| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| tauster |
Posted - 19 Jul 2005 : 10:22:35
the coming sessions of my realms-campaign will take place in balefire, the city of lanterns, which is on the plane of shadow (see dragon #322). so this thread doesnīt really belong to "running the realms, at least not in a literal sense. sorry for that. but as this can as well be used in a campaign located in the city of shade (before itīs return, and in parts after), i decided to clutter up this board. 
i am looking for additional resources that will fit in and give balefire a "living" feeling. stuff i discovered so far:
dragon issues:
- #322: balefire, ecology of the dark ones, dm-ing article about darkness, shady characters, erebus (a new god of darkness), shadow spells
- #306: urban traps (used in buildings and as repertoire of a trap-smith)
- #298: elrelhei-cinlu, a city of drow in greyhaeks underdark; basically i plunder the whole article and transplant street names, npcīs, shops and so on to balefire. one of the things left out are the large undead fraction and the cities quarter of undead, as well as the "drow-dominate-the-city"-theme.
- #303: academy necromica: i want a necromantic guild in the city, apart from xurothilīs shadowcrafter, and this one fits just fine.
- #289: bazzar of the bizarre: caineīs flagon of shadows. an item that basically converts any(?) liquid into a darkness-spell, 3x/day.
- #290: npc gallery: heroes of the depths of earth: some very nice npc-portraits drawn in a very nice "shadowy" style!
- #299: bestiary: horrors of cormyr: picture, description (and stats) of the veserab, a "flying worm" native on the plane of shadow.
- #213: various articles on the plane of shadow.
- monstrous manual 1: nightshades. anything else in this tome that might get used in city of the plane of shadow?
- fiend folio: dark ones, shadar-kai, shadow-asp, hullathoin. anything else iīve overseen in that tome? (i donīt intend to use the shadow giant and dark weaver)
so after that short list, what might come in useful in a shadow-city-adventure? iīve planned to stretch this part of the campaign over 3-4 sessions, which includes:
- last session: party arrives at the plane of shadow and meets a drow riding a huge "moth" (beacon moth, dragon 322). he reveals that he knows the partyīs (goog aligned) necromancer (who has large memory-gaps as part of his character background): allegedly he belonged to a order of plane-wide operating mercenaries who were working for a baatezu general in the bloodwar, and got almost wiped out because of treachery from within their own ranks. the drow and the soon-to-be-pc decided to "soul-jump" (some sort of reincarnation spell), but something with the pcīs spell went wrong. ...imagine the face of the player when he discovered that he had been working for devils in his past, and might still be on their most-wanted- list! 
...in short: they have an ally they can not judge properly and are highly suspicious of, but who is the only one they know yet, and who seems willing to help them.
- introduction: pcīs arrive at the gates, are questioned (guards aided by truth-spells, characters know this and have to find their way around strieght lies  ), first encounters with several important (and not-so-important) npcīs.
- finding their enemy: they came to the plane of shadow to find and destroy a cabal of turaglas-cultists (dragon #312). their quarry had a headstart of several days and was able to hide somewhere in thje city - a city they know quite well and where they have some useful native allies, while the party is completely new here. they will encounter a rogue modron whoīs main field of interest is "time, events and their flow within the former": he developes and operates a monstrously huge system of multi-dimensional equations that are supposed to represent past and present events, and can be used to extrapolate future developements. he recognizes the party as a "set of autopietic variables" that was missing in one of his computations, and will reveal that the necromancer has some items stored somewhere in balefire. the party will have to decide whether they pay an obscene sum of money on storage fees (well over 80 years, with huge annual charges...) to get that possessions. among them are new spells (powerful, but some of them too evil to get ever used in the campaign), magic items and books of lore. the key part is that they wonīt know what they "buy", after all it might be junk!
...in short: another ally, but again a very unpredictable one.
- finding the cultists hideout: after being harrassed by shadar-kai (one pc is chronically afraid of the dark - happy hunting! ) and other inhabitants, they will finally discover the hideout. classic mini-dungeon crawl with a almost-epic final battle: they have to destroy the cabal, which includes a few powerful spellcaster, some turaglashnee (sp?, a kind of tanarīri, see dragon 312) and a few other surprises. after the climax, they return to the city above, where the next trouble awaits:
- balefire attacked!: according to the cities description, it gets attacked every half year or so by hoardes of undead and shadow-monsters from the nightcrawler canyon (the city is build beside an vast, black abyss). by this time, the party will be mostly out of spells (i hope!) and should be pushed to the limit of their abilities. at least, this time they fight alongside the inhabitants, not against them!  among others, iīll let them rescue some shadar-kai who where attacking them before. lots of fun there, i hope!
so, after this short outline / long-winded rambling, what else might come in handy? any dragons/dungeons/accessories iīve been missing?
thx,
tauster |
| 4 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| tauster |
Posted - 20 Jul 2005 : 18:45:04
i found the ravenloft adventure the shadow rift very inspirating. it features arak, a race of "shadow-elves" and describes their demeanor sufficiently to give me a lively picture of how shadar kai might be portrayed.
another thought about shadar kai: fiend folio states the following:
long ago, the shadar-kai thought to preserve the world [which world? toril?] from the rising of humanoid races. skilled in shadow magic, the shadar-kai made a pact with a dark power of the plane of shadows to cast the world in an endless twilight in which the shadow fey would rule supreme. but the experiment went awry and the shadar-kai were left bound to the plane of shadows, cursed to lose their souls in its dark depths. this shadow-curse affects shadar-kai to this day, and every member of the race is engaged in a lifelong struggle to stave off inevitable doom.
the continuous pull of the plane of shadows has left the shadar-kai grim, and embattled. few races understand the plight of the shadow fey. even the temporary solutions the shadar-kai have found leave them struggling with constant pain, making them vicious. their willingness to commit acts of cruelty and violence has increased with each generation.
