Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 ScrivenerofDoom Apr 12, 2009 7:37:31	This idea started over at http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1171023 People like tyrants. Really they do. However, they only know they like tyrants when they are faced with chaos. Spellplague-like chaos is an extreme... but so is the chaos of war. Cyric and his followers are great for tyrants. The chaos the Cyricists cause is a wonderful thing... it makes the common folk hunger after tyrants, anyone who can impose order again. I think it's good that Cyric now has the Zhentarim. He and his followers were never organised enough to really spread chaos... of course, that level of organisation is antithetical to the very idea of spreading chaos but at least the Zhentarim have given them a better organisation for delivering chaos. Ahhh, chaos, even that seeming contradiction in and of itself is evidence of chaos. Chaos is one thing but we need the tyrants now. An iron fist... in iron armour... hmmm, perhaps with an iron ring as a symbol. Now these Warlock Knights of mine are perfect. Not like the Zhentarim. The Zhentarim were soft, tainted by petty merchandising. But the Vaasans, they are raised in a harsh environment which they must master... so each of their hearts beats with the heart of a tyrant. And I am in the midst, guiding them, shaping them, using them. They know me as the Voice of Telos but truly... I am Manshoon the First.
#2 ScrivenerofDoom Apr 12, 2009 7:38:09	The campaign begins in 1479 DR, the Year of the Ageless One. The Malachite Brands The brands are malachite green in colour and are made up of five basic symbols: • Mystra: for old magic (Elventree) • Moander: for the corruption of old magic (Darkwatch) • The Returned Bane: for him to return again in more power (The Ruins of Zhentil Keep) • The Present Bane: because this is for him (Mulmaster) • The Ironfell Ring: because the Warlock Knights of Vaasa will become the new Zhentarim (Telos City) The brands are applied to an unconscious victim by the power of the Malachite Rod, an ironfell rod studded with five malachite stones and engraved with numerous runes in what appears to be emerald-coloured mercury. The rod was forged from the substance of Telos by the Voice of Telos and then a ritual performed in each of the places of power noted in brackets above where the symbols are listed. Basic Synopsis Heroic Tier: Thralls of the Malachite Brands 1. The players are introduced to the region and their characters by a series of encounters that culminates in a commission from the Coronal to clear a dungeon near Myth Drannor while the battle-hardened forces of the city are marshalled against the latest Shadovar depredations and also to guard against the Cyricist army marching on Hillsfar. 2. After successfully fulfilling the Coronal's commission, a second commission is offered: to travel to Elventree where the canyon/defile containing the pre-Spellplague temple of Mystra is spewing forth gibberling hordes after heavily-armoured soldiers were seen entering. 3. After being captured by the heavily-armoured soldiers (actually Warlock Knights of Vaasa), the party wake up to find themselves branded with green-coloured brands before they are compelled to head toward the Cyricist army that is besieging Hillsfar to slay the commander of the Cyricist forces, a red-masked individual known only as the Faceless One (see the picture on pages 236-6 of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide). Paragon Tier: Breaking the Brands! 4. Astonished at the ease with which the brands compelled them, the party sets out to find an answer. The brands won't allow them to enter Myth Drannor (or, perhaps more accurately, the mythal won't allow them to enter) but they learn that there is a lorekeeper of Oghma in Highmoon at the Leaves of Learning who may be able to assist. During this journey they attract the attention of Zhent assassins seeking revenge for the slaying of the Faceless One. At the Leaves of Learning the PCs learn that there is a ritual that will allow their freedom but it must be performed in specific places relating to each of the symbols in a specific order. The lorekeepers of Oghma may ask for a quest to be performed before they grant the ritual to the party. 5. The first place is Darkwatch in the Dalelands where the essence of Moander remains entrapped by elven high magic (or eladrin high magic, if you prefer). 6. The second place is the former temple of Mystra in Elventree where the party were first branded! The temple is now the home of a sharn and other members of the Order of Blue Fire. 7. The third place is the ruined temple of Bane in the ruins of Zhentil Keep (or possibly in the sewers beneath so that I can throw in some otyughs). 8. The fourth place is the main temple of Bane in Mulmaster. Epic Tier: Master of the Malachite Rod Eventually the party must proceed to Vaasa where the final ritual must be performed in the pit of Telos and attempt to thwart the designs of Manshoon the First, the Voice of Telos and the master of the Malachite Rod. The party has the choice of attempting to thwart the other plots of the Voice of Telos which would include, inter alia, forming the Warlock Nights of Vaasa into what the Zhentarim should have been, not to mention the gathering of dragons at Zhengyi's former keep. Hmmm....
