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Campaign advice: Acheron encounter

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Wed, 2007-06-13 20:08
#1
Rhys
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Campaign advice: Acheron encounter

First off, none of my players had better be reading this. If your PC is named Arilla, Karthas, Ni'shand, or Shade, beat it.

Now that we're comfortably alone...
So, in my campaign a Sodkiller fortress is going to come under attack by a disenfranchised bounty hunter on an ego trip. The fortress is on Acheron and I thought it'd make for a great moment for the villain to arrange for his target, a Sodkiller high-up, to eat it by being crushed in a cube collision. In order to give the PCs a fighting chance at rescuing their patron, I'd like to not simply flatten the entire cube face like an ant under an iron golem boot.

Any ideas?

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Wed, 2007-06-13 20:41
#2
Clueless
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Campaign advice: Acheron encounter

How much warning time do they have and what level are they? They could do a massive rush for the Sodkiller to teleport him out in the nick of time.

Or if lower level, start escorting (read:running) him towards a conveniently nearby set of tunnels into the interior of the cave. That also gives you the opportunity to run them into some very claustrophobic stalking scenarios with low supplies since they would have had to book it with only what they had on hand.

I can't really think of any ways to make the collision not occur once it was triggered - walls of force *do* have a break point as far as I recall.

I may be more interesting to make it a trap - play up the idea that the Sodkiller's are running military actions here. Let them see the orrys and maps that they use to track when cubes are epxpected to collide so they can avoid it. Maybe let the SK go off on patrol and then let one of the PCs realize that their maps and orrys have been tampered with so they have to find a way to contact him to get him to avert course post haste.

Or if they do go out with him in the column, have them start making spot and intelligence checks to realize that the cubes aren't moving the way they're supposed to... (and then go with that 'run for it' option as posted above?).

If the entire cube is made of lead (blocking some divination attempts) or some other material that'll block teleportation... or your big bad enscribed a freaking *huge* symbol of 'dimensional anchor' on the other cube that now is locking your victi-ahem-party inside the first one for as long as the cube remain in contact... I'm sure you can see where I'm going with that. Smiling

Wed, 2007-06-13 22:27
(Reply to #2) #3
Rhys
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Campaign advice: Acheron encounter

They're ECL 6 and should actually have a good opportunity soon to get nearly a complete revelation as to the fate set to befall the fort.

What I'm worried about is that I want there to be a good risk of being caught in the middle of the damn thing, but with this sort of widespread catastrophe, that'd logically result in a TPK. I'd rather not lay it on the line where the party either escapes unscathed or is reduced to a bloody smear.

One idea I had was that the villain would actually crash two other cubes together, and the attack would instead take the form of a rain of boulders and debris. The fortress gets wrecked, but plucky heroes could ride it out. This model begs the question, however, of why the villain is pulling his punches and not going for the hammer-on-the-anvil overkill method.

In all of this, still, I need to figure out how he's accomplishing any of this. He's not exactly omnipotent, hurling cube-worlds around like a wailing infant. Nor is he an archmage, or have some contrived magic item ("The dreaded, legendary greater ring of cube-smashing +4! Gods, no!"). He's a clever swordsman and a genius at solving Sigil's most baffling crimes, so I like your suggestion of a tampered orrery. He took the orrery which would have warned them of the cube-shift and replaced it with one that would give them no warning. How dastardly.

Thu, 2007-06-14 01:07
(Reply to #3) #4
Clueless
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Campaign advice: Acheron encounter

Hm... in that case since you're right it *is* hard to say why he wouldn't do the whole attack if he could...

I would say, let it be a whole cube coming at them from the screwed up map and orry... But remembering that fortresses will often have basements and tunnels below they should be able to easily avoid the death by crushing. It's not like a giant cube coming at the fortress won't be noticed when someone looks up. Using the underground advantage makes for a great bolt hole - they'll be trapped for some time till the other cube slides off and their opponent may send in clean up crews that you can have them tangle with to heighten the tension.

Sat, 2007-06-16 01:40
(Reply to #4) #5
Rhys
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Campaign advice: Acheron encounter

Well what do Acheron inhabitants usually do when a cube is coming to smash them? It can't be so unusual an occurrence. It's what Avalas is known for. How does a city like Vorkehan stay around on a plane like that? Walls of force? Rotate their cube face out of the way? Satellite-based missile defense shield?

Sat, 2007-06-16 01:56
(Reply to #5) #6
Dunamin
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Campaign advice: Acheron encounter

Instead of having the cubes hit plane-to-plane, how about only having a point of the impacting cube pierce the fortress?
That could create a scenario where the PCs progressively flee with their quarry from the center of impact and have to dodge rubble from the fortress flying as the impacting cube penetrates deeper into the other one. The PC would be speeding away, watching earthquake-like cracks destroy the scenario behind them, while their host directs them towards a portal? It would also keep a steady feel of pressure on them, instead of a sudden "bam, you all just died".