[...]
shadow curse:
the plane of shadow exerts a tremendous pull on shadar-kaiīs soul, which is only tenuously connected to its mortal body. any time a shadar-kai is stunned, dazed, staggered, or unconscious (other than from normal sleep), the shadow fey must make a will save (dc15) or lose a portion of its soul to the plane of shadow. the shadar-kai must also attempt a save anytime she removes her gal-ranan, if she has one.
A shadar-kai with a damaged soul gains one negative level that cannot be removed until she restores her soul completely. if exposed to another event that requires a save against the shadow curse, a shadar-kai may gain additional negative levels. A shadar-kai on the plane of shadow can transfix her soul to her body again with a greater restoration spell. a shadar-kai on the material plane (or elsewhere) must use a wish or miracel spell to restore her soul.
...
the touch of the shadow curse galls a shadar-kai, filling her hearth with an icy emptiness that eventually drives all but the most determined individuals to capitulate and leave the material plane altogether.
a shadar-kai who goes to the plane of shadow and remains there ameliorates the effects of the shadow curse and suffers no ill effects. however, if she leaves the plane of shadows without restoring her soul, she suffers the effects of the shadow curse and until she returns to the plane of shadow and restores her soul.
this got me thinking...
so the shadar-kai in the city belong to two sorts:
- one has capitulated; they have stopped to resist the pull on their soul.
what personality might they have?
i imagine they are sullen, morose and generally depressed.
but what about agression and viciousness? is it still a part of their personality, now that they donīt feel the pull (and the pain of the gal-ralan that pierces their flesh with iron needles)? one might argue that it was so long part of them that it carries over to their "new live" (on the plane of shadow). on the other side, they hate the evil that has bound them and tricked their whole race into this horrendous existence, so the ones who capitulated might not be evil anymore. opinions?
- the other group of shadar-kai are the ones who came to the city to get rid of the curse (i.e. the negative levels). they are vicious and cruel. though shadar-kai coming to the plane of shadows donīt feel the pain anymore, most wonīt be long enough here to have abandoned their old ways.
what ways do they have to get a greater restoration spell cast on them?
thatīs the main goal these group of fey would have here, imo. thereīs only the problem that i donīt see any temples of good deities in the city, and evil ones... well, would they put them out of their misery? i canīt see that, to tell the truth!
[edit]:
just now, it hit me: an evil temple will cast a greater restoration spell to lift the curse - but only at a terrible price! they blackmail the shadar-kai into various services. after all, thereīs almost no better spy, thief and assassin than these tragic beings! the temple(s) can make lots of money by renting them out to anyone who comes to the city, accepting even missions on other planes!
that gives a whole new aspect to balefire: until now, to me the main reason for someone to visit the city of lanterns was magical trade (mentioned somewhere in the dragon article, iirc). now, another major "industry" would be the hiring of shadar-kai, done by one or more powerful temples.
opinions?
some more information from Jesse Deckerīs series of articles, "The Shadow Glade":
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20030714x
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| tauster |
Posted - 19 Jul 2005 : 22:43:01
quote:
Originally posted by Lord Rad
I was really grabbed by Balefire when i read the article in Dragon, i'd appreciate it if you could stop by and let us know how this campaign pans out, tauster  
i will, if youīre interested.
right now iīm in the process of converting parts of erelhei-cinlu to balefire and placing stuff like shops, taverns, etc. on a self-drawn map. if someone has a cool idea or two for an exotic shop, fire away!
i was always thinking that giving a character a partial amnesia as part of his background is the one of greatest things that can happen ...to the dm! iīm really interested how the player will react when a few more puzzles fall into place.
*mutters to himself*
...and he thought that having been a powerful thayvian necromancer was already the worst thing! i wonder how he likes seeing his own nephew, reanimated by himself (or better: his "former self"), only because the poor boy wanted to kill his uncle.
and sage, thanks for your tips! i donīt have Van Richten's Guide to the Shadow Fey (didnīt even know it existet  ), but i will give the compendium a try (though after a first quick search i didnīt find anything about shadow cities. are we talking about the issue describing dementlieu, richemulot and mordent?) |
| Lord Rad |
Posted - 19 Jul 2005 : 17:36:47
I was really grabbed by Balefire when i read the article in Dragon, i'd appreciate it if you could stop by and let us know how this campaign pans out, tauster |
| The Sage |
Posted - 19 Jul 2005 : 13:33:54
The Ravenloft Gazetteer III would be especially useful, since it deals with the concept of "shadow-cities" -- shadowed version of real cities that PCs can access without leaving the Prime. They are, for all intents and purposes... demiplanes of shadow existing on the Prime Material.
In addition, the Van Richten's Guide to the Shadow Fey also covers a shadow-plane like environment offering possible campaign locations and encounters in such an environment.
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