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Lord of Bones
Seeker
United Kingdom
78 Posts |
 Posted - 19 Mar 2011 : 22:27:00
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Hi there!
I've been running a Forgotten Realms campaign using the Pathfinder rule set, and one of the latest happenings involves five towers appearing (as if out of nowhere) in the Cloudpeak mountains on the border of Amn.
My backstory for the towers is that a hundred years ago a party of adventuring mages once witnessed a massive battle in the skies above the mountain range, between a great old wyrm and some couatl style creature. It was a magical conflagration, and although the wyrm was on the losing end of the fight the elder couatl was so badly injured it plummeted to the ground.
The six adventuring mages saw an opportunity to profit from the incapacitation of the magical creature. One of the mages had a crisis of conscience and would not be a part of what the other five decided to do. He fled while his former friends performed rituals and rites to bind the couatl between five magically constructed towers. The five used the great couatl as a battery of sorts and it boosted their magical might considerably. Their power was tied into the pentagram of their five towers, with the couatl as the locus.
As time wore in the five grew to resent one another, wary of the increase in power that each of them exhibited. They also knew that if one of them fled, or was killed, the pentagram would fail. They had become prisoners in their own cage of power. Through their arcane skill they hid the presences of their towers and the couatl from the world, and it is only now that the towers have reappeared. Adventurers from all around have heard about these ancient towers; one made of bone, another covered in mold and vines, one made of cast iron, one shaped and contoured from a single rock and the last a crumbling mess with a huge chunk taken from its side, and are now heading deep into the mountains to raid them for treasure.
My question to all of you is this; what happened to the towers and the mages to suddenly make them appear after all this time? Is the couatl still there? Are the mages still living? Who are the mages, and what are their personalities and aims? What treasures and dangers does each tower possess?
This is mostly a thread for random musings and good ideas (I hope) and obviously if there's anything suggested that I think is suitably great then I'll put it in my campaign.
Thanks in advance!
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Come watch the Gentleman's Guide to Gaming!
http://www.youtube.com/user/clackclickbang
On my channel I review and dissect role-playing games with great gusto. Please do take a look and let me know what you think. |
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Dalor Darden
Great Reader
USA
4211 Posts |
Posted - 19 Mar 2011 : 22:35:50
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I like the Premise...
What could have happened is that their old sixth friend finally broke their binding power and made their holdings re-appear. He hopes adventurers will plunder the towers and defeat the wizards there in the hope that the creature they bound will be freed.
I would fill the places with all sorts of minor constructs, undead and other-planar summoned servants. At the "heart" of each tower would be a Wizard...a Ghost, a Lich, a semi-golem, or whatever. They don't truly need to be powerful undead or creatures...but it could take a party some time to clear five towers and find five artifacts that have to be brought together to free the Couatl.
The Sixth Wizard could have an apprentice among the party even...and they could have been sent by the nearly dead old man to finish what he couldn't. Even if not an apprentice...then a grandchild of some sort. |
The Old Grey Box and AD&D for me! |
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Lord of Bones
Seeker
United Kingdom
78 Posts |
Posted - 19 Mar 2011 : 22:46:33
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quote:
Originally posted by Dalor Darden
I like the Premise...
What could have happened is that their old sixth friend finally broke their binding power and made their holdings re-appear. He hopes adventurers will plunder the towers and defeat the wizards there in the hope that the creature they bound will be freed.
I would fill the places with all sorts of minor constructs, undead and other-planar summoned servants. At the "heart" of each tower would be a Wizard...a Ghost, a Lich, a semi-golem, or whatever. They don't truly need to be powerful undead or creatures...but it could take a party some time to clear five towers and find five artifacts that have to be brought together to free the Couatl.
The Sixth Wizard could have an apprentice among the party even...and they could have been sent by the nearly dead old man to finish what he couldn't. Even if not an apprentice...then a grandchild of some sort.
I was thinking each wizard could have a different theme as well. After all, the towers were their homes as well as fortresses of magical power, so where the tower of bone may well have a strong necromancy theme, the tower of iron may well resemble more of a gargantuan workshop with golems and automatons roaming the place. |
Come watch the Gentleman's Guide to Gaming!
http://www.youtube.com/user/clackclickbang
On my channel I review and dissect role-playing games with great gusto. Please do take a look and let me know what you think. |
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Dalor Darden
Great Reader
USA
4211 Posts |
Posted - 19 Mar 2011 : 22:57:34
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quote:
Originally posted by Lord of Bones
quote:
Originally posted by Dalor Darden
I like the Premise...
What could have happened is that their old sixth friend finally broke their binding power and made their holdings re-appear. He hopes adventurers will plunder the towers and defeat the wizards there in the hope that the creature they bound will be freed.
I would fill the places with all sorts of minor constructs, undead and other-planar summoned servants. At the "heart" of each tower would be a Wizard...a Ghost, a Lich, a semi-golem, or whatever. They don't truly need to be powerful undead or creatures...but it could take a party some time to clear five towers and find five artifacts that have to be brought together to free the Couatl.
The Sixth Wizard could have an apprentice among the party even...and they could have been sent by the nearly dead old man to finish what he couldn't. Even if not an apprentice...then a grandchild of some sort.
I was thinking each wizard could have a different theme as well. After all, the towers were their homes as well as fortresses of magical power, so where the tower of bone may well have a strong necromancy theme, the tower of iron may well resemble more of a gargantuan workshop with golems and automatons roaming the place.
Since they were all good at binding...
Any planar creatures (from Azer to Barghests) could be used. Even Janni and other elemental types. Undead obviously...you could have a true field day with it!
Remember though, if they start in one tower and gain more power; by the time they reach the last tower they may be much more powerful than the creatures you originally planned to have there. Stay flexible and adapt to what they are doing.
You could simply have the other wizards find out that the party is attacking each in turn, and so they begin to bind ever more powerful creatures into their towers. That way, it doesn't matter what you start with in each tower, you can simply add stronger creatures and such on top of those to add to the intensity and challenge. |
The Old Grey Box and AD&D for me! |
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The Five Cloudpeak Towers
