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Demron
Acolyte

5 Posts

Posted - 17 Apr 2014 :  14:36:08  Show Profile Send Demron a Private Message  Reply with Quote  Delete Topic
Greetings,

I am currently preparing for another campaign in the Silver Marches and would like some input. I have tried to weave as much existing lore as possible into the story and try to keep it withing offical canon.

Current Plot:

The campaign starts in 20 Ches 1372. King Oboulds Orcs are getting restless again and he plans an assault on the Silver Marches proper. He agrees to an alliance with Arklem Greeth of the Arcane Brotherhood in Luskan. The Brotherhood wishes to control the north as well and plans to pick up the pieces as soon as the orcs fall to their usual infighting again.

At the same time, the Knights of the Shield expand into the North, at the behest of their hidden Master Gargauth. The erinye priestess Nyphitys has served the Hidden Lord for a long time and manipulates Greeth to further Gargauths plans. The Brotherhood and the Shields of the Knight are of course kept in the dark about their connection. Ultimately he wishes to ascend to lesser godhood by absorbing a powerful archdevil (like Mephistopheles) on the material plane (made possible by luring it there) and gaining new followers in the wake of the Orc horde.

The campaign ends with the death of Obould and an epic battle against Arklem Greeth and Nyphitys (and assorted devils). The Ork horde breaks up and the Silver Marches are saved.

If the players do well (and should we wish to continue) they unmask Gargauths schemes for the north and confront him directly in an ancient volcano, disrupting his ascension to lesser godhood.

The beginning:

The campaign starts with King Oboulds preparations for the coming war. At the beginning (20 Ches 1372) he commands about 4500 orc troops, mainly from from the Many Arrows tribe, with most of them based in Dark Arrow Keep. Orcs from the tribes of the Skortchclaw (Fortress Eygad), Skreetch (Fortress Tarne) and Bleeding Eye (Fortress Vokan) follow him as well. They number about 5000 fighting warriors each. The unruly and primitive (by orc standards) Slashers and Severed Tongues live in the wilds of the Spine of the World as well. They number combined about 5000.

He sends half orc scouts and spies into the cities of the Silver Marches (Sundbar, Silverymoon, Everlund, Quaervar and Deadsnows). King Oboulds next move leads to the subjugation of the three orcs tribes (and goblins) in the Rauvin Mountains. These are the Redfang tribe (West, 1200 warriors), the Tornskulls (center, 4900 warriors) and the Heart Takers (east, 2150 warriors). He challenges Koront, the leader of the Tornskulls tribe, to ritual combat (thinking that the other tribes will then fall in line). This happens on 28 Kythorn 1372. The goblins tribes number about 2000 warriors.

Next he beginns to capture and enslave humans and dwarves (especially skilled ones) from smaller communities to help him build siege equipment and to train his orcs. At the suggestion of Overwizard Blaskar Lauthlon (who has taken up residence in Dark Arrow Keep) King Obould shifts blame for the recent attacks and kidnappings on the new Zentharim settlers in the Silver Marches.

In the first adventure it falls to the player characters to prove the Newfort settlers innocence (how ironic ). They are either drawn into the adventure by a general call for help by Trevis Uhl or tasked with finding the truth by an outside agency like Alustriel or the Harpers. The players follow recent leads to the north and find signs of orc war preparations (siege engines, presence of frost giants). If the players should fail and enough time passes, the populace of Sundabar marches to Newfort in a mob and burns it to the ground.

I am tempted to have them follow the trail to Deadsnows and find Obould's son Ugreth. Ideally they capture him alive and bring him to Sundabar for questioning. Obould orders Lauthlon to scry on his son and finds out about his capture. Enraged he orders all orcs in the area to hunt them down and free Ugreth. The player characters are chased for days and must make their escape to Sundabar. Should they succeed, they find out much about Oboulds current plans.

Now here is where I need help:

If Obould is doing well and succeeds in uniting the orc clans, the Arcane Brotherhood will make their move as well. Prior to Oboulds assault in the late summer of 1372, they (under orders form Arklem Greeth) will hire an assassin to kill Alustriel, Leader of the Silver Marches.