#3 ScrivenerofDoom Apr 12, 2009 7:38:54	Adventure Outlines The Commission of Coronal Ilsevele LEVELS 1-3 Cormanthor is a beautiful high forest, worthy of bards’ songs and poets’ flights of fluttering adjectives. With the renewal of Myth Drannor in its heart, the dangers of the forest are easy to ignore. Travellers move with confidence beneath the whispering boughs and green canopies. Still, centuries of magical portals, wards, and summonings have left certain areas that only the skilled, wood-wise, or magically gifted can expect to survive without harm. Every year, Coronal Ilsevele commissions a group of explorers to reconnoitre a particularly dangerous section of the wood, and if possible, end the threat or put clear boundaries on the particular danger of a forest region. FRCG The most experienced battle-hardened inhabitants of Myth Drannor are required to defend against the depredations of the Shadovar. That leaves other tasks for the young. The former estate of House Starym in an unfortunate place but, under the Coronal’s orders, certain relics are to be recovered from there, specifically a life-sized alabaster statue of a robed elf. The estate is now the playground of a half-green dragon elf sorcerer and her drow lover. Other drow renegades lair here, exiles from Maerimydra. The estate is now overgrown with spider webs and drow hunting spiders. There may be a Zhentarim ambassador here too seeking the aid of Lady Dragon and her drow. The estate may sit between two planar rifts: one to the Shadowfell and one to the Feywild. The Journey to Elventree LEVELS 3-5 The party’s success has attracted some attention so the Coronal feels free to despatch them to assist Elventree with a problem they are having. Elventree is some 40 miles west of Hillsfar. THE ZHENTARIM AMBUSH There is an insane spellscarred Cyricist sorcerer in the group. THE GREEN DRAGON ARRIVAL AT ELVENTREE There are Banite guards here ostensibly watching for the Zhentarim. Spellplague Chasm LEVELS 5-8 The temple of Mystra is a great cairn, hollowed out and pitch-black. Every manifestation of magic (schools; wild magic) known to the Realms exists here in the form of energy that constantly flickers within the cairn. The temple is tended by a mysterious wizard known simply as The Sentinel. The wizard wears a mask at all times, which also serves to muffle his voice. There are no clergy in the temple per se, though visiting priests of Mystra stay in the temple and tend to any clerical duties that the wizard himself cannot perform. Enough clergy visit the temple to make this a practical, workable solution. The temple’s interior, plus the area within a 15-foot radius of the temple, is a place of great power. Priests of Mystra and spellcasters who worship her as their primary deity can cast spells here for full maximum duration, damage, or extent of effect. The caster chooses which of these bonuses will apply. Even a mage with evil alignment will be allowed to worship here, but the Sentinel, who seems mysteriously able to know the alignments of all who enter the temple or its grounds, will keep a close eye on such individuals. Elventree’s former temple of Mystra was struck by the mighty energies of the Spellplague upon her death and the land surrounding the temple initially buckled and the temple took flight on an earthmote seemingly powered by cerulean flames while the hollow it left behind roiled with the same energies which also transformed and then devoured the stone and buildings that surrounding the temple’s former site. While the temple soared ever higher, the ground spewed forth blue lava and fired boulders into the sky. The effects on Elventree and its inhabitants were devastating. After several days and nights a great whirlwind of blue flame formed and seemed to reach up to return the temple to its rightful place, except now the hole from which it came was so much larger, a great chasm in fact, and so the temple sank below the ground where it presumably rests until now. Heavily armoured figures (Banite warlock knights of Vaasa) have entered the chasm. Their entry coincided with the exit of other creatures: plaguechanged grimlocks or other subterranean humanoids (or even ghouls). It is the exiting creatures that have caught Elventree by surprise so the party’s aid has been sought. It should be noted that the Shadovar threat means that other aid will not be forthcoming. At the end of this adventure the party have been marked with the titular Curse of the Malachite Brands. THE CHASM Entry into the chasm is by following trails in the walls but occasionally requires the group to enter into caves and tunnels. The Banite warlock knights have established some guard posts; there are also the lairs of the creatures that they have forced out (grimlocks? troglodytes?) and a hunting spellscarred purple or fang dragon. There is an abandoned drow shrine here, possibly to Vhaeraun, Kiaransalee or even Ghaunadaur. THE RUINED TEMPLE The ruined temple rests on the floor of the chasm. The Siege of Hillsfar LEVELS 8-10 (This is based on the picture on pages xx-xx of the FRxG) The brands compel the party to seek out the Faceless One who is currently laying siege with his forces to the city of Hillsfar. This will involve sewers and skill challenges. In the end, the party must confront the Faceless One in open battle. The Faceless One is an invoker/warlord in the service of Cyric.