Sat, 2007-06-16 02:07
(Reply to #6) #7
Dunamin
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Campaign advice: Acheron encounter

Here's an idea for why the cube isn't spotted far in advance, thus avoiding allowing leisurely evacuation:

The rakshasa have several cubes in Acheron, hidden away from their enemies. Perhaps this is such a cube, deserted and mostly devastated after a recent military campaign, though the magic hiding it from view is still intact, creating an invisibility and divination-blocking effect to any one outside a certain perimeter of the cube. At your scenario, the Sodkillers only discover the cube when it has closed enough so that impact is nearly imminent.

The orrery/map that your bounty hunter has gotten hold of, was based on a report from a scouting party who simply got within range of the hidden cube by chance.

Sat, 2007-06-16 02:19
(Reply to #7) #8
Dunamin
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Campaign advice: Acheron encounter

Or how about playing with the special gravity traits of the cubes?

Have the impacting cube come at an angle, and slowly tip over and smash up face-to-face with the other cube, because their gravity pulls them into such a position.

Set it up so that the PCs and their host might be flung from one cube-face to another, making the escape that much more wild. The PCs need to reach a (possibly mobile) portal before they get trapped in this deathtrap, or they need to escape far enough out on a cube, so that when the faces clamp together, they will be at an extended part of one of them.

Sat, 2007-06-16 04:54
(Reply to #8) #9
Armoury99
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Campaign advice: Acheron encounter

'Dunamin' wrote:
Instead of having the cubes hit plane-to-plane, how about only having a point of the impacting cube pierce the fortress? That could create a scenario where the PCs progressively flee with their quarry from the center of impact and have to dodge rubble from the fortress flying as the impacting cube penetrates deeper into the other one. The PC would be speeding away, watching earthquake-like cracks destroy the scenario behind them, while their host directs them towards a portal? It would also keep a steady feel of pressure on them, instead of a sudden "bam, you all just died".

A similar suggestion to the one above, I suppose... what about a near miss? One cube slides over the other almost face to face but not quite. Safe (relatively) for people on the ground, but close enough to plough into the Sodkiller castle with all the force of Thor's own hammer, shattering stone and magical defences as the PCs run away and downwards from an ever-expanding avalanche of flying rubble.

The same would be true of any raised areas/large structures on the other cube of course, allowing for lots of chaos as angry Acheronian Petitioners fall from one cube to another.... In fact, if your villain gets out his yardstick and does the calculations right, he can even stand on a tower or castle on the other cube that's just short enough to survive, and then rain down arrows (or henchmen, or just abuse) on his enemies from above.

I have to admit though, for irony value I like the idea on a point first impact, especially if the attacking cube is noticeably smaller and so bounces along the face destroying everything like some giant bouncing dice of doom...

"I chose a light cube, so I could have my Dex bonus to attack!"

That might be considered more funny than dramatic, however Laughing out loud

Sat, 2007-06-16 12:32
(Reply to #9) #10
Rhys
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Campaign advice: Acheron encounter

Here's an idea that just came to me:

The fortress-bearing cube, which I'll call Seferrosh, is the smaller one. It's hurtling toward a cube as much as eight times its own size. When it hits, mass destruction occurs, as the shock of impact collapses buildings and hurls characters around. They're still bound by their own gravity at this point. The angle of impact, however, is such that the cube begins to twist and torque as it rolls along the face of the larger cube. The characters will have a few rounds of violent motion to come up with an escape plan before their position actually ends up crushed between the two metal cubes. And, I can still save their sorry selves if they're not able by having them tossed off the edge of the cube, through space, and landing on the larger cube, there to find a way home.

I still need to figure out, though: how do any cities on Avalas survive? What do they usually do when an impact is approaching?

Sat, 2007-06-16 17:47
(Reply to #10) #11
Clueless
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Campaign advice: Acheron encounter

As far as I know - they dig down under the surface. And when something's coming - batten down the hatches and brace.

Sat, 2007-06-16 19:00
(Reply to #11) #12
Rhys
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Campaign advice: Acheron encounter

Digging and hiding won't save your city, though. Avalas has entire cities, including Vorkeham, the sodding Mercykiller stronghold.

Maybe Acheron likes to crush people's homes. It goes with the plane's themes of group functionality and collective mentality through hardship and suffering. But I feel like the inhabitants would be persuaded to go against the plane's ambient tendencies when it tries to force that mentality on you through the massively inefficient process of rebuilding your city every time it gets periodically obliterated by flying mountaints of iron.

