Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 mollusk Feb 14, 2011 21:41:02	Hey guys. I'm working on an adventure that'll be the first of my friends and I rebooting our D&D obsession. Obviously I'm a little rusty.  My idea stems from lyrics from the Luca Turilli song "Demonheart." These lyrics: Feeling trapped in with the slimy creatures, Now close to being killed, She soon revealed her forgotten sad past first to herself, They smelled the flesh ready to be devoured, But something happened, They moved away seeming to be frightened, sparing her life Shocked again she opened the gates of her tragic past, And bloody images came back to her mind, She remembered the old mission, The dark comet's goal beyond the sun ... So there's that. Goblins or whatever find this woman/girl, and before they can eat her they sense a sinister evil in here that chases them off. My story doesn't have to stick exactly to these lyrics EXACTLY, but it's the inspiration. Basically, I want the adventure to culminate with the party finding the little girl they're supposed to be rescuing. When they see her she's surrounded by Kobolds (heh), but before they pounce they sense something in her and run. Then the little girl transforms, her flesh mutates away and she's some demonic creature, yadda yadda. You guys get it. I'm just having trouble explaining that. Since it's the first adventure and we'll have some new guys to the game, I want the format to be fairly simple, meaning most plot and NPC interaction at the beginning, setting the adventurers on their way with a goal and then have the bulk of fighting going on toward the end in a cave where the girl was last sighted near. But the big question is how to explain her "possession". I'd like to tie in the dark comet idea just because that sounds pretty rad to me. My bare bones, first instinct idea was that ages ago a dark comet hit creating the space where this village is (it's right on the coast and has a massive wall behind it from the impact). Then overtime it slid into the water kind of cutting a lagoon. Centuries later this town is there and the meteor is sitting a ways down in the water, right off their coast. One day the girl fell in and couldn't swim and sank down to the meteor. They were shocked she didn't die from the time she was down there, and when they finally rescued her she came up clutching a chunk of the meteor in her hand or a little shard of it or something. It was clearly dear to her so her father made it into a necklace for her... yadda yadda yadda, after the incident she's quite distant, sullen, changed, and when she disappears, runs away, what have you, the adventurers are sent to find her. Then the climax I mentioned before. All that, but I'm not really convinced by it. It seems a little weak. I'm not looking for a massively complex story at all, but something a little more convincing would greatly interest me. I know this is a lot of information, but I've read many of your comments on other threads and the feedback is great! I'd appreciate any ideas, and feel free to deviate from my initial idea! I just want it to adhere to the lyrical prompt! Thanks, can't wait to hear what you guys can come up with!
#2 undergroundplayer Feb 14, 2011 22:05:19	It sounds like she has become something of a warlock. Who or what ever she made the pact with could just be using her as a doorway into this world. The meteor could simply be the conduit in which the pact holder used to communicate with her. It is just a thought.
#3 mollusk Feb 14, 2011 22:17:27	It sounds like she has become something of a warlock. Who or what ever she made the pact with could just be using her as a doorway into this world. The meteor could simply be the conduit in which the pact holder used to communicate with her. It is just a thought. Thanks, man! That's definitely a great direction. And something I had considered. Whatever she ultimately transforms into was just using her as a vessel to get back to this plane... maybe some minion that was tied to the original dark comet.  Some questions arise:  - I'd like a little more details I guess on what precisely went on down there when she nearly drowned by the meteor. How this being hooked her.  - Maybe more importantly, how this monster/being/sorcerer/whatever is tied to the original calamity that fell from the sky. Or maybe where it came from.  I like the ideas, thanks man. Let's work on those and in the meantime, other directions/ideas from other people?! Thanks, Mollusk
#4 undergroundplayer Feb 15, 2011 13:50:13	Well it could have been a demon trapped into the stone via some form of punishment. It is common place for pacts to be made with mortals whom are at a weakend state or in a desprate need of greater power because usually at that point they tend to think short term. So to a trapped demon having a pact with a drowning girl is as good as a get out of jail free card. - Bound to the stone via conflict with a more powerful being as a punishment. - Drowning people are desprate to save themselves and think with in that moment usually not farther. - It would logically make a pact to save her now for some debt later and make it sound more in her favor by "granting" her powers.
#5 mollusk Feb 16, 2011 20:55:09	I can dig it. I guess the last part for me to figure our would be how I present the information of what exactly went down in the depths of the water while the girl nearly drowned.  I guess the demon could spout it all out before the "boss battle," kind of like all the stupid villains telling their master plan right before they're able to execute it, giving their enemy just enough information to throw the whole thing of course at the last second. ... Seems kind of weak... again! Ha.
#6 undergroundplayer Feb 17, 2011 5:43:39	You could run the route of the girl survives being used as a doorway and explaines everything later.