the rest can be handled by discriptive telepathic images and insain ramblings. I'm planning on using the middle-man idea, myself, for when I finally get to try out my daelkyr-flavored campaign. I'm trying to create a persona like that of Lovecraft's Nyarlathotep, a humanoid being that shows the world what will become of them all but is still considered godly. Right now, he's an illithid (the Eberron Outsider variant, though) with levels in Seer. I might also slap on a template to make him more "divine" than normal illithids with class levels, but I haven't found the right template yet.