anyone want to help brainstorm this one? - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

anyone want to help brainstorm this one?

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
vman3force
Jan 01, 2010 22:42:45 tonight my group finished an adventure theyve been working on for about three sessions. they have been fighting through the den of a tribe of goblins and orcs known as the black hands. they were commissioned to do so by a nearby village, because the tribe had kidnapped a young girl and the village cleric. Instead of killing them all, the adventurers got it in their heads that they wanted to gain control over the goblins and use them as a personal army.

they fought their way into the orc chieftain's room, to find out that he has been seriously wounded in a recent fight with an enemy he had no name for. He has a large, festering wound across his stomach, and the cleric had been kidnapped to heal him; the young girl was collateral. the group negotiated a deal that they would be allowed to participate in a ritual in which they could commune with the tribe's ancestral spirits to ask for induction into the tribe. They did so, and were told that they could, if they were able to bring back a cure for the cheiftan from the home of the enemy that caused his wound, a castle to the north known as wightrock. (from this they were able to deducethat the wound was given to him by a wight). They were also told that they could only reach the castle via an underground tunnel complex that opens up underneath it.

So, heres where i could use help. i havent planned past this. why would the wights attack the orc/goblin tribe? what would their castle be like? what would their community be like? what are their motivations? plus, any other ideas that would be awesome to throw in. the closest entrance to the underground passages is a large hollow tree, so any ideas for that would be cool too.
#2
Pawndream
Jan 01, 2010 23:28:02 The wights are former memberss of the Black Hands who dicovered an ancient temple to Vecna.

They kept this knowledge secret and began to venerate Vecna and not Gruumsh. They were secretly trying to subvert the tribe, as were the wishes of Vecna.

They were eventually discovered and slain...but not before uttering a fell death curse on the tribe. They would rise from the grave to teach them the true power of Vecna.

Their "castle" would be an ancient subterranean temple to Vecna. There would be lots of undead there. Probably ancient traps too.

Their motivation is to bring the entire tribe either to the worship of Vecna, or death.

Have the tree be like the tree in the Sleepy Hollow movie...Haven't seen it? Do so.
#3
vman3force
Jan 01, 2010 23:39:17 so, then maybe the wound on the chief is infected with a curse that is slowly succumbing him to the avowed curse of the wights?

the schism between the people of the tribe would have happened several generations in the past, giving the wights time to grow strong. maybe vecna has blessed some of the orcs with unnatural intelligence and even twisted them into a new type of creature altogether.
#4
Grimbus
Jan 06, 2010 10:28:15 Orc society is not particulary noted for its niceties. I would suggest that perhaps in the last leadership war, one of the tribe's Shaman was murdered. The shaman's son/daughter is half trained in the arts of shamanistic magic and has formed an alliance with another Orc/nasty group. The (new) shaman is using dreaming magic to bargain with the wights who may be the ones Pawndream suggests in his/her post.

The wights want to escape the confines of their cells and come back to life, which they believe they can do by (literally) devouring the Black Hand tribe.

Whilst the wights are distracted by doing unspeakable things to the Black Hand group, the Shaman's "allies" intend to loot their barrow and kill the shaman. Of course the Barrow contains something nasty that when unleashed upon the world, creates the plot hook for the next adventure.

So the players might have to do the following

1./ Detective work to find out why the wights are attacking
2/ lead the Orcs to safety (maybe convince the tribe to move to a holy area protected from undead and convince the guardians of the spot to let the orcs in)
3/ find the shaman and his allies and negotiate/fight them in the barrow to get the cure
4/ fight their way out of the wights barrow before returning home for buttered scones for tea.

