scenario help needed [Alan please dont read]

[gav]

My pcs have just finished the Shadizar campaign {thanks vincent } and return to Arenjun to exact revenge on Oleska the stout. The thing is I am unsure on how to set up the adventure. My creative juices have completely dried up. They are all now 7th level and I want to challenge them and throw in a couple of suprises. I was thinking of starting them in the grounds of the govenors palace literally having just scaled the walls and skipping there journey from Shadizar?
Can anyone help on ideas and suprises?

 

[XcomSquaddie]

They return to Arenjun and discover that Oleska has a powerful sorcerer at his side. The sorcerer is a foreigner and mysterious and very evil.

The PC's enter the city in disguise. After their first night, a messenger arrives and delivers an invitation for the entire group. Oleska has declared a special feast in the characters' honour. It is being held the following night at the manor house.

The characters enter the city and easily slay Oleska in his bed. However the next night, the animated corpse of the magistrate appears and attacks them. It is easily dispatched, but on the next night, it appears again, and again, and again...

As the PC's are about to slay Oleska, he tells them he has a lover/friend/relative imprisoned and that if he dies, they die as well. As proof, Oleska shows them a trinket/lock of hair/etc. from the victim.

When the PC's burst into the magistrates bedroom, Oleska leaps to his feet and reveals himself to be a werewolf/demon/fiend/etc.

Hope those help.

 

[DasClay]

Ooooh! I like the part about the evil caster as a minion... the more exotic the better, also, A twist would be dispatching a demon in posession of Oleska or a loved one, who has fallen under a the demonic spell. They could also start pulling some political strings, they are 7th lvl, so im sure they have decent rep scores... perhaps involve them in a series of murders that lead back to Oleska.

 

[Hyborian Apeman]

How about the family of Oleska's bride being pissed at the PCs (assuming the PCs helped the bride and the former captain of the guard run away together in the "Kovag Re" adventure) for their family's fall from position, and they are the main antagonists, and Oleska is just a red herring for the main culprit.

Perhaps they hired a Stygian priest to summon a demon that is hunting the PCs. The PCs would have to defeat the demon, track down the priest, and than confront the noble family.

 

[Raven Blackwell]

My pcs have just finished the Shadizar campaign {thanks vincent } and return to Arenjun to exact revenge on Oleska the stout.

They do the worst thing possible- they force him to go on a diet! :lol:

Raven

 

[XcomSquaddie]

They do the worst thing possible- they force him to go on a diet! :lol:
Raven

:lol:

That would be pretty evil. Especially given how arrogant and domineering the Oleska is.

 

[SALette]

Let's see, and this is off the top of my head, but I did have a few wilder ideas to throw about.

Just in case any of them took your fancy.

How about?

- Oleska is/was/has become a mere pawn, posessed by a cabal of powerful sorcerers, elsewhere or nearby? Think of political interference by the the mystical orders, akin to The People of the Black Circle. Perhaps a tool of the Spider God Zath? Or of a reformed Black Circle?

- The group arrives to seek revenge with Oleska, and he makes them an offer too good to refuse.

- The group arrives, to discover Oleska already dead, at the hands of a mysterious group, seemingly without motive. Couple with this changes in the criminal underclasses and/or the noble classes of Arenjun; you have a recipe for intrigue.

- By killing Oleska, they inherit his outfit/operation. With all the baggage that entails.

Just a few basic thoughts, ones that might be of use given circumstance.

 

[gav]

