I could use a little help with this -
the players were told to go to the lost city of Samarthia located somewhere in the Dragons bowl
and retrieve an ancient map and key from the old library.
the question -
what kind of encounters would be interesting in Samarthia
where does the map lead and what does the key open?
the players
Kim - Asteron - Male Minotaur Barbarian - left her tribe because he didn’t believe in the new religion
Marcel - Shava - Female Elf Ranger - while on a hunting trip for the tribe she got lost due to a sand storm and couldn’t find her way back, encountered Asteron and they traveled together for a while until they were captured by slavers and sold in Altaruk
Mike - Sudin - Male Human - Psion - youngest son of a minor noble family in Tyr when Kalak died and things went all crazy his eldest brother sold him into slavery in order to pay back debts incurred
Peggy - Mia - Shardmind - Shaman - Mia woke up in the dessert many years ago and wondered aimlessly until it was picked up by slavers, her master is in Altaruk
Tim - Thorak - Male Mul - Battle rager fighter wasteland nomad - he a Mul born and raised a slave told to fight told to win, so thats what he did until the great escape
now he is free and he wants to see the world
the story so far -
the PCs started in the slave pits of Altaruk
they escape and hide in the elven market
they convince a troop of elves to help get them out of the city
they get out of the city and through good RP and rescuing the leaders daughter they convince the elves NOT to sell them into slavery
they get to Graks pool and discover a buried city under the fort and go to investigate the "spine-chilling roars coming up from the passages below and find
amid the ruins stands a pristine building sealed with the mark of Hamanu sorcerer King of Urik
with in the building they find a human female imprisoned and slowly being devoured by a swarm of scarabs
after a harrowing battle they defeat the scarab swarm (a modified Lamia)
they release the trapped woman and she introduces her self as Sielba queen of Yaramuke
they continued on to Ledopolus where they cross the estuary to the great Ivory plains - get attacked by a group of slave hunters (the Iron Shackles) because some one in Altaruk wanted their Shardmind back
after all they are very rare and people pay good money to see them.
more adventuring up past guld and Nibenay there they get a vision and head off to find the ancient tree of life (Dungeon 187 Beneath the Dust)
piss off the "Soul Collector" try to run with the seed - forced to fight and get their butts handed to them and just when it couldn't get bad enough
Sidlba shows up and say "Hi give me the seed"
when all seemed lost they wake up to find they have been rescued by some Eladrin and are now somewhere "in the wind" the Eladrin city of Astrazaltan where their rescuers ask them for the seed
they are told that over the century's as the world of Athas was being destroyed the realm some know as the shadowfell grew and began to devour the feywild
it has been postulated that we (the eladrin) can help Athas if our realm (the faywild) can be restored. by planting trees of life we have managed to save small portions of our realm and as your seed is of a very ancient tree its life energy will actually push back the invading shadowfell
so they gave the seed to the eladrin. (there were many reasons, favors and treasures exchanged)
at the party the eladrin held for the hero’s the PCs met an old eladrin man who was a historian
many generations ago his family left the city of Samarthia, and would like to hire the adventurers to go there and retrieve a map and a key.
…..so after all that.......
at the time I was playing fast and loose and just threw that encounter in there
now its coming up and I just cant come up with anything really interesting
any ideas?
the players were told to go to the lost city of Samarthia located somewhere in the Dragons bowl
and retrieve an ancient map and key from the old library.
the question -
what kind of encounters would be interesting in Samarthia
where does the map lead and what does the key open?
the players
Kim - Asteron - Male Minotaur Barbarian - left her tribe because he didn’t believe in the new religion
Marcel - Shava - Female Elf Ranger - while on a hunting trip for the tribe she got lost due to a sand storm and couldn’t find her way back, encountered Asteron and they traveled together for a while until they were captured by slavers and sold in Altaruk
Mike - Sudin - Male Human - Psion - youngest son of a minor noble family in Tyr when Kalak died and things went all crazy his eldest brother sold him into slavery in order to pay back debts incurred
Peggy - Mia - Shardmind - Shaman - Mia woke up in the dessert many years ago and wondered aimlessly until it was picked up by slavers, her master is in Altaruk
Tim - Thorak - Male Mul - Battle rager fighter wasteland nomad - he a Mul born and raised a slave told to fight told to win, so thats what he did until the great escape
now he is free and he wants to see the world
the story so far -
the PCs started in the slave pits of Altaruk
they escape and hide in the elven market
they convince a troop of elves to help get them out of the city
they get out of the city and through good RP and rescuing the leaders daughter they convince the elves NOT to sell them into slavery
they get to Graks pool and discover a buried city under the fort and go to investigate the "spine-chilling roars coming up from the passages below and find
amid the ruins stands a pristine building sealed with the mark of Hamanu sorcerer King of Urik
with in the building they find a human female imprisoned and slowly being devoured by a swarm of scarabs
after a harrowing battle they defeat the scarab swarm (a modified Lamia)
they release the trapped woman and she introduces her self as Sielba queen of Yaramuke
they continued on to Ledopolus where they cross the estuary to the great Ivory plains - get attacked by a group of slave hunters (the Iron Shackles) because some one in Altaruk wanted their Shardmind back
after all they are very rare and people pay good money to see them.
