Epic adventures
by Joaquin MenchacaThe purpose of this is to provide a string of kick-ass exciting sessions that all have the same basic plot line, and a unique opportunity to explore various cultures and nations within the Mystara universe. These adventures should take the players from 1st level and upon conclusion of this epic adventure, the adventurers will be at least 7th level and may even possibly reach 10th level.
Upon completion of this epic series, the players will have destroyed the most powerful chapter of these evil forces, but they will also discover that there are evil agents operating across many nations of the Known World, seeking to usurp powerful forces within various regions.
The next epic adventure dealing with the church and its forces will take the adventurers across the Known World to combat the cult's forces there, and eventually face the Desert Nomads themselves. This last part will tie about six or seven modules. The second part
CIRCLE OF POWER
A group of powerful wizards have joined together and established a far-reaching organisation that seeks to use their arcane abilities towards entrepreneurial activities, mostly of the illegal kind. The organisation has several branches, but none is more successful than the Iron Ring operating within Karameikos and Five Shires area.
The series can involve just about any swash buckling, pirate, or sea oriented adventure as well as slaver missions from a creative GM. So far I have just two modules in mind and a few side adventure ideas.
CHAPTER 1: VEIL OF CONFUSION
The players wander into a village and are immediately surrounded by villagers that accost them with pitchforks and other lethal farm instruments. The villagers want to bring the heroes to town. As the heroes are escorted there against their will, the leader of the mob will organise the town at the town's square, and give a wonderful speech, about how we will handle them and send a message never to mess with us again, and then proceed to hang one of the heroes. And this time, Knights of the Griffon rush into town and break up the mob, and set the heroes free. They offer hospitality to the heroes at a nearby monastery on the outskirts of the town. The priests of the Church of Karameikos, explain that raiders have been abducting villagers, and since then the villagers have grown unusually xenophobic willing to hang anyone who enters the town. Nevertheless, a grave injustice has been committed, and this needs to be addressed. An example needs to be made. The Knights bring the heroes to the town to act as witnesses against the accessed. The leader of the mob is brought forth and the constable begins the trial. As the constable pleads his defence, he chokes and is unable to speak. Something similar happens to witnesses that try to act in his defence. The constable orders the execution of the mob leader, and the ordeal concludes.
At some point, the party will be approached by a humble priest of Petra that wishes to speak to the party in private. He will tell the party that there have been strange occurrences, and that he suspects that evil magic is being used to trick the people. More and more people are disappearing, and the local Lord that owns an estate nearby seems quite unconcerned. The lord is charged with protecting the lands, but it seems he could care less. The monastery seems unconcerned as well, as they are more concerned in their private mediations, and the priests will not allow the knights to get involved.
The players must somehow get the Church, who is more concerned with their selfish interests, the local Lord, who cares more for his family's profits, as the townsfolk, to cooperate, form a militia and fight the raiders. Unknown to the party, there are spies and infiltrators that seek to use magic to throw off the party.
Upon conclusion of this adventure, players will encounter a rather sinister wizard that will elude them.
CHAPTER 2: NIGHT'S DARK TERROR (B10)
There are many parts that can grow into more encompassing adventures. The B10 is full of possibilities leading to adventures well beyond the scope of the module. The major background villain in this series is the Iron Ring. The only thing that I think is a dead give away though, is the fact the major villains that serve the Iron Ring have noticeable belt buckles or other artifacts in the form of Iron Ring. Even the most dense of players can home in on the fact the villain serves the Iron Ring.
Upon conclusion of this adventure, the party will have brought to justice the major elusive villain, a powerful wizard. The player's will be asked to escort the wizard (or another villain captured by Knights of the Griffin in a separate incident if the wizard was killed), to Specularum. During the course of this task, the party may encounter rescue attempts from other members in league with the Iron Ring, and also might come up against the Veiled Society, who is cooperating with the Iron Ring in an exchange of favours. The ambassador of Five Shires, will petition that the criminal be extradited to the Five Shires for crimes committed there. Eventually the petition will be recognised and the order is issued.
CHAPTER 3: MAIDEN VOYAGE (Penumbra module)
The player's might either be hired escort an evil villain to the Five Shires, and during the voyage they encounter a ghost ship.
CHAPTER 4: DARK RIDERS
Agent's of Black Eagle Barony frame the player's for crimes that they never committed, and it is up to the player's to prove their innocence and expose the vile spies. At the same time, members of the court plot to use the players for their own personal gains, ranging from recovering magical artifacts to assassinating political figures. The plot thickens and becomes more complex.
Upon conclusion, the player's are invited to attend a great celebration in the party's honour, done in the Hin style, a night to never forget. During the party, mini-dramas explode, and the ambassadors play their games, using the players as pawns in their delicate games of intrigue. But something goes wrong, and the player's wakeup in some unknown cave without provisions, nor their gear.
CHAPTER 5-8
In these chapters, the player are brought to the secret base of operations for the slavelords, the masterminds behind the Iron Ring and other nefarious organisations from pirates in Minrothad Guilds and Ierendi to smugglers in Slagovich, Sind, Hule, and Hattia. Red Steel is being one of their major sources of newfound revenue. Future adventures could lead adventurers toward the countries in the Red Steel campaign and elsewhere.
THE RISE OF THE TRIAD
The Rise of the Triad entails the plot of three Immortals that secretly plot to overthrow the known world through subversive plots. This epic campaign is macroscopic, but this particular campaign will solely focus an evil temple that exists within Karameikos.
The adventures called upon by the Duke to investigate disturbances in faraway villages of Irenke (T1 Village of Hommlet), Orlane (N1 Cult of the Reptile God), and Nulb (T2). A lot of plot elements will be borrowed from B3 Silver Princess and B10 Night's Dark Terror, as both are good resources into the forces within the borders of Karameikos.