A bit rambling but Ihope it helps.
#5
vman3force
Jan 06, 2010 11:31:31 i like the idea that another group of orcs are behind the wight attacks. The orc shaman could be the last of his tribe, the only one who escaped death by the black hands. maybe they infiltrate their way into the barrow deep enough to confront the orc shaman controlling the wights, just to find out that he has already sent a group of undead to storm the black hand's den. he has been dreamscrying, and knows that the adventurers fought their way into the compound, thus weakening the black hands enough for his wight troops to take down.

thanks guys, this has given me a really good plot to work with! i might post up how it goes over with the group.
#6
marc_byrne
Jan 06, 2010 20:13:34 I think something to figure out here is what are wights like in your world? Are they mindless undead, animalistic and instinctual hunters of living flesh, or are they intelligent undead. This will help you make up a story that makes sense. If they aren't intelligent, then they need some greater power behind them, either another tribe, a shaman, necromancer, something. Basically, what is the driving force behind a wight's actions and personality. This might help you better conjure up a story line.

#7
vman3force
Jan 06, 2010 21:10:44 The wights would be intelligent to a degree, at least enough to make decisions based on circumstance, and cohesive enough socially to live in the same area without destroying one another. I would even go so far as to say that they are intelligent enough to think on a primary level. However, as undead they are easily manipulated through the use of necromantic or shamanic influence. If a strong enough controller had dominance over them, they could override their minds and essentially turn them into drones.

The wights are embodied by the spirits of those who died insane in life; though they have no recollection of their former existence. Therefore, for there to be a high concentration of them at this place, something mindrending must have happened there in the past to leave so many souls in limbo.

I'm thinking that Wightrock was a once a secret library of knowledge devoted to the god vecna. while not inherently evil, the librarians did not discriminate against dark, potentially dangerous knowledge being brought in to their halls. At some point, a secret of some evil sort came into their posession, and lured an unimaginably sinister entity into stealing it, and cursing everyone in the library to a life, and eventual undeath filled with insanity.

Another idea i came up with is that in the actual library section of the area, shadowy silhouettes of the book keepers float about, moving books and attacking any intruders who disturb them in their work. kind of like the library ghost in ghostbusters.
#8
Grimbus
Jan 07, 2010 10:01:21 This library books are overdue. The fine is one level drain per day overdue. Oh they are overdue by one hundred years...oh dear