Overwizard Blaskar Lauthlon succeeds in finding the magic-suppressing sapphire that was responsible for the death of Yvonel Baenre. He locates it in the Abyss and uses his connection as a former mercenary for hire to contract an experienced assassin to to do the dirty deed. From a hidden treasure cache in the Host Tower he also provides a blade made from Thinaun metal (Complete Warrior). This rare metal attracts and absorbs souls that are in contact with the blade. It will capture Alustriels soul on her death, preventing her resurrection (the player characters, will of course have to find and rescue her ).

The question is now, who should be hired to kill Alustriel? He/she needs to be powerful, and must be able to bypass Silverymoons wards (see below) as well as deal with the prevalent spells. It must, of course, also be possible for the Arcane Brotherhood to hire he/she/it.

I would rather like to avoid the usual suspects (Church of Shar and the Shades) if possible.

Silverymoons Wards

The following creatures are affected by an antipathy effect (evil aligned demons, devils, drow, duergar, giants, goblinoids, mind flayers, orcs, and trolls)

Prevalent Spells:
detect scrying (all creatures within the ward gain the benefits).
invisibility purge
negative energy protection
protection from evil

Spells with the death descriptor
Spells with the evil descriptor
Spells with the teleportation descriptor cast by creatures
not carrying a ward token (see below)
Conjuration (summoning) spells cast by creatures not carrying
a ward token
Evocation [fire] spells cast by creatures not carrying a
ward token

Ideas:

• Alauneth “the Black Viper” Orrane of the Shadow Thieves from Waterdeep
• Semmonemily, Doppelganger from Gauntlgrym and Member of the Kraken Society, based in Yartar
• The Company of the Cloak (from Power of Faerun) - hired as a group

Any other ideas?

Comments on the plot are of course very welcome!

Edited by - Demron on 17 Apr 2014 22:00:51

BEAST
Master of Realmslore

USA
1714 Posts

Posted - 17 Apr 2014 :  18:24:48  Show Profile  Visit BEAST's Homepage Send BEAST a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Per canon, King Obould decided to settle down and develop his kingdom in late 1371 DR (The Two Swords, "Comrades At Odds", The Orc King).

Some of his subordinates wished to continue the fighting, and Obould had a hell of a time managing their enthusiasm, but he really had no will to keep fighting against the North, so along with a war party from King Bruenor, Obould put down those uppity orcs in the spring of 1372 DR, and then signed the Treaty of Garumn's Gorge with the rest of the North in Flamerule, 1372 DR (TOK, The Grand History of the Realms).

So I don't see Obould plotting to fight against the North anytime soon after that.

Arklem Greeth barely survived an assassination attempt in Eleint, 1371 DR, and then spent almost a year recuperating in Mirabar (Lords of Darkness). It would've been mid-1372 DR before he even returned to Luskan and the Hosttower and ousted the traitors, and then it would've taken some more time after that to appoint new overwizards and to rebuild the Arcane Brotherhood.

So I don't see Greeth being ready for a war against the rest of the North as early as 1372 DR, either.

Now, Greeth did indeed reach out to King Obould in 1376 DR, precisely as you are suggesting. However, Obould notified King Bruenor of Greeth's plot, and together they killed Greeth's devilish emissaries. Greeth, himself, died later in the year when a bunch of do-gooders from Waterdeep invaded Luskan and put down the Arcane Brotherhood and the High Captains (The Pirate King).

But I suppose you could easily spin that chain of events by having King Obould decide to side with the lich instead of with the dwarves...

And setting your campaign later, around 1376 DR or so, would give both Obould and Greeth plenty of time to build up their respective forces before launching any assault. This would make the notion of an alliance more attractive to both sides.

Oh, and BTW, the antimagic sapphire was completely vaporized by Crenshinibon in the novel Passage to Dawn in late 1364 DR. Errtu tried to use the stone to silence or break the Shard, but ol' Crensh just wasn't having it!

So I think you'll need to find another source of antimagic power.

Hope that helps.

"'You don't know my history,' he said dryly."
--Drizzt Do'Urden (The Pirate King, Part 1: Chapter 2)

<"Comprehensive Chronology of R.A. Salvatore Forgotten Realms Works">
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Demron
Acolyte

5 Posts

Posted - 17 Apr 2014 :  22:06:51  Show Profile Send Demron a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Thats what I get for not brushing up on my Salvatore lore . But thank you Beast, thats the sort of information I was looking for.

