Sir_BeerBaron
January 31st, 2018, 17:57
The setup - a post Phandalin 5e adventure.
(Yup, this is lengthy, but interesting; I promise. I am in need of a story linchpin to pull all this together.)
I have created an underground cavern with an immense lake attached to Wave Echo Cave. There are two tribes, one Kuo-Toa and the other Bullywugs, between their two independent islands is a third with a temple to an ancient primordial god (Bazim-Gorag the Firebringer) in which they both worship. I planned on having the Kuo-Toa in power with a priest at the helm. The Bullywugs have evolved their culture, from the prompting of a Druid (I will get to this in a bit), to farm and grow... whatever. This helps to maintain relations with the Kuo-Toa tribe who would otherwise enslave or wipe the Bullywugs out. So between the two tribes there is a bit of a symbiotic relationship, although unstable.
Kuo-Toa have enslaved several Locathah (currently abandoned monster from previous edition) to help with a fish farm, catching more fish in the larger lake, etc. There is also a rebel faction of Locathah that are holed up in a 'very difficult to find' location. They sometimes may work with the druid or independently to cause havoc between the two tribes. A minor inconvenience at best, but adds colour and could be a safe haven for PCs.
The druid resides on an island that remains safe, as the druid has terrified the Kuo-Toa and Bullywugs through fanciful superstitious stories about the Kraken's Teeth island. The two tribes avoid this place by a very wide margin.
There is also an ancient dwarven mine at the end of the watery 'river' that extends from Wave Echo Cave. Beyond the mine is the immense underground lake and home to the two tribes, et al. For the most part, the mine is largely inaccessible and serves only as a guard station for the Bullywugs. I am flushing out the mine in hopes the party will open it up. It is also quite large and has potential to include a few different objectives (ie. magical teleport that can transfer mined ore back to Wave Echo Cave - of course it is only one way, can't make this too easy).
I am positioning the dopplegangers from the Phandalin adventure to operate as emissaries from the Kuo-Toa tribe. Currently, the first one escaped capture/death, the 2nd that was operating with the Black Spider (or the master villain in the Phandalin adventure if you are not familiar) has been captured by the party. Next game session I will reveal this connection with the underworld and how dopplegangers were in cahoots with the Black Spider to setup some sort of trade operation with the underground tribes. I am thinking the party may want to continue with this possible business venture.
Other small items of note - an early wizard antagonist has also escaped capture/death from the party (Glasstaff, for anyone that knows). The Black Spider is dead. There is a passage deeper in to the underdark from the cavern that is known to the local inhabitants and has been a source of trade/invasion/curious explorers in the past. I can build just about anything into the dwarven mine, but do have some plans already. There are a series of (dry) caverns (Crystal Caves) that I have marked elsewhere on the map, but have not fleshed out in anyway. There is a large river exiting the main cavern which may include a series of passageways that will eventually lead to the shores of the Sword Coast. Further downstream, along this exiting river, I have also positioned a tribe of Morphi (Tomb of Beasts/Kobold Press) who are in negotiations to one degree or another with the Kuo-Toa.
I have added other things to the campaign that are not worth mentioning here, but this is where I am stuck- Why would the party get involved with the two tribes beyond a simple business venture? I need something much grander to pull all this together. Glasstaff should be a key, but how and why? Of consideration is the entrances and exits to the domain as well as the current denizens that come and go. Recall that this place is widely unknown to the greater world and the inhabitants like it that way.
FYI - this will be going in to FG and I will see about making it available once I sort it all out.
(Yup, this is lengthy, but interesting; I promise. I am in need of a story linchpin to pull all this together.)
I have created an underground cavern with an immense lake attached to Wave Echo Cave. There are two tribes, one Kuo-Toa and the other Bullywugs, between their two independent islands is a third with a temple to an ancient primordial god (Bazim-Gorag the Firebringer) in which they both worship. I planned on having the Kuo-Toa in power with a priest at the helm. The Bullywugs have evolved their culture, from the prompting of a Druid (I will get to this in a bit), to farm and grow... whatever. This helps to maintain relations with the Kuo-Toa tribe who would otherwise enslave or wipe the Bullywugs out. So between the two tribes there is a bit of a symbiotic relationship, although unstable.
Kuo-Toa have enslaved several Locathah (currently abandoned monster from previous edition) to help with a fish farm, catching more fish in the larger lake, etc. There is also a rebel faction of Locathah that are holed up in a 'very difficult to find' location. They sometimes may work with the druid or independently to cause havoc between the two tribes. A minor inconvenience at best, but adds colour and could be a safe haven for PCs.
The druid resides on an island that remains safe, as the druid has terrified the Kuo-Toa and Bullywugs through fanciful superstitious stories about the Kraken's Teeth island. The two tribes avoid this place by a very wide margin.
There is also an ancient dwarven mine at the end of the watery 'river' that extends from Wave Echo Cave. Beyond the mine is the immense underground lake and home to the two tribes, et al. For the most part, the mine is largely inaccessible and serves only as a guard station for the Bullywugs. I am flushing out the mine in hopes the party will open it up. It is also quite large and has potential to include a few different objectives (ie. magical teleport that can transfer mined ore back to Wave Echo Cave - of course it is only one way, can't make this too easy).
I am positioning the dopplegangers from the Phandalin adventure to operate as emissaries from the Kuo-Toa tribe. Currently, the first one escaped capture/death, the 2nd that was operating with the Black Spider (or the master villain in the Phandalin adventure if you are not familiar) has been captured by the party. Next game session I will reveal this connection with the underworld and how dopplegangers were in cahoots with the Black Spider to setup some sort of trade operation with the underground tribes. I am thinking the party may want to continue with this possible business venture.
Other small items of note - an early wizard antagonist has also escaped capture/death from the party (Glasstaff, for anyone that knows). The Black Spider is dead. There is a passage deeper in to the underdark from the cavern that is known to the local inhabitants and has been a source of trade/invasion/curious explorers in the past. I can build just about anything into the dwarven mine, but do have some plans already. There are a series of (dry) caverns (Crystal Caves) that I have marked elsewhere on the map, but have not fleshed out in anyway. There is a large river exiting the main cavern which may include a series of passageways that will eventually lead to the shores of the Sword Coast. Further downstream, along this exiting river, I have also positioned a tribe of Morphi (Tomb of Beasts/Kobold Press) who are in negotiations to one degree or another with the Kuo-Toa.
I have added other things to the campaign that are not worth mentioning here, but this is where I am stuck- Why would the party get involved with the two tribes beyond a simple business venture? I need something much grander to pull all this together. Glasstaff should be a key, but how and why? Of consideration is the entrances and exits to the domain as well as the current denizens that come and go. Recall that this place is widely unknown to the greater world and the inhabitants like it that way.
FYI - this will be going in to FG and I will see about making it available once I sort it all out.