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Traiel
Acolyte
Australia
2 Posts |
 Posted - 31 Aug 2013 : 03:50:42
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Hey guys, was hoping i could grab some advice... I want my PC's to move up through the zhentarim ranks, and use (subterfuge, any other means) to take power in a city. I want that city to be dynamic enough (large enough) to have nobility, seedy underworld, merchanting, politics etc. but be a city which makes sense for the Zhentarim to have a good reason for wanting to take.
I am looking to have the setting in the time when Zhentarim own Daggerdale, are in the process or about to undertake the process of taking Daggerdale, or shortly after they lose it. (I would probably prefer 20 years after they lose it, but happy either way)
I would love a city that has a mythal or some sort of protection like that, as I want an end game as to what nasty things my PC's want to achieve.. i.e summoning creature that hands over an artifact that will warp a mythal to draw life force from the village into to the artifact etc etc.
I have been looking at converting Daggerford, but that may be unsuitable to my needs.
Thanks.
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Hoondatha
Great Reader
USA
2450 Posts |
Posted - 31 Aug 2013 : 05:04:33
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Well, there's a couple of options, some closer to canon than others.
* Daggerdale/Daggerford is an option, but not a very good one. It's just too darn small.
* Yulash is probably better. That was a full-blown city before Zhent and Red Plume fighting tore it apart. You've got several decades worth of time to set a campaign in, ie: anywhere from the initial machinations to subborn the council, to picking up the pieces and evicting the Plumes after it's a ruin.
* Outside the Dalelands you've got Loudwater in the North, which is another relatively small town.
* Much further south, on the Lake of Steam, there's the city of Mintar. In canon it's taken over by Xvimlar at Fzoul's bidding. You could just as easily turn it into a Zhentarim thing instead.
Of them all, I think Yulash is probably your best bet. It's a major city and local power, it has several other local powers (ie: Hillsfar) that will contest your PC's attempts, and it's close to the main Zhent bases of operation. It also has an elven presence: it's where they sealed and buried Moander. If you wanted, you could easily expand those wards into something even more that your PC's could either exploit or corrupt. |
Doggedly converting 3e back to what D&D should be...
Sigh... And now 4e as well. |
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BadCatMan
Senior Scribe
Australia
407 Posts |
Posted - 31 Aug 2013 : 12:01:19
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Try Calaunt in the Vast. It's real dunghole (literally, just smell the tanneries), ruled by a tyrannical kleptocratic oligarchy of "Merchant Dukes", with a powerful thieves' guild in the form of the Shadowcloaks. It's conducting a ruthless campaign to control trade in the Dragon Reach, and succeeding and growing rich, and engaging in all manner of criminal activity. Drow are there, the Cult of the Dragon might be, and a variety of rumoured monsters lurk in the shadows and sewers. And it's right on the doorstep of the Moonsea, developing as a major power in the area, but there's no record in the lore of the Zhents ever setting foot there, or any good powers trying to stop it.
As for some city-wide magic, there's vague whisperings of some long-slumbering dark magic hidden in the city, tainting the place and its people, and bolstering the powers of the city's illusionists.
It would be good place for some evil versus evil campaigning, and ripe for the Zhentarim to want to get involved before the Calauntans start coming for them.
Plus, I've already written up everything you could want to know about the place in the classic Realms: :D
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Calaunt |
BadCatMan, B.Sc. (Hons), M.Sc.
Scientific technical editor
Head DM of the Realms of Adventure play-by-post community
Administrator of the Forgotten Realms Wiki |
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Traiel
Acolyte
Australia
2 Posts |
Posted - 04 Sep 2013 : 12:52:58
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| Thanks guys :) i'll have a look they sound great |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 04 Sep 2013 : 15:56:21
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I really like the Calaunt idea...
You could easily say that the force that has been 'corrupting' the folk of that city is actually an ancient, somewhat defunct mythal, that was corrupted and then 'sealed away', but those ward-magics are breaking-down and that's why some of the corruption is getting through now. Picture a hidden chamber somewhere deep below the sewers, where this thing is locked away, waiting for you group to find it and break the wards.
As for the historic 'why' of it all - there is some indication that Cormanthor actually spread across the River Lis (which may have not even been there, because The Moonsea was not always there), so its easy to assume the Elves had some settlements on that side in ancient times. When the Orcs began to grow prominent in that region (and later created Vastar), they made war on these eastern settlements. Suppose one settlement was stronger/more prominent then the others, and had a Mythal? Maybe the Orcs needed some fiendish assistance* in taking that place down (and thats why the Mythal is corrupted, and was sealed away by the retreating Elves).
*I would go with Orcus for that, for several obvious reasons... |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Edited by - Markustay on 04 Sep 2013 15:56:55 |
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BadCatMan
Senior Scribe
Australia
407 Posts |
Posted - 05 Sep 2013 : 08:51:36
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The elves did cross the Lis and found a settlement: Ylraphon
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Ylraphon
It must have once been quite a grand elven city. Even the Srinshee lived there. So, personally, I'd imagine an old mythal there instead. |
BadCatMan, B.Sc. (Hons), M.Sc.
Scientific technical editor
Head DM of the Realms of Adventure play-by-post community
Administrator of the Forgotten Realms Wiki |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 05 Sep 2013 : 14:03:24
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Hmph... I moved Ylraphon to the 'correct' side of the water in my Misbegotten Realms...
Moving forward, this could turn into a problem (not Ylraphon itself, but rather, my thinking in terms of my home-brewed version rather then the canon one).
Anyhow, Calaunt seems better suited for the OP's purposes, and there is no reason why there couldn't have been at least two Mythals over in that direction (I imagine others further east, in the Lethyr and Rawlinswood as well).
You know what? Come to think of it, this is a homebrewed campaign anyway, so he can just as easily apply the Calaunt canon (and non-canon) to Ylraphon; I just looked at the map, and I think every 'seedy city' should be next to a swamp. Good call. |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Edited by - Markustay on 05 Sep 2013 14:04:35 |
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Need advice on location for campaign setting