Upon completion of this epic series, the players will have destroyed the most powerful chapter of these evil forces, but they will also discover that there are evil agents operating across many nations of the Known World, seeking to usurp powerful forces within various regions. This will lead the adventurers in the second epic series: THE SHADOW OF THE TRIAD and will revolve around the X4 and X5 modules. Though, these modules will have to be upgraded to provide the appropriate challenge rating. The adventurers can serve a major blow to the forces of the Triad at the conclusion, and can enter the last epic series: THE REMNANTS OF THE TRIAD, where Hulean forces and desert nomads make a major incursion into Darokin, and other forces strike elsewhere, X10: Shadowlord.
CHAPTER 1 - VILLAGE OF IRENKE
The party is brought to a village of Irenke where some unknown evil force operates in the region. Players of just about any class, whether aligned by religious, environmental, social causes, or ethnic causes can be easily brought into this plot.
The Duke commissions heroes to help patrol and protect the roads against monstrous incursions from the wilds within Karameikos. Recently, there have been concerns about a distant village of Irenke of disturbances within that area, and heroes are hired to investigate and see if there is any truth to these rumours. In reality a secret society has spread these rumours in order establish an authoritative presence as a decoy from its field agents. Naturally, the Church of Karameikos wants to have some agents reflecting their interests within the area. The Church of Traladara is concerned over the welfare of Traladarans within the area, and is worried about unjust persecution.
There have been some incidents that are not known to the public at large. A gnomish noble, an elvish ambassador from Alfheim, and Darokinian merchants, have disappeared within this region. Additionally, there is a strong druidic presence in this region and they note that there has been an unusual increase in banditry within the region. The players will know none of this unless a particular player has the appropriate background to know such privileged information. The Dungeon Master will provide these players with appropriate information.
In reality, there is no substantial proof about sacrifices and evil practices of evil cults that operate within the region. These pieces of information are all forged, and any player's confront any authority within the region, they'll plead complete ignorance. There will be signs that greater forces are pulling the strings. However, unknown to all, there are indeed secret forces operating within the region, and through investigations of the players, the players will uncover one secret base of operations by the cultists.
The conclusion of this chapter will be the suppression of opposing forces within the region as well as information about smuggling operations within a town of Nulb, and tie-ins to optional adventures including the Palace of the Silver Princess (B3), and Against the Cult of the Reptile God (N1). Some side adventures can be provided with maps and elements from modules B10-B12 and DDA2. All adventures should have one basic theme: there is a secret force operating in the region, and they are getting stronger.
CHAPTER 2 (OPTIONAL): AGAINST THE CULT OF THE REPTILE GOD
This adventure can be run separately, or as part of the Rise of the Triad Epic Series. The Duke commissioner hires the players to investigate strange reports about a town of Orlane, which lies between Kelvin and Penhaligon. The Church of Karameikos is particularly concern as they have lost complete communication with the church within this region, and the church located in Irenke will point this out upon the conclusion of Chapter 1. The Irenke chapter has even sent a priest to the Orlane chapter and has not received any word. The mayor of Orlane has long-standing relations with the Calarii elves, and has sent a message calling for help.
This adventure begins with bizarre reports of people disappearing within the vicinity of Orlane, a small town located east of Kelvin. The Church of Karameikos has lost communications with their chapter in Orlane, and wants this investigated. A priest from the Irenke chapter was sent to investigate matters, and has disappeared. The mayor of Orlane has special importance to the Calarii elves, and is a longstanding ally. Elven players will know that a message containing an urgent call for assistance, and that two elven agents sent there have disappeared. Evidence from Irenke suggests that the gnomish noble was sent to Orlane. The Duke's commissioner hires the players to investigate reports of disturbances within this Orlane vicinity. In addition to this, druidic and ranger players will be presented with information that tribal populations of goblins and other humanoids have been diminishing within the vicinity of a nearby moor.
There is a major difference between the Irenke and Orlane, is that in Orlane, there is definitely something amiss, and it is quite obvious. In both cases, if the players do not conduct themselves with tact, they can end up in trouble fast.
This adventure involves a monstrous ally of the cult that exerts some bizarre control over monster populations and villagers alike. A major problem is that this ally has disrupted that natural eating patterns of troglodytes and has increased their population and birth rate dramatically, which poses a drastic ecological threat to other sentient and non-sentient species within the region.
The conclusion of this adventure will be the defeat of the main villain in this adventure and the subsequent cleansing of any evil remnants in the region. There will be evidence of purchasing slaves, as a food source, from the town of Nulb, in the west of Karameikos.
CHAPTER 3 (OPTIONAL) - PALACE OF THE SILVER PRINCESS
The adventures are brought to this area, as their good, just, and noble deeds, become known throughout Karameikos. A powerful monstrous force is causing terror within the legendary city of Haven, only rumoured to exist in elven legends.
At the conclusion of this adventure, the players will become aware of the dangerous presence of an evil temple, as they come across one of its minions, and will discover information about an ancient temple that is the seat of power to the temple's forces. In order to completely vanquish the cult's power over Haven, the player's must travel to Nulb to discover the whereabouts of the Temple, and destroy the forces there.
CHAPTER 4 - PIRATES OF NULB
The cult runs most of its criminal activities through Nulb, which includes dealings with the Iron Ring, pirates, as well has humanoid tribes. There are some cultists operating within the area, as well as pirates operating within the region. The party will have to investigate this town to find out the whereabouts and location of this Temple of Elemental Evil and riddled throughout all of the adventures thus far.