#4 ScrivenerofDoom Apr 12, 2009 7:39:37	Adventure Outlines Highmoon & The Leaves of Learning LEVEL 10-11 MYTH DRANNOR: WHAT IS HAPPENING TO US? The mythal of Myth Drannor will not allow those marked with the Malachite Brands to enter. They flare with sapphire and emerald energies and drain healing surges and then hit points. The party are advised to go to the former shrine of Oghma, the Leaves of Learning, in Highmoon THE JOURNEY THE ARRIVAL Ritual at the Darkwatch LEVELS 11-13 Once the first symbol is removed the party is free from compulsions except they will have problems in combat with Warlock Knights and other followers of Bane. The Return to Elventree LEVELS 13-15 The party must perform the ritual at the temple of Mystra that they previously visited except now it is the lair of some sharn from the Order of Blue Fire. The Ruins of Zhentil Keep LEVELS 15-17 The party must seek out the (name of temple) to perform the ritual while crazed Cyricists are on their trail. The Black Altar of Mulmaster LEVELS 17-20 Hmmm... mass battle against Banite clergy. Could be fun!
#5 ScrivenerofDoom Apr 12, 2009 7:40:21	Adventure Outlines Across the Moonsea LEVELS 20-21 Melvaunt, The City of Swords LEVELS 21-22 The Great Gray Land of Thar LEVELS 22-23 The Fortress of the Bloodstone Pass LEVEL 23-24 Telos City LEVEL 23-24 The Pit of Telos LEVEL 24-25 I'm not fully apprised of the capabilities of characters at Epic levels in 4E so this is profoundly incomplete. I would like to tie things into the dragons of the Witch-King's fortress particularly now that Tiamat is a vassal of Bane. I would also like to see the return of Algashon Nathaire (I ignore all events in novels so he is still alive) possibly as a member of the Ironfell Council (and also a banelich) but also as the head of a new cult of the Dragon cell in Vaasa. Anyway, lots of ideas that need further fleshing out.
#6 nightseer Apr 12, 2009 7:55:08	Its www.candlekeep.com ;) This sounds really good. I hated the way TSR and others portrayed Manshoon(except ED, he knows what Manshoon is all about). I wanted to make sure you didnt have any more posts coming before I posted in this thread.
#7 ScrivenerofDoom Apr 12, 2009 8:10:40	Thanks for your feedback and stars, Nightseer. I have changed the website address. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
#8 tyrantbane Apr 12, 2009 11:41:06	Awesome ideas! I love the general idea and the way you give us a sneak peak at all your preparation. You are also absolutely right about Manshoon, probably the best villain in the setting. Not properly depicted because of the stupid rule that says that heroes must always prevail! Please keep us posted about your games!
#9 ScrivenerofDoom Apr 12, 2009 20:00:37	Thanks, Tyrantbane. If anyone would like to kick in with ideas for adventures or NPCs or anything else I would welcome that.