Adventure Hook: RIP, The Dark Queen of Kyrnn

Character level considerations were defiantly something I wanted to discuss. I'd certainly imagined the characters involved to be of neutral alignment, as they're out for wealth--I also think this fits the cynical tone of Planescape very well. I had honestly considered breaking this get rich quick scheme up into four adventures:

1. Run an errand for the slaad offering safe transport from Pandemonium to the Plane of Ash. My idea for this opening adventure was to have the PC's complete a transaction with a group of satyrs (or perhaps one satyr looking to claim authority over the group) on behalf of the slaad. Of course this is harder than it looks as there are lots of things that can act as obstacles on Arborea.

2. PC's must make their way to the slaad's kip on Pandesmos. This involves negotiating a town I've tentatively titled Trepid, a group of ruins ruled over by a vampiric halfling jester and his array of undead freaks, all of which love torturing the poor sods living in the ruins with vicious and deadly practical jokes.

3. Assuming the slaad isn't going to betray the group (which might be a whole other adventure), he leads the PC's to the Plane of Ash. They must work their way through a network of caves remarkably like the inside of a burned-down cigar. The second phase of the journey involves working through the ruins and rubble of one corner (perhaps a tower) of Takhisis' grand temple. This corner has a portal leading to the rest of the temple in Baator.

4. Presumably this is the finale where the PC's make for the Dark Queen's vaults below the temple. In addition to encountering parties of Baatezu surveyors and Solamnic Petitioners, they'll probably have to contend with the petitioners that were once the Dark Queen's dragonarmy officers and black-robed wizards. This is also the where the PC's experience the twist or moral lesson of the mini-campaign.

I'm thinking things should start around 4th or 5th level, giving the group time to gain some experience along the way--enough that minor fiends aren't an overwhelming threat to them when they arrive at the grand temple on Baator.

I've put together a write-up for the town of Trepid, home to the slaad from my adventure hook. To review, It's located on Pandesmos, the first layer of Pandemonium. I imagine it as a ruined Victorian town taking up space in a wide tunnel with a flat landscape. The tunnel actually has some grass and soil, enough for better-than-subsistence farming. I also envision the town as being slowly being eroded by the winds of the plane.

Trepid: A town controlled by a vampiric halfling jester and his undead minions, all of which enjoy a good laugh at the expense of a hapless, and soon-to-be deceased, victim.
Character: This place is a subtle cross between wasteland roamed by pack of undead and the site of a dilapidated carnival. The winds whipping through this place sound like laughter of all types, mostly sinister though.

Ruler: Oggery d’Lusion (Male Halfing [vampire] Planar, 5th/3rd Rogue/Sorcerer, CE) is the unquestioned master of the domain. A jester by trade and a disturbed psychopathic butcher sentient flesh by nature, he has been pranking his way across Pandesmos for well-over a hundred years. No one really knows how long he’ll remain in Trepid, but as long as the food keeps coming in and there’s plenty of people to prank to death he seems content to hang around. He’s developed quite a decorating style, putrid rotting corpses being the central theme. He’s arranged whole trees out of them. Those that come back from Trepid say some of the most fearful experiences they’ve had included approaching a piece of public art or architecture and discovering its been carefully crafted from bones and corpses.

Behind the Throne: Oggery rules his wretched little berg by demonstrations of fear and power, and as long as no one attempts to overpower him he’ll remain the tyrant. All the same, there are plenty of undead types helping little Oggery create his own nightmare realm. His immediate circle of “friends” includes a dozen vampire spawn. There’s also a pack of ghouls roaming the ruins, numbering between eight and ten, three or four wights are known to dwell in the town as well, and the remaining undead are mostly mindless skeletons and zombies, though there are a few curiosities among them: animals, ogres, and such. Finally, its been rumored for many years that Oggery has been growing something (possibly an skeletal hydra or zombie purple worm) in the dungeons of his villa, waiting for jus the right time to release this horrible prank on whatever poor suckers wandering into town next.

Ivetta Thoral (Female Tiefling Planar, 7th level Bard, N) heads a decent-sized resistance looking to reclaim their town from Oggery and his undead thugs. Based out of a farmhouse compound lying just outside of town, the resistance is constantly on alter for undead attackers and weary of outsiders, as they might be tricks sent by Oggery. The help of these would-be homesteaders doesn’t come without a price.

Description: With buildings resembling a Victorian nightmare-scape, Trepid is a berg populated by some 700 drooling, gibbering lunatics. Most have been frightened to the point of total insanity and they act as wandering random meals for the various undead, Trepid’s other 50-plus residents. Keeping away the vampire-ruled insanity ward, a resourceful 200 or so have banned together in a small corner of town, working together to fend off the undead. On a hill above the scattered and dilapidated buildings, one can find the Villa d’Lusion, which serves as residence of Oggery and his inner circle of vampiric freaks.

Militia: There is no militia in Trepid, save for the undead that roam the streets and lair in the abandoned buildings. Volunteers defending Ivetta’s farmhouse are inexperienced in combat, with more knowledge of hunting than fighting (Male & Female Various Planar & Petitioner, 2nd level Fighters and Rangers, N)

Services: It’s catch as catch can in Trepid. The locals with their wits still about them will trade and barter for items that suit their needs, but they don’t have a lot to offer. It’s a bad idea to bring animals into Trepid, as there’s no place to board and care for them. Even the most stalwart planar steeds are care scared off or killed by the undead—who love and easy meal.

Local News: A green slaad called Occuloz has set up his kip in one of the nicer abandoned buildings in the heart of Trepid. The undead give him a wide berth, partially because he’s keeping his distance as well and partially because he’s been known to capture them for “study” using various holy and fiery objects to cut them open.

Ivetta’s been looking for experienced adventurous-types to help her lead an assault on Oggery’s horde for ages. She knows if they can get to the ruined cathedral at the center of town that there will be a hidden cache of goods there perfect for fighting off the undead. Furthermore, the catacombs beneath the cathedral, though home to a variety of incorporeal undead, conceal a passage to the Villa d’Lusion.