Post/Author/DateTime	Post
SanRaal 03-23-08, 05:10 PM	I am currently working on a campaign idea regarding the Twisted Rune and one of their evil schemes. In the House of Wonder (temple of Mystra) in Waterdeep, lies a hidden and forgotten artifact, that actually is the key to the nether scrolls located in the ruins of Myth Drannor. This is something that the Twisted Rune discovered in 1375DR and are have been working since to obtain these scrolls. The Temple of Mystra is well protected, and the inner sanctum of the temple is defended by mighty magic and guardians. They have therefore chosen a more indirect path to their goal. They are using intrigue and preparing for an attack at the temple. Through the adventure the characters will work with the Harpers in Waterdeep, where they will observe many happenings that is the ground work done by the Twisted Rune. Among these is a quest for "The Hall of Thousand Lights" given to the characters by a cleric of Lathander who has been given a book from one of the agents of the Twisted Rune. The Hall of Thousand Lights is a place made by the Twisted Rune which contains enough everburning torches to light up the whole of Waterdeep. As they start this event they are also using this as a way of increasing their influence in Waterdeep, since the Guild of Chandlers & Lamplighters will loose much power with everburning torches at every corner. These everburning torches have a secondary enchantment which will be activated by the Twisted Rune on the day of the attack, where instead of radiating light, they will radiate darkness. This is used together with an attack force of undeads in order to obtain the artifact. There will be other subtle events that are happening in Waterdeep that is resulting of the buildup before the attack on the House of Wonders. One of them is the theft of a magical item from one of the Clerics of Mystra which will be done by members of the Shadow Thieves. This item will then be enchanted with secondary magics that enables the Twisted Rune a way of controlling the wearer through a telepathic dominate person spell. The Shadow Thieves are quite expendable, and will be stopped by the characters or another faction, returning the item to the cleric. The cleric of Mystra whose magical item was stolen, will rise quickly in the ranks of the temple, due to mysterious deaths and easy solving of problems due to the influence of the Twisted Rune. Once the cleric has risen high enough in the hierarchy, and the time of attack is coming closer, the secondary effect of the item will be activated, thus dominating the cleric. At the same time as these events happens in Waterdeep, there will be a dwarven historian that is working with the Harpers, sending the characters on quests to find lost tomes and other ancient items. He will find many mysterious happenings in the history, and will work to find out more. The dwarven historian will be the one who actually figures what is happening in Waterdeep, and that some unseen power has been working for several years to prepare for this attack. The second part of the campaign will be the quest to find the Nether Scrolls before the Twisted Rune does, and a possible third part will be to track down the Twisted Rune leaders in the South and put an end to the evil schemers. What do you think of this campaign idea? Any other good events that you would suggest that I use as part of this campaign to show the coming attack on the House of Wonders?
Dark Wizard 03-23-08, 07:36 PM	This sounds like a potentially awesome campaign setup. I have nothing specific to add, all the plot points seem strong and intriguing. I do suggest leaving some room for personal sidequests and development for the PCs. Try to tie some of your NPCs personally to your PCs. It helps if they give you a background on their characters. Also, the spot of the dwarven historian. If you can drop enough hints to your players and have them figure it out themselves, it might have a far greater impact than an NPCs figuring it out. Though keep the NPC in the background in case the PCs don't figure it out by the time you feel it's necessary.
SanRaal 03-24-08, 07:20 AM	Thanks for the reply. I like the idea of giving the players the possiblity of discovering what is happening for themselves. The dwarven historian will therefore give them lots of hints and quests related to the Twisted Rune, and giving them the possibility of discovering what is happening. They may even be able to prevent what is going to happen if they play the campaign right, and discover why the Twisted Rune are interested in the artifact that lies within the House of Wonders. The more trouble the characters make for the Twisted Rune, the more active role the liches will have to make, and therefore expose themselves. This may result in exposing their plans and agendas.
