Against the Glooms

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Recommended Levels: n/a
Author: Brannon HollingsworthEmail: : Not many sods can brave the glooms of the Grey Waste and live to spout about it, but as with everything in the multiverse, there are exceptions to everything. Occasionally, a basher will lann the chant about some poor sod that has been to the Grey Wastes and made it through the other side, but is much the worse for wear. Now despondent and full of despair, the poor bloods are merely a shadow of there former selves, and are more often than not, as unconcerned with their own well-being than most high-up Bleakers. That is just the effect that the glooms has on a body that makes it out of the wasted and forlorn Lower plane – it saps a body’s will to live, not to mention all of the color of their body.

So what’s a body to do who has been effected by the Wastes and wants to continue on with his life? Well, most planar sages would simply say that the poor sods are stuck with their ailments, but that awaits to be seen when the party meets a forlorn but determined bariaur by the name of V’onn Stronghorns and accepts his offer.

The Adventure Begins:

The adventure begins anywhere the DM likes – in Sigil, in a gatetown, on the Outlands, anywhere! Anywhere that the PC’s could logistically meet a depressed but determined bariaur is the perfect place for this adventure to begin. Where ever the DM decides to begin the adventure, the PC’s encounter V’onn Stronghorns, a bariaur who was once a proud warrior buck, native to Ysgard, and on the "fast trail" to being a strong (if not a bit hardheaded and stubborn) leader of his people.

When the PC’s encounter V’onn, however, he is anything but strong and proud (but apparently his stubbornness is still firmly intact), as he has come under the draining and withering effect of the glooms of the Grey Waste. Apparently, the young buck was chasing a trio of juvenile fire giants away from his Ysgardian home and stumbled into an errant portal to the Grey Waste. Lost there with no idea of how to get home (V’onn had never been off of his home plane before and knew nothing of portals and their wily ways), wandered the Waste for a long, miserable time.

Finally, he was captured by some slaving tso, but was so useless as anything (including a slave) due to the effects of the glooms upon him that they simply abandoned him to the ravages of the planes. It is soon after this that the PC’s meet up with V’onn, and he has learned enough about the planes, especially the Grey Waste, to figure out what has befallen him.

Not only has he figured out what has happened to him in the Grey Waste, he also has an idea about how to "cure" this ailment. The idea is simple, since the Waste has him depressed and despondent, do the exact opposite – try to make him as happy and ecstatic or as angered and excited as possible. This is exactly what V’onn asks the PC’s to do – take him to the most impressive and awe-inspiring places on the planes – and hopefully this will counter-balance the effects of the glooms. Or so he hopes…

Finishing things

Basically, the DM can make this as involved or as simple as he/she sees that it needs to be to fit the campaign. An entire campaign could be based on this simple idea, or it could only last for a single session. The possibilities are endless as the PC’s must take V’onn to see the glories of Mt. Celestia or the wonders of the plane of infinite strife, Acheron. In short, anything to inspire or thrill or even anger the bariaur is what he desires to see, and it is the PC’s job to see that he gets it. If funds are needed, persuasive PC’s could surely get some help from the Sensates, as there is no doubt that they would love to see the results of such an "experiment in sensation"...

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