Premade Campaign 07: The Waking Dream (1/3)
The Waking Dream is intended for Heroic level characters and is Part One in a Three Part series.
The party wakes up to the sound of a bang – they are mid battle against an Oni Mage who roars at them in a bellowing voice “You can not destroy me! You have failed! He will awaken!” and he casts another spell, downing another member of the party. Their attacks don’t seem to damage him, as their blows deflect off of his skin as if it were made of iron, and he cackles and swings his scimitar wildly. As most of the party lay unconscious on the ground, a familiar voice sings elven prayers to them.
The Oni spins around and screams “Farria!” and the voice vanishes, as does their surroundings. The party is shaken awake by a whirling feeling, and is dropped back in their individual homes. None of them remember what lead up to the battle against the Oni Mage, Lord Morghrog, only what they just experienced. They might be able to write it off as a dream if it weren’t for the vivid memory and runes glowing all across their skin.
Before I get into the plot of the Heroic portion of the campaign, I need to explain what makes this different:
The vision the party woke to was the last scene in the campaign, the battle with the Oni Lord Morghrog, as he finishes off the adventurers after they have failed to stop his ascension to power. Just before he struck the killing blow against any of their members, the goddess Farria cast a powerful spell on the party – the power of perfection. With this cast on them, the party can do no wrong, never able to progress a day forward without doing the exact task they should have done. This doesn’t mean the DM should influence their decision making, but just that the party must repeat any day that they do not meet a goal that the DM picks.
For example, you might want them to meet a powerful NPC in a city, but if they make no effort to explore the city they will awake the next morning back in its gates. Early on it is fine to give hints, but as the campaign progresses it would be preferable to let them repeat a day several times before helping them in any way. It may be annoying at first, but it will lead to an interesting gameplay mechanic. They should keep their memories, but it is up to the DM to decide if items or experience gained before a day resets is kept by the players.
That said, they should also be rewarded greatly if they complete an especially hard sequence with experience, as there is a chance that they may not be able to go far in any one session.
The party meets up and notices that they are the only ones that can see the runes glowing on each other’s bodies. While sharing stories, they realize that none of them remember more than anyone else, and that they all have a feeling that the dream was not only real, but extremely important. The first day’s goal should be to agree to figure out who the people in the dream were, and to do it as a party. If this doesn’t happen, back to square one. Some travelers say that they have heard of an Oni Mage with the name they gave living in the hills a few weeks travels away.
They must travel there to progress in time. When they get there they find the area abandoned, but must search it. There are writings about attacks on passing caravans and a map showing different locations. Until they protect all of the caravans, they can not progress in time. The last caravan they protect should give a small clue on Morghrog’s location, and they need to travel there to find him. The rest of the sessions until they hit level 10 should be similar to this, with the players trying (and failing) to track down the Oni Mage. If they ever start to become frustrated or annoyed at this, drop hints about a large battle to come, and remind the players that the goddess Farria did what she did for a reason.
The day after they hit 10 (and the last session where they can be considered “Heroic”) should end with them just missing Morghrog, but instead stumbling onto his notes, where he details his plan to raise the Tarrasque from its slumber.
Check back tomorrow for the Paragon portion of this campaign!
All Else Failed » Premade Campaign 07: The Waking Dream (1/3) says:
[...] Premade Campaign 07: The Waking Dream (1/3) While sharing stories, they realize that none of them remember more than anyone else, and that they all have a feeling that the dream was not only real, but extremely important. The first day’s goal should be to agree to figure out who … [...]
June 18th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
» Blog Archive » Premade Campaign 08: The Egg (2/3) says:
[...] campaign follows the same rules as Part One, which can be found here. The party now knows what evil they are up against, and should be trying to stop it at any costs. [...]
June 19th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
» Blog Archive » Premade Campaign 10: The Unfinished God (3/3) says:
[...] Part One, Part Two, alternative Part Three [...]
June 22nd, 2008 at 10:53 am