msatran 03-24-08, 12:27 PM	I am currently working on a campaign idea regarding the Twisted Rune and one of their evil schemes. In the House of Wonder (temple of Mystra) in Waterdeep, lies a hidden and forgotten artifact, that actually is the key to the nether scrolls located in the ruins of Myth Drannor. This is something that the Twisted Rune discovered in 1375DR and are have been working since to obtain these scrolls. The Temple of Mystra is well protected, and the inner sanctum of the temple is defended by mighty magic and guardians. They have therefore chosen a more indirect path to their goal. They are using intrigue and preparing for an attack at the temple. Through the adventure the characters will work with the Harpers in Waterdeep, where they will observe many happenings that is the ground work done by the Twisted Rune. Among these is a quest for "The Hall of Thousand Lights" given to the characters by a cleric of Lathander who has been given a book from one of the agents of the Twisted Rune. The Hall of Thousand Lights is a place made by the Twisted Rune which contains enough everburning torches to light up the whole of Waterdeep. As they start this event they are also using this as a way of increasing their influence in Waterdeep, since the Guild of Chandlers & Lamplighters will loose much power with everburning torches at every corner. These everburning torches have a secondary enchantment which will be activated by the Twisted Rune on the day of the attack, where instead of radiating light, they will radiate darkness. This is used together with an attack force of undeads in order to obtain the artifact. There will be other subtle events that are happening in Waterdeep that is resulting of the buildup before the attack on the House of Wonders. One of them is the theft of a magical item from one of the Clerics of Mystra which will be done by members of the Shadow Thieves. This item will then be enchanted with secondary magics that enables the Twisted Rune a way of controlling the wearer through a telepathic dominate person spell. The Shadow Thieves are quite expendable, and will be stopped by the characters or another faction, returning the item to the cleric. The cleric of Mystra whose magical item was stolen, will rise quickly in the ranks of the temple, due to mysterious deaths and easy solving of problems due to the influence of the Twisted Rune. Once the cleric has risen high enough in the hierarchy, and the time of attack is coming closer, the secondary effect of the item will be activated, thus dominating the cleric. At the same time as these events happens in Waterdeep, there will be a dwarven historian that is working with the Harpers, sending the characters on quests to find lost tomes and other ancient items. He will find many mysterious happenings in the history, and will work to find out more. The dwarven historian will be the one who actually figures what is happening in Waterdeep, and that some unseen power has been working for several years to prepare for this attack. The second part of the campaign will be the quest to find the Nether Scrolls before the Twisted Rune does, and a possible third part will be to track down the Twisted Rune leaders in the South and put an end to the evil schemers. What do you think of this campaign idea? Any other good events that you would suggest that I use as part of this campaign to show the coming attack on the House of Wonders? Your problem is that the runemasters are of ridiculous power. Realistically, there's no way they would enact a scheme like this if the Nether Scrolls were that close to their hands. The average level of these guys is 28. The things the Runemasters would need to do are... 1) Beat up the Shades (They have the scrolls, see Anauroch). This is not as hard as it looks. Sapphirkatar can take most of them by himself, as he's got Power Attack and they have wizard hit points, and he's immune to most of their effects, being a dracolich. What are they going to do? Give him temporary hit points? 2) Rip the tree out of the ground and fly off with it. 3) Deliver it to Runemaster Central. 4) Extract Nether Scrolls. Have whatever passes for tea among undead runemasters. What the PC's need to do: 1) Discover the Runemaster's plans. 2) Destroy the Nether Scrolls. If you think the Nether Scrolls in the hands of the Shades are bad, leaving it in the hands of a bunch of people so subtle that they would cast epic spells like "Love the bloodline of fred, hate the bloodline of bob" and screw up politics in secret for thousands of years has got to be worse than Telamont taking over the world from his bedroom. The thing
Rinonalyrna Fathomlin 03-24-08, 12:50 PM	Also, I'd like to point out that the Twisted Rune is meant to be a super-secret organization--it's so secret that most people working for it don't know they are working for it! But if you don't want it to be that much of a secret in your Realms, so be it (the standard "do as you like" disclaimer applies here).
