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The Wretched Crusade
The land of Barrow's Maw has played host to many adventurers, both fair and foul, in its history. However, few compare in their infamy with the one known as the Wretched Crawler. A necromancier, once native to the Ohm Basin, who fell afoul of ambition and lust for power, who forged pacts with all manner of foul beings in its quest for mastery over life and death. Shedding its mortal visage to become an immortal undead creature known as a Lich, the Wretched Crawler abandoned the Basin and its former colleagues. Like a cancer, it settled in the badlands north of the Merric Wood and began fortifying an abandoned fortress, while harassing residents as a petty warlord, in an effort to accrue more of the region's lost knowledge and hidden arcane power.
In time, the Crawler's presence within the Basin could not be tolerated by the good and godly. The adventurers of the Ohm Bastion, a local guild dedicated to peace and friendship, organized an effort to end the Crawler's dominion over
Notable Personae
The Party
Mostly consisting of former Friendmakers of the Ohm Bastion, the party is out for justice and for blood— or whatever the lich equivalent is. They intend to end the lich permanently— to venture into its fortress and shatter its phylactery.
- Kyrry:
- A tiefling Rogue/Cleric/Shadowbane Stalker, and former Crafter, Kyrry is well-equipped to deal with any traps the party might encounter. It is her blood that was used in crafting the Planar Tuning Fork.
- Ava, Crimson Prelate:
- Founder of the Order Incarnadine, Ava is a Necromancer who abhors undead. She spends her days consolidating her territory, performing arcane experiments, and raising her daughter Molly.
- Sir Earcorn Fardream, Eldrich Femboy:
- Another former head of the Ohm Bastion, Earcorn is an elven Cleric/Warlock/Eldrich Disciple. The power of his Woke Moralist Beams is only matched by the softness of his thighs.
- Rainer Dufort, Radiant Master:
- A Cleric/Master of Radiance, Rainer’s powers are well-suited to obliterating the Undead. He, like many others, once led the Bastion.
- Vaz, Dragonheart Mage:
- A powerful kobold Sorcerer specializing in Fire and Fireball, and the one who's been adventuring the longest. Vaz personally knew Wretch before “all the nasty business”, and considered the Crawler a personal friend— though he got kinda miffed about the “evil lichdom” thing.
NPCs:
(Only those NPCs which the party knew beforehand.)
- Wigglethum:
- A foul necromancer of no small power, not allied with the Wretched Crawler but living on its plane. Ava found one of his spellbooks in the Basin and hopes to gain some advantage by returning it.
- Keyleth:
- A drow Paladin and another former head of the Bastion, it was Keyleth who committed the organization to military action against the Crawler. Keyleth has long since Paragoned and has been crusading around the Wretch Plane. Unfortunately, no one woman can match the Wretch Plane’s resources— but Keyleth has certainly been trying. 1)
- Equine Liberation Front:
- An organization of centaurs and other sentients advocating for the freedom of all hoofed beings. The ELF has now been reported as being in active collaboration with Wretch's Forces, and have proclaimed the Crawler an ally to Equine Freedom.
- The Wretched Crawler:
- An Evil, henious, and terrible creature; the first lich to establish itself in the Ohm Basin; the primary villain of this campaign and many expeditions besides; and the inventor of Woodcoin.
Fit the First: Proper Preparations Prevent Piss-Poor Performance
This was not the first time Rainer, Earcorn, and Ava had been to the Wretch Plane. A previous expedition had led the Bastion's forces against the Crawler's fortress, seizing the Crawler's stronghold in the Basin and pushing him all the way back through the permanent portal and further.
Rainer, in a war-room at the Bastion, gathers the four members of the Bastion and one uneasy ally and addresses the party:
“Wretch has fashioned itself its little world as a kind of… cyst or tumor between larger planes. It clings between the First Heaven and Avernus, where demons and devils wage their endless blood war.” Rainer indicates a spot on the planar diagram hanging on the wall. “There is some spillover, and Wretch appears happy to accommodate both demons and devils in his employment. Thus far we have only encountered the devils.”
“The entire plane constantly deals negative energy damage; Kyrry is working on a way to mitigate that, I believe.” The tiefling woman nods, and Rainer continues. “We might be able to use Rope Trick again—”
“We can't.” Ava interrupts. “Wretch retooled how the plane works specifically because I abused Rope Trick in our previous visit, so I am positive something terrible will happen if you try to hide in an extradimensional space.”
“Rope Trick being unavailable means we'll need to prepare three Avoid Planar Effects per day. Not a huge deal, but worth mentioning,” Kyrry chimes in.
“I can cover one of them,” Earcorn volunteers. “… Probably. It depends how hard it is to cast healing spells.”
“Regardless, the Wretched Plane has several features we cannot mitigate.” Rainer gets the discussion back on track, and the discussion continues for several hours.
As the party sleeps, two silhouettes meet in the courtyard:
A shadow is visible from Ava's room moving near to one of the older oak trees in the courtyard. Ava peers out into the darkness with her Darkvision. Sir Earcorn Fardream, Fifth Friendmaker, slayer of Alharat Viselia, waits in the shadows.