more adventuring up past guld and Nibenay there they get a vision and head off to find the ancient tree of life (Dungeon 187 Beneath the Dust)
piss off the "Soul Collector" try to run with the seed - forced to fight and get their butts handed to them and just when it couldn't get bad enough
Sidlba shows up and say "Hi give me the seed"
when all seemed lost they wake up to find they have been rescued by some Eladrin and are now somewhere "in the wind" the Eladrin city of Astrazaltan where their rescuers ask them for the seed
they are told that over the century's as the world of Athas was being destroyed the realm some know as the shadowfell grew and began to devour the feywild
it has been postulated that we (the eladrin) can help Athas if our realm (the faywild) can be restored. by planting trees of life we have managed to save small portions of our realm and as your seed is of a very ancient tree its life energy will actually push back the invading shadowfell
so they gave the seed to the eladrin. (there were many reasons, favors and treasures exchanged)
at the party the eladrin held for the hero’s the PCs met an old eladrin man who was a historian
many generations ago his family left the city of Samarthia, and would like to hire the adventurers to go there and retrieve a map and a key.
…..so after all that.......
at the time I was playing fast and loose and just threw that encounter in there
now its coming up and I just cant come up with anything really interesting
any ideas?
Ask yourself why he wants the key, is it for sentimental reasons, archaeological, or greedy?
I'm not familiar with the City of Samarthia, if its not homebrewed, I imagine that its another Eladrin city, since the Eladrin lived their, imagine a dying city that is slowly being mutated and morphed into hell, once beautiful creatures are now shadows of what they once were.
On Subject of the Key and Map:
Keys open doors, simple and effective, maybe this key unlocks the prison of a demi-god, or holds a treasure trove of Eladrin artifacts locked away after giving up on arcane magic? Maybe the key is actually the necessary piece to a piece of ancient Halfing tech that was thought lost? The map points to where it is located?
Sounds like you've done well so far.
On subject of the Eladrin:
Ask yourself why he wants the key, is it for sentimental reasons, archaeological, or greedy?
I'm not familiar with the City of Samarthia, if its not homebrewed, I imagine that its another Eladrin city, since the Eladrin lived their, imagine a dying city that is slowly being mutated and morphed into hell, once beautiful creatures are now shadows of what they once were.
On Subject of the Key and Map:
Keys open doors, simple and effective, maybe this key unlocks the prison of a demi-god, or holds a treasure trove of Eladrin artifacts locked away after giving up on arcane magic? Maybe the key is actually the necessary piece to a piece of ancient Halfing tech that was thought lost? The map points to where it is located?
Sounds like you've done well so far.
awesome thank you!
FYI
Samarthia is in the dragons bowl
see page 175 of the Dark Sun Campaign setting
no desire to help out?
not even a word of encouragement?
since the feywild on Athas are just "Pockets in the wind" perhaps he is attempting to drain another pocket to increase this size of thiers
Heh, I am also going to use that Dungeon 187 adventure, it's awesome isn't it? Way better than that 'marauders' module they printed...
Anyway....
Maybe the map is an ancient object* that unfurls to show shadow/fey crossings, many of which have faded from Athas since its (the maps) creation. It might be that to prevent the grey (shadowfell) from taking over the mirage (feywild) brave individuals will have to cross into the grey to halt it from the inside. Could be a HUGE camaign arc. Maybe Kalak is in the grey (lost and angry as hell) puppeteering its energies. or it could be something less obvious...
The 'key' could be something that when reading the map properly, and in the right place at the right time, opens gates to the grey. A dark reflection of Athas would be truely paragon and an awesome thing to imagine/play in, IMO. Hell, the key could even be a person, someone uniquely gifted with shadow energy, who is maybe a vampire class (see heroes of shadow), compleate with burka to shield her from the sun, stuck in Athas. I'm thinking a girl, sold as a pleasure slave, but sucks to be her owner...after she drains him in the night...(well, ok, maybe that's too cheesy) ;). Or, they key (still playing on the idea of it being a person) is the Eladrin historians' daughter/son/wife/lover who, through his experimentations with the grey, was lost/damaged. She could be found as a crazy/scared beggar who casts no shadow. because her shadow, along with part of her soul, is in the grey. Like, she should be dead, but somehow isn't. Getting her into the grey could help restore some balance.