SanRaal 03-25-08, 03:24 PM	As Rinonalyrna Fathomlin pointed out, the Twisted Rune is a very secretive organization, and I agree that this is absolutely not common knowledge. The idea is to have this as a background campaign plot which the characters will have to spend most of their life discovering (from level 1-30), and only after maybe level 20 do they obtain the information that they are actually fighting the Twisted Rune. I plan on using several villains that does not know of the Twisted Rune which the characters must go through in order to obtain a new piece of the puzzle. With regards to the nether scrolls, I was under the impression that they were still in the ruins of Myth Drannor, but after reading the excerpt from Anauroch: The Empire of Shade, I see that they were taken by the shade. In Lost Empires of Faerūn it states that the Ars Factum set (the ones that was used to create powerful artifacts such as Crown of Horns and the Scepter of the Sorcerer-Kings) is locked, i.e. the spellcasters of Windsong Tower were unable to open it. So my reasoning for why the Twisted Rune had not opened the scrolls were that since none of the high mages of Windsong Tower could, it made sense that neither could they, without the key that is located beneath the House of Wonders. But as has been pointed out, parts of the campaign idea falls in shambles due to the insanely powerful liches of the Twisted Rune, and the fact that the scrolls now are in the hands of the shade (unless they were destroyed(?)). I would still like to do a campaign with the Twisted Rune as the main villain, but not necessarily with a agenda to obtain a key to the nether scroll of Ars Factum. Any good ideas for what the Twisted Rune would be doing in Waterdeep as part of one of their grand schemes? They have already obtained information about portal building from Halaster during Halaster's Harvestide, what else could be beneficial for them? Is it true that one of the two liches that participated in the abduction of Halaster were turned over to Halaster by Khelben (read it on a forum somewhere, but no source)?
msatran 03-25-08, 04:42 PM	1) Undermountain Puppets: Goal for Twisted Rune: To control Undermountain and sieze the magics therein. 2) War with Blackstaff Academy: The Twisted Rune sets up their own school of magery without letting anyone know it's them. Capriciousness and student stealing ensue. 3) Heart of Ice Part 1: Priamon Raksek makes a deal with the orcs and frost giants in the Spine of the World, and sends them further south with the freak coldsnap of 1381. The heroes must stop the frost giants and orcs, and discover the secret fortress in the mountains filled with Twisted Rune agents...BUT...see below...once they succeed... 4) Heart of Ice Part II: Priamon Raksek decides that without Halaster and the Blackstaff to protect it, Waterdeep can become his personal playground at last. He magically manipulates the weather so that Icebergs float far south, blocking in Waterdeep completely during the winter. Then the fun begins after the hard winter with no spring, and merchants start to get testy, riots, starvation, and all that fun stuff. 5) Heart of Ice Part III: From Undermountain, no longer under the control of Halaster, Priamon Raksek plots to take over Waterdeep. The heroes must battle their way to Priamon's Lair, where he has taken Halaster's place as the controller of the deadliest dungeon in Faerun. Can they stop his ice making artifact before he freezes the North solid?
Olween 03-25-08, 05:37 PM	Bear in mind that I am not all that familiar with the lore, but I could imagine there being a enchantment or an artefact that prevent or threaten the runemasters (for example; they can no penetrate a certain district of the city; or being there subject them to a spell that makes them more vulnerable). Of course, that would be a motivations for them to get rid of it (dispelling the enchantment; destroying the artefact) -maybe as a preliminary step before further conspiracy. That would also help explaining why they can not act themselves in this case (a way for you to control the ECs during the campaign).
Rinonalyrna Fathomlin 03-26-08, 09:04 PM	But as has been pointed out, parts of the campaign idea falls in shambles due to the insanely powerful liches of the Twisted Rune, and the fact that the scrolls now are in the hands of the shade... Your ideas aren't in shambles if you decide not to strictly follow the events suggested by the official timeline.:)
SanRaal 03-27-08, 02:31 PM	I am still considering what I will do, but I am still interested in doing a campaign with the Twisted Rune as villains. The reason for why I do want to follow the suggested forgotten realms timeline, is that I would like to share the campaign material with the rest of the community. If it is consistent with the timeline, it is more likely that others will use it. Msatran, you mentioned a plot where Priamon Raksek planned to to control Undermountain. As I see at http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Twisted_Rune, Priamon Raksek was handed over to Halaster by Khelben in 1374DR [1], which makes this a poor choice of a villain. The campaign idea is cool though. I like the buildup, and how it might end if the characters don't stop him. There are many possibilities that can be used. [1] Steven E. Schend (July 2006). Blackstaff, p. 336. Wizards of the Coast.