So maybe the setting never says how these cities survive the ever-present threat of total obliteration in a titanic grind of metal on metal. But I challenge you all to come up with a plausible defense that the cities might employ. Not that it will save them this time, but what's the usual mode of action, do you suppose?

Sat, 2007-06-16 19:19
(Reply to #12) #13
Clueless
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Campaign advice: Acheron encounter

Well no.. I meant they build underground to begin with - there's little on the surface to destroy. (And with no sun there - no reason to be above ground really in the first place - it's not like there are fields to tend.) As for ways to defend an above ground city - I don't have any ideas - maybe someone else does?

Sun, 2007-06-17 01:21
(Reply to #13) #14
Duckluck
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Campaign advice: Acheron encounter

It's pretty simple. You rotate the cube. The cubes are moving too quickly to be redirected entirely, but what you can do is apply force to one side of the cube causing it to spin on its axis like a top. If you do it well, its course should change enough so that the cube-crash doesn't happen, and even if the collision is inevitable, you can rotate the faces so that it always hits a side you don't have your city on. Instead of Armageddon, you just get a bit of an earthquake.

Magic would probably be the best way to do this, but it could also be accomplished with varying degrees of precision with primitive rockets or simply a really big explosion. As long as you're providing a significant amount of force to one side, but none to the other it should have the effect of rotating the whole cube. It's pretty much the same way spacecraft use booster rockets to steer.

Basically, cities like Vorkeham aren't flattened like pancakes because the faces they're on are never struck. Why would they be? With a decent wizard and some advance warning you could rotate the faces however you wanted.

In this particular scenario, we can assume that the Sodder in question was tricked into thinking he was sailing through clear skies and didn't need to change course, but was actually headed for disaster. Perhaps the wizard helping him betrayed him? I also like the idea of his cube being hit by the corner of the other cube (with the corner centered on his castle), so that even digging down wouldn't be enough to save him. If some brave Planewalkers warn him and give him enough time to run, however...

Sun, 2007-06-17 10:10
(Reply to #14) #15
Armoury99
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Campaign advice: Acheron encounter

'Rhys' wrote:
The characters will have a few rounds of violent motion to come up with an escape plan before their position actually ends up crushed between the two metal cubes.

Mmm... if a structure on either cube partially survives, then you could trap your PCs in a dungeon made up of two ruined castles that have been forced into each other end to end, if you see what I mean - so one half is normal, one half is The Poseiden Adventure.

I'd like to see the map for that.

I don't think that moving the cube is quite as easy as Duckluck makes out if its big enough to house a very populous city (messing with the planar features in such a way also makes me uneasy), but certainly sounds possible on the smaller ones. It also raises the interesting possibility of rival cities on different faces of the cube, each with their own 'engine' for spinning it so impacts land on the other one. Its also a distinct possibility for inter-cube warfare. After all, what better way to destory your enemies than to hit them with a cube? Given the nature of Acheron, I'd expect most major cities have an engine (or whatever kind) just to be on the safe side - maybe there are "rotator proliferation treaties" and "gentleman's agreements" not to use such devices on most cubes, kind of like cold war M.A.D. policy...

As to surviving if the rotator doesn't work... maybe Vorkehan has an elite squad of Mercykillers assigned to it whose job it is to believe that Vorkehan's destruction by cube-clash would be so unjust is simply can't happen to the Mercykillers. Its description in the encyclopedia also lists some pretty freaky metals involved in it's structure - titanium and adamantine being just two of them - so maybe the city is simply tough enough to survive a glancing blow reasonably in tact. It fits with the ethos there.

As to other cities, I'll have to have a think...

Sun, 2007-06-17 11:19
(Reply to #15) #16
Duckluck
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Campaign advice: Acheron encounter

The idea is that these are huge celestial bodies that you can see from a really long way away (divination helps too), and with a bit of math, you can get it so that the cube slowly rotates so that a different face is in the way. For a huge cube like the one Vorkehan is on, it could take a week of continuous force to rotate it even one face over, but if you lived on a plane where you lived or died based on the whims of trajectory, I think you'd put in the effort.

Sun, 2007-06-17 11:52
(Reply to #16) #17
Armoury99
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Campaign advice: Acheron encounter

Point taken. But still... hell of job. Talk about work-related stress!

Sun, 2007-06-17 13:49
(Reply to #17) #18
Dunamin
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Campaign advice: Acheron encounter

In fact, cube trajectories should generally be decipherable far in advance, given the effort and ressources to do so, as only Mechanus is a more Lawful plane than Acheron.

Sun, 2007-06-17 14:38
(Reply to #18) #19
Rhys
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Campaign advice: Acheron encounter

...Unless your device to track the trajectories of proximal bodies (your orrery) has been tampered with and made to misrepresent positions. Perfect.

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