Thanks very much everyone These ideas are great.
I like the idea about a sorcerer pulling the strings. Maybe a sorcerer from Turan has wormed his way into Oleskas trust.Through the use of drugs and sorcery. So that the ruler of Turan can prepare for the invasion/downfall of Zamora. I read somewhere that Turan does invade Zamora but I cant remember where? The sorcerer would need to keep Oleska alive so as not to intefere with Turans overall goal.
The pcs have not yet gone toe to toe with a sorcerer [ they did defeat Nehira in Shadizar but I had the demon arrive and finish her off then attack the Pcs]
The bride of oleska and the captain both died in the temple of Kovag Re and as far as the authorities in Arenjun are concerned the pcs are responsible for murder. They were captured on there last attempt to asassinate the Govenor, but this tied in with a visit by the Kings counciler, who on discovering that Oleska let four hireswords "wander" in to his palace and defeat 80% of the royal gaurd, humiliated Oleska and robbed him of his chance of publicly executing the pcs.
They were then taken to the gladiator pits of Shadizar. Which led them to eventually work for the Counciller by spying on a certain nobles private affairs.
The pcs reps are quite high [ most of it gained in the streets of Shadizar]but will fall somewhat when they arrive back in Arenjun. They will still have a chance of being recognised.
So the brides family could become involved somewhere/ Or the bandits that ran with the Captain could also become invovled somehow? They also have two Npcs with them a kushite pit fighter and a Zamorian prostitute so maybe I could tie them in somewhere?
Maybe the govenor spends his time mostly at the sorcerers tower, [rebuilt Yaras tower].
Any ideas on how I can string this lot together or on any foes that pcs come up against would be greatly appreciated
Thanks again everyone I was really struggling there for a while. Great game great forum :wink:

 

[Hyborian Apeman]

Sense the bride died, her family could be especially incensed and seeking revenge, especially if its 'common knowledge' that the PCs are guilty of it. Oleska could be playing off that families grief to get them involved with taking care of the PCs. He could also play a similar card to get the captain’s brigand friends to help. How is this for a string of events:

Sister of a Shadizar prostitute is in Oleska's harem, she warns Oleska PCs are coming.->

Oleska sends brigands after PCs in an on the road ambush.->

That failing, Oleska makes a deal with a sorceror, and is transformed into a supernatural horror of some sort (vampire or werewolf).->

PCs learn sorcerer has ties to bride’s family. They have to fight through house guards etc. to either eliminate family, or convince them they are not the enemy.->

Either way they learn the location of the sorcerer's layer and battle through a bunch of badies, including the possible reanimated corpses of the bride, captain, and Oleska.->

Perhaps a fun twist is the sorcerer was a follower of Kovag Re and pulled a lot of the strings to get sacrifices to the Blood Stones. Perhaps the final encounter is in another chamber containing Blood Stones.

Just a few thoughts, I am sure others can build on them to bring in a better string.

 

[gav]

Thanks guys, heres a quick brief on what Ive put together, its a bit rushed so I hope it makes sense :lol: If you havent played Kovag Re this may contain spoilers.





We played again sunday night.
They arrived in Arenjun during a festival. The party camped in the ruins just outside the city while the thief scoped out the city for rumours. He learned that taxes had shot up as well as an increase in the slave trade. All this could be because of the festival,but the thief Yarnii [ a 15 year old Zamorian]also heard of the excavation of some ruins not too far away, wear many slaves were being put to work. It did not take long for the thief to deduct that this was at the sight of the temple of Kovag Re.
Making some more inquiries [Yarnii had lived in the Maul for some time, although originaly being brought up in the temple of Zath in Yezud] he found out that Oleska had hired someone to help in his research of the temple and its hidden riches. Also the Elephant tower was being rebuilt.
So he returned to the ruins to let his companions know.
To cut a long story short the pcs minus the two NPCs decided to enter the city the night of the festival and go straight for Oleska. There was even talk about them taking over and running the city :roll:
Anyway after one brief encounter in a tavern the party scaled the walls of the palace. Time ran out and we ended the game.
So [ thinking out loud]the background goes something like this. A stygian sorcerer who also happens to be a vampire [ im not sure how you become a vampire as i dont have the Book of skelos] has learnt of the temple [ there is a spell i read somewhere that could do this]. He then travels to Zamora and dominates Oleska. Who then provides him with money and slaves for his research. But the sorcerer has slipped one of the Black stones into the Tower of the Elephant with the aid of some hooded disciples. He now pretty much runs Arenjun. He keeps contact with Oleska through a talisman that the Governor wares. Oleska is pretty clueless but the sorcerer still needs him alive for the moment.