Your comprehensive summary of the canon events leaves me with two choices here. Either set my campaign in 1376 to leave the main antagonists some breathing room or... disregard the events of Salvatores novels.

Since I would like to incorporate the information from the Silver Marches sourcebook (which is set in 1372 and mostly ignores the novels) and I am drawing heavily from it, I will not incorporate the novel events.

In this campaign, King Oboulds attempts to build a lasting orc kingdom will not be crowned with success. He tries to reign in his unruly sons and allies but ultimately fails. They push him into attacking the south again (after a relativly small, failed attack in 1371) and he needs to distract them with war.

Arklem Greeth will draw even more heavily on Nyphitys aid and will have completed his transformation on the 5 Uktar 1371 (Lords of Darkness mentions him recuperating for the better part part of 1371). That should give him until Ches 1372 to reconquer and rearrange the H ost Tower.

And its not too dramatic that the anti-magic gem is out the picture (never like that thing anyway ). I will think of something else.
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BEAST
Master of Realmslore

USA
1714 Posts

Posted - 18 Apr 2014 :  03:05:43  Show Profile  Visit BEAST's Homepage Send BEAST a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Demron

Thats what I get for not brushing up on my Salvatore lore . But thank you Beast, thats the sort of information I was looking for.

You're welcome, Demron. Happy to help.

quote:
Your comprehensive summary of the canon events leaves me with two choices here. Either set my campaign in 1376 to leave the main antagonists some breathing room or... disregard the events of Salvatores novels.

It happens. There is always so much stuff to try to juggle, you often have to make a judgment call where your jumping-off point from the canon lore is going to be. No one can really fault you on which point you choose.

quote:
[...] I will not incorporate the novel events.

That's not the first time that I've heard that one, where RAS novels are concerned!

quote:
In this campaign, King Oboulds attempts to build a lasting orc kingdom will not be crowned with success.

Hooray! I never liked that Obould got to die of old age, anyway.

quote:
He tries to reign in his unruly sons and allies but ultimately fails. They push him into attacking the south again (after a relativly small, failed attack in 1371) and he needs to distract them with war.

Per the Prologue to the novel The Orc King, Drizzt fought against someone named Obould II in 1408 DR; and per the novel Gauntlgrym, Obould I had died of old age by 1409 DR and a different son then ruled under the name Obould II. My theory is that there was probably some sort of squabble between Obould's sons in which they were wrestling for power as their father's health was failing, and a civil war broke out, which expanded to include the rest of the North. I guess the warmongering son lost out, and the pro-status-quo son received their father's blessing and attained the throne.

My point is that there is certainly plenty of lore to support your notion of bickering sons prone to breaking out into fighting at any time.

And while the novel TOK featured a different tribe of orcs named Clan Karuck, comprised of ogre-orc hybrids, rising up in early 1372 DR to continue the fighting, it could've just as easily been orcs much closer to King Obould who did so, instead.

And while Obould I waffled on how to handle that uprising before eventually decisively putting it down in TOK, who's to say that he couldn't've failed? Maybe the orcs really, really didn't like farming corn and herding goats!

quote:
Arklem Greeth will draw even more heavily on Nyphitys aid and will have completed his transformation on the 5 Uktar 1371 (Lords of Darkness mentions him recuperating for the better part part of 1371). That should give him until Ches 1372 to reconquer and rearrange the H ost Tower.

Just a minor correction there: LOD says that the assassination attempt against Greeth took place on 14 Eleint 1371 DR (p111), and then that he spent the better part of the last year after that recuperating in Mirabar (p110). So that's why I figured it must've been summer of 1372 DR before he returned to Luskan.

But hey, he's a lich with an erinyes vixen purring in his ear. Maybe he gets to feeling chipper a little faster in your Realms. If anyone could help a guy to rise to the occasion, I take it Nyphithys can!

quote:
And its not too dramatic that the anti-magic gem is out the picture (never like that thing anyway ). I will think of something else.

Yeah, it was too convenient of a little gimmick for Errtu to whip out. I kinda liked it when the Crystal Shard said "No!" and summarily turned it to dust!

"'You don't know my history,' he said dryly."
--Drizzt Do'Urden (The Pirate King, Part 1: Chapter 2)

<"Comprehensive Chronology of R.A. Salvatore Forgotten Realms Works">
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