Or not, lol. Just brainstorming at ya.
Also, the trees of life could help strengthen/empower Eladrin Preservers, thus allowing them to slow the inevitible demise of their demense(sp) (I know it's pronounced "de-main"...) OR, some Eladrin are secret defilers, and are collecting/using the trees of life to f**k everything and everyone who wants the feywild, and athas for that matter, to return to its ancient coolness.
*On the map, I'm a pretty visual guy, so I imagine it as not a papirus/parchment scroll, but maybe a d8-looking palm-sized metal object, that illogically unfolds into a triangular sheet of super thin mithral (or something). it looks blank, until you lay it down in the sunlight(for fey crossings) or moonlight(for shadow crossings) and pour a handful of sand/water on it. Then, the sand/water seems to fill/highlight invisible etchings, pointing you in the right direction.
Anyway, just got into it, like I said, I dig your campaign...My small (3 people, including me) group is just starting a DS delve session, and I want to mutate it into a full on campaign, but, we have to see about schedules, and getting us familiar with our PCs/their place in the world, etc, first.
Peace.
I dig your campaign so far
Heh, I am also going to use that Dungeon 187 adventure, it's awesome isn't it? Way better than that 'marauders' module they printed...
I esp liked the shadow at the end (wont say anymore to spoil it for others
Maybe the map is an ancient object* that unfurls to show shadow/fey crossings, many of which have faded from Athas since its (the maps) creation. It might be that to prevent the grey (shadowfell) from taking over the mirage (feywild) brave individuals will have to cross into the grey to halt it from the inside. Could be a HUGE camaign arc. Maybe Kalak is in the grey (lost and angry as hell) puppeteering its energies. or it could be something less obvious...
The 'key' could be something that when reading the map properly, and in the right place at the right time, opens gates to the grey. A dark reflection of Athas would be truely paragon and an awesome thing to imagine/play in, IMO. Hell, the key could even be a person, someone uniquely gifted with shadow energy, who is maybe a vampire class (see heroes of shadow), compleate with burka to shield her from the sun, stuck in Athas. I'm thinking a girl, sold as a pleasure slave, but sucks to be her owner...after she drains him in the night...(well, ok, maybe that's too cheesy) ;). Or, they key (still playing on the idea of it being a person) is the Eladrin historians' daughter/son/wife/lover who, through his experimentations with the grey, was lost/damaged. She could be found as a crazy/scared beggar who casts no shadow. because her shadow, along with part of her soul, is in the grey. Like, she should be dead, but somehow isn't. Getting her into the grey could help restore some balance.
Or not, lol. Just brainstorming at ya.
Also, the trees of life could help strengthen/empower Eladrin Preservers, thus allowing them to slow the inevitible demise of their demense(sp) (I know it's pronounced "de-main"...) OR, some Eladrin are secret defilers, and are collecting/using the trees of life to f**k everything and everyone who wants the feywild, and athas for that matter, to return to its ancient coolness.
*On the map, I'm a pretty visual guy, so I imagine it as not a papirus/parchment scroll, but maybe a d8-looking palm-sized metal object, that illogically unfolds into a triangular sheet of super thin mithral (or something). it looks blank, until you lay it down in the sunlight(for fey crossings) or moonlight(for shadow crossings) and pour a handful of sand/water on it. Then, the sand/water seems to fill/highlight invisible etchings, pointing you in the right direction.
Anyway, just got into it, like I said, I dig your campaign...My small (3 people, including me) group is just starting a DS delve session, and I want to mutate it into a full on campaign, but, we have to see about schedules, and getting us familiar with our PCs/their place in the world, etc, first.
Peace.
thank you, I've got two DS games going one runs one saturday a month the other one sunday a month and they are running concurrently (what happens in one can affect the other)
those are some great Ideas, I esp like the d8 looking metal object (let just put that in my bag of tricks)
This map you talk about leads to the door the key unlocks. So that's not a hard issue to to figure out. The map and key lead to the lost city of Samarthia, where they find great treasures and ancient magical knowledge. Battling undead, constructs, Rakshasas liches, genies, beholders and dragons to get their goal.
thank you for your input,
but the map and key are IN Samarthia
he had been told of the wonders that were left behind esp the map and key in the old library, but due to his age and the dangers he couldn't go him self
since the PC's had shown that they were capable and "honorable" he asked them to go in his place to retrieve the map and key. he also enticed them with the chance to gain riches and wonders.
he did not tell them exatly what they were for.