I still have not got a name for the sorcerer or any idea how he first comes into contact with the players. Or on what his main goal is?possibly the coming of Kovag Re?
I should point out that the original game of Kovag Re was altered. I had demons come out of the black stones [ I used the pit fiends from the rulebook] instead of the blackstones moving.
I was thinking that the sorcerer uses these as his helpers to assasinate troublemakers etc.
I could have the Npcs taken from the ruins near Arenjun [they decided to stay there rather than enter the city] and used as bait.
I like the idea that the pcs wish to run the city, but im not sure that I could work out a way of doing this , but anything is possible. :wink:
I think that I should put in a friend to help them?
I need to put in much more flavour and a sense of doom. Also I was toying with the idea that the sorcerer has been using some earth shattering spells [ cant remember from the rulebook but there is a chart somewhere tnhat covers this].
Sorry this a bit jumbled up but with work and family etc....
Anyway what do you think so far :?
Thanks again for your input

 

[Hyborian Apeman]

It looks like you have some great stuff there.

I would recommend the Book of Skelos for your purposes. it will help you lock down the sorcerers spell list and help you give him final stats. Also, it has some interesting demons in there that can mix some things up.

I am not sure what the other members of this board thought (I am relatively new to the discussion), but I liked Skelos.

 

[Bregales]

Hey, I really like how you altered the Kovag Re adventure. Those animated stones remind me so much of an old movie, "Hercules vs. the Moon Men" (starring Alan Steel, yeah :lol: -oh man, the only way I can bear to watch that movie is through a "Mystery Science Theatre 3000" episode).

Since you say they're 7th level, they should be able to face your various adventure ideas. One question: despite the political implications of putting himself up in the Elephant's Tower, why does your mysterious scholar WANT to re-build it. Since Yag-Kosha or Yogah died to let Conan take his heart to destroy the tower in the first place, the mysterious scholar would have to be pretty powerful to expedite it's re-creation (Scrolls of Skelos actually goes into how sorcery can build such fortresses). But if this scholar doesn't fear the priest Yara, does he hope to play the peoples' fears of the former scholar upon himself?

Your other ideas sound good. As with the Conan stories, understanding the NPCs motivations, politics, alliances, etc. is crucial to making them feel like real people to your players. Decide what motivates him, what his goals are and what he plans to do to achieve them, and how the PCs fit in relation to him, and I think the rest will fall into place.

Good luck.

 

[gav]

Bregales wrote
"Since you say they're 7th level, they should be able to face your various adventure ideas. One question: despite the political implications of putting himself up in the Elephant's Tower, why does your mysterious scholar WANT to re-build it. Since Yag-Kosha or Yogah died to let Conan take his heart to destroy the tower in the first place, the mysterious scholar would have to be pretty powerful to expedite it's re-creation (Scrolls of Skelos actually goes into how sorcery can build such fortresses). But if this scholar doesn't fear the priest Yara, does he hope to play the peoples' fears of the former scholar upon himself? "

The only reason for the sorcerer to re build the tower was so I could download the scenario from one of the websites and use that :lol:
Ive made the sorcerer 2nd lvl noble 10th lvl scholar and a vampire, my players have not read any Conan books so they know little about the tower. But I will have to read the story again before sunday to add detail to the session. But again I have little time to prepare so it will probably have to be played on the fly. Again :roll:

 

[Bregales]

The only reason for the sorcerer to re build the tower was so I could download the scenario from one of the websites and use that :lol:
Ive made the sorcerer 2nd lvl noble 10th lvl scholar and a vampire, my players have not read any Conan books so they know little about the tower. But I will have to read the story again before sunday to add detail to the session. But again I have little time to prepare so it will probably have to be played on the fly. Again :roll:

I certainly understand the feeling that there's not enough time to prepare, but for what it's worth running a game on the fly usually gets the creative juices as well as your energy flowing; IMHO some of the best sessions come out this way. Since you say none of the other guys know the stories, just keep in mind what I always tell my actors in fencing: no one else knows what's written, so if you screw up only you know (unless you blunder an "oops" ), so just have fun, don't worry, and good luck! 8)