Without so much as a word or gesture, Ava disappears from the window and instantly reappears before him. She looks up at him appraisingly. “It seems only yesterday you were that neophyte your predecessor was leading into certain doom.”
Earcorn's gaze is steely, lacking something of the glint of innocence it once held. He speaks in a hushed tone: “Much has changed since that fateful day at the fort of the Wretched Crawler. Much for myself, much for Ohm Bastion. I won't defend every choice Keyleth made, but I won't besmirch her name, either.”
Ava gives an approving nod. “I like the look of you better now. Naivety has been supplanted by a maturity that more befits your race. Your experience will serve you well in the days to come.”
“Under less dire circumstances, I'd like to ask you more about how you knew Keyleth. As things stand, I think we have more pressing matters to attend to. I cannot say I'm as familiar with you as you I, but I certainly hope if you're here for what I think you are, that you have got some very powerful tricks up your sleeves.”
“The short answer is that I didn't; she reached out to me since she learned from Lydia that I hate undead. We spoke briefly and I thought she had the right of it as far as our mutual enemy is concerned.”
She scowls slightly as she continues, “Regarding those matters, I have sent out the call to the old and powerful here in Barrow's Maw, and they shall enter the plane with us. And rest assured, what I have are no mere tricks. I am the natural enemy of the undead, and I will obliterate them or bend them to my will as it suits me. Even the Wretch himself will be powerless once we are properly prepared to face him.”
“Well, my approach is…somewhat different, but I get similar results at the end of the day” Earcorn says, reflexively putting his hand on a scroll tied to his belt. “Differences in methodology aside, I can't help but think we're going to get along just fine, Ava. Assuming we aren't both killed and turned into undead thralls, a mockery of what we once were in life, heh. Then again we'll probably get along ok if that happens too!”
Ava replies with a pallid smile. “Think positive, Earcorn. I have a daughter to return home to, and so I have no intention of falling or being turned in the course of our quest. We will head in there, destablize his realm, gather our strength, and kill him. And thanks to the time dilation, I'll be able to present the broken remains of his phylactery to Molly as a present for her next birthday.”
Any healing, due to some foul bent, required a caster level check for every spell. Teleportation was inadvisable; the entire plane was under some massive redirect and any attempt to so much as Dimension Door forced a separate save for each teleportee, or else get teleported to the Bad Zone.
The Wretched Crawler had specifically retooled the entire plane following the previous incursion. Ava had abused Rope Trick in her previous visit; now she was positive that hiding in an extradimensional space would have terrible results.
And of course the portal previously allowing admission to the plane was sealed; the party would have to find a way in, then likely trek across the entire plane to the Crawler's fortress.
Earcorn obtained items and derived spells to overcome the caster level check. Ava invented arcane dweomers to use specifically against liches. Kyrry researched the Planar Tolerance and Avoid Planar Effects spells, hoping to avoid the negative energies (though not the magical injunction against healing and teleportation). And Rainer? Rainer tried to find a way onto the plane in the first place…
With some amount of glee, Rainier bursts fourth from the Alchemical Laboratory, waving a schematic in his hands.
“Bones of a saint, blood of a Tiefling! The resonance matches! I've cracked it. That Wretch parked his plane directly on the cusp between Heaven and Hell. Tell Friendmaker Altan that the expedition is back on.”
Glancing around the Bastion, “uh incidentally, are there any Tieflings about who might consider a small donation to a charitable cause?”
Ava happened to have some saint bones lying around, on the condition that the Good-aligned members not ask where she got them. Kyrry was more than happy to donate blood; she expected to spill yet more taking down the Crawler.
A small tuning fork made of iron, heated over the burning bones of a saint, and then quenched in the blood of a Tiefling; precisely seven inches long, with one fork curled slightly inwards. They had a way in.
* Discussion of the actual Planar effects, Teleport-inhibiting and Healing-inhibiting. * No Rope Trick because Wretch specifically retooled the entire plane following the previous incursion. * The Wretch Plane basic layout- several major cities, ruled by more minor liches and other minons subservient to Wretch, things are typically build out of bone. Wretch Fortress in the center. Evil Fucking river. * The River debate (Earcorn drinks??) What the river does, approximately & to the parties’ understanding (max HP loss, vile damage which is nearly as bad, gives Tomb-Tainted Soul and Inflict SLAs). * Making the Fork, researching and acquiring ingredients. Kyrry donates blood. * Gearing up
Battle for The Wretch's Hold
TBD: Write-up (could have sworn someone already did this) (Sorry, that was me but the wiki didn't save. I'm gonna get on it from notes. — Obbie)
Interlude: Lord Keyleth's Adventures on the Wretched Plane
(TBD: Dusty's notes go here)
First Expedition into the Wretched Plane
TBD:
* Arrival and discovery of planar characteristics
* The city of <name>
* Meeting with Keyleth and raid on the Lich <name> Fortress
** Destruction of the Lich's Sacred Shield Phylactry
CREDITS:
BashfulBob, Edith, and Ava, for writing RP heavily sampled or quoted;
Kyrry, Mona, and Gribbly, for playing the adventure and establishing their characters;
Edith, for creating the adventure in the first place.
And Obbie, BashfulBob, and [placeholder], for transcribing the session into prose.