And don''t even start talking or fighting loudly in the library.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 vman3force Jan 01, 2010 22:42:45	tonight my group finished an adventure theyve been working on for about three sessions. they have been fighting through the den of a tribe of goblins and orcs known as the black hands. they were commissioned to do so by a nearby village, because the tribe had kidnapped a young girl and the village cleric. Instead of killing them all, the adventurers got it in their heads that they wanted to gain control over the goblins and use them as a personal army. they fought their way into the orc chieftain's room, to find out that he has been seriously wounded in a recent fight with an enemy he had no name for. He has a large, festering wound across his stomach, and the cleric had been kidnapped to heal him; the young girl was collateral. the group negotiated a deal that they would be allowed to participate in a ritual in which they could commune with the tribe's ancestral spirits to ask for induction into the tribe. They did so, and were told that they could, if they were able to bring back a cure for the cheiftan from the home of the enemy that caused his wound, a castle to the north known as wightrock. (from this they were able to deducethat the wound was given to him by a wight). They were also told that they could only reach the castle via an underground tunnel complex that opens up underneath it. So, heres where i could use help. i havent planned past this. why would the wights attack the orc/goblin tribe? what would their castle be like? what would their community be like? what are their motivations? plus, any other ideas that would be awesome to throw in. the closest entrance to the underground passages is a large hollow tree, so any ideas for that would be cool too.
#2 Pawndream Jan 01, 2010 23:28:02	The wights are former memberss of the Black Hands who dicovered an ancient temple to Vecna. They kept this knowledge secret and began to venerate Vecna and not Gruumsh. They were secretly trying to subvert the tribe, as were the wishes of Vecna. They were eventually discovered and slain...but not before uttering a fell death curse on the tribe. They would rise from the grave to teach them the true power of Vecna. Their "castle" would be an ancient subterranean temple to Vecna. There would be lots of undead there. Probably ancient traps too. Their motivation is to bring the entire tribe either to the worship of Vecna, or death. Have the tree be like the tree in the Sleepy Hollow movie...Haven't seen it? Do so.
#3 vman3force Jan 01, 2010 23:39:17	so, then maybe the wound on the chief is infected with a curse that is slowly succumbing him to the avowed curse of the wights? the schism between the people of the tribe would have happened several generations in the past, giving the wights time to grow strong. maybe vecna has blessed some of the orcs with unnatural intelligence and even twisted them into a new type of creature altogether.
#4 Grimbus Jan 06, 2010 10:28:15	Orc society is not particulary noted for its niceties. I would suggest that perhaps in the last leadership war, one of the tribe's Shaman was murdered. The shaman's son/daughter is half trained in the arts of shamanistic magic and has formed an alliance with another Orc/nasty group. The (new) shaman is using dreaming magic to bargain with the wights who may be the ones Pawndream suggests in his/her post. The wights want to escape the confines of their cells and come back to life, which they believe they can do by (literally) devouring the Black Hand tribe. Whilst the wights are distracted by doing unspeakable things to the Black Hand group, the Shaman's "allies" intend to loot their barrow and kill the shaman. Of course the Barrow contains something nasty that when unleashed upon the world, creates the plot hook for the next adventure. So the players might have to do the following 1./ Detective work to find out why the wights are attacking 2/ lead the Orcs to safety (maybe convince the tribe to move to a holy area protected from undead and convince the guardians of the spot to let the orcs in) 3/ find the shaman and his allies and negotiate/fight them in the barrow to get the cure 4/ fight their way out of the wights barrow before returning home for buttered scones for tea. A bit rambling but Ihope it helps.
#5 vman3force Jan 06, 2010 11:31:31	i like the idea that another group of orcs are behind the wight attacks. The orc shaman could be the last of his tribe, the only one who escaped death by the black hands. maybe they infiltrate their way into the barrow deep enough to confront the orc shaman controlling the wights, just to find out that he has already sent a group of undead to storm the black hand's den. he has been dreamscrying, and knows that the adventurers fought their way into the compound, thus weakening the black hands enough for his wight troops to take down. thanks guys, this has given me a really good plot to work with! i might post up how it goes over with the group.
#6 marc_byrne Jan 06, 2010 20:13:34	I think something to figure out here is what are wights like in your world? Are they mindless undead, animalistic and instinctual hunters of living flesh, or are they intelligent undead. This will help you make up a story that makes sense. If they aren't intelligent, then they need some greater power behind them, either another tribe, a shaman, necromancer, something. Basically, what is the driving force behind a wight's actions and personality. This might help you better conjure up a story line.
#7 vman3force Jan 06, 2010 21:10:44	The wights would be intelligent to a degree, at least enough to make decisions based on circumstance, and cohesive enough socially to live in the same area without destroying one another. I would even go so far as to say that they are intelligent enough to think on a primary level. However, as undead they are easily manipulated through the use of necromantic or shamanic influence. If a strong enough controller had dominance over them, they could override their minds and essentially turn them into drones. The wights are embodied by the spirits of those who died insane in life; though they have no recollection of their former existence. Therefore, for there to be a high concentration of them at this place, something mindrending must have happened there in the past to leave so many souls in limbo. I'm thinking that Wightrock was a once a secret library of knowledge devoted to the god vecna. while not inherently evil, the librarians did not discriminate against dark, potentially dangerous knowledge being brought in to their halls. At some point, a secret of some evil sort came into their posession, and lured an unimaginably sinister entity into stealing it, and cursing everyone in the library to a life, and eventual undeath filled with insanity. Another idea i came up with is that in the actual library section of the area, shadowy silhouettes of the book keepers float about, moving books and attacking any intruders who disturb them in their work. kind of like the library ghost in ghostbusters.
#8 Grimbus Jan 07, 2010 10:01:21	This library books are overdue. The fine is one level drain per day overdue. Oh they are overdue by one hundred years...oh dear And don''t even start talking or fighting loudly in the library.