MarkusTay63 03-27-08, 05:05 PM	Depends on how you handle the timeline - as of the events in Undermountain, Halaster is toast. If he was holding 'Frostrune' captive with his magics, the Lich could have easily esacaped by now, and could even be a little 'nutz' thanks to time spent with the master of the Underhalls. :D
dave_the_DM 04-03-08, 03:13 PM	Depends on how you handle the timeline - as of the events in Undermountain, Halaster is toast. If he was holding 'Frostrune' captive with his magics, the Lich could have easily esacaped by now, and could even be a little 'nutz' thanks to time spent with the master of the Underhalls. :D I very rarely pay attention to the WOTC timeling in regards to Waterdeep/ Undermountain. Halaster dead? :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: Uhh.. no. Its your game, do with it as you will. However, Waterdeep is a big city, with a lot of intriquing options. I've been running it for years with various groups, and I always beging with a variety of plot hooks, and then see which one the players bite on and develop that one more fully. This could be ONE of them. Even if the players don't bite on it, it doesn't "go away". Things still happen, in the background, while the players are doing other things. I try not to overdevelp the plot, especially in the beginning when you're not exactly sure what the players are actually interested in. Going in a direction the players don't want to go in, can quickly spell the end of your campaign.
Lord Karsus 04-04-08, 04:38 AM	I very rarely pay attention to the WOTC timeling in regards to Waterdeep/ Undermountain. Halaster dead? :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: Uhh.. no. -Yes, he bit the big one in the Return to Undermountain adventure, and this was made official in the Realms in AGHotR. Apparently, he somehow forsaw the Spellplague, and began devising some kind of 'defense' against it. His research "blew up" in his face, not only killing him, but shattering his soul into thousands of fragments, making it, at best, extremely difficult to being him back to life, as all of his soul fragments would need to be gathered before doing so.
dave_the_DM 04-04-08, 08:27 AM	-Yes, he bit the big one in the Return to Undermountain adventure, and this was made official in the Realms in AGHotR. Apparently, he somehow forsaw the Spellplague, and began devising some kind of 'defense' against it. His research "blew up" in his face, not only killing him, but shattering his soul into thousands of fragments, making it, at best, extremely difficult to being him back to life, as all of his soul fragments would need to be gathered before doing so. I'm fully aware of the canon, I just choose to ignore it. I'm not switching to 4E so the entire storyline I'm simply not doing. Period, the end. My Waterdeep has a fully functioning mad Halaster, deep in the bowels of Undermountain plaguing those who enter the Halls with his devious mechanations... as it should be.:devil:
Lord Karsus 04-06-08, 12:23 AM	I'm fully aware of the canon, I just choose to ignore it. I'm not switching to 4E so the entire storyline I'm simply not doing. Period, the end. -Your post led me to believe that you were unaware of what transpired.
Daenaan 04-06-08, 07:53 AM	I'm rusty on what happened to Halaster's apprentices (the "Seven", right?). Are they all dead, or assumed to be so? I'm not sure why I can't remember... how odd.
Old Sage 04-06-08, 08:10 AM	Jhesiyra Kestellharp, who left and became Magister, and also, as I recall, popped up in Blackstaff. Nester, who is now a lich-thing on Level Two of Undermountain. CoS:W lists Murial and Trobriand as living, and one as being dead; they both have sub-levels described in the second Ruins of Undermountain boxed set [though, as I recall, Trobriand was chased out of his level during Halaster's Harvestide]. Arcturia, who was killed during Halaster's Harvestide. So that's five of the seven. And, until recently, we didn't even have names for the last two -- that is, until Eric Boyd finished naming them in Expedition to Undermountain. They are Marambra Nyghtsteel and Rantantar. Though, they've yet to receive any significant coverage in the Realmslore.
Daenaan 04-06-08, 08:18 AM	Jhesiyra Kestellharp, who left and became Magister, and also, as I recall, popped up in Blackstaff. Nester, who is now a lich-thing on Level Two of Undermountain. CoS:W lists Murial and Trobriand as living, and one as being dead; they both have sub-levels described in the second Ruins of Undermountain boxed set [though, as I recall, Trobriand was chased out of his level during Halaster's Harvestide]. Arcturia, who was killed during Halaster's Harvestide. So that's five of the seven. And, until recently, we didn't even have names for the last two -- that is, until Eric Boyd finished naming them in Expedition to Undermountain. They are Marambra Nyghtsteel and Rantantar. Though, they've yet to receive any significant coverage in the Realmslore. Interesting, thanks very much! :)