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I am starting a new campaign pretty soon. It is going to be relatively short I think, and I'm going to start the group out around 12th level or so (which is pretty high for my campaigns).

Anyhow, I am still fleshing alot of things out, but I have the basic background on why the situation is what it is and why people are motivated the way that they are so I thought I would share it with y'all and possibly get some feedback or advice.

* This is a campaign world of my design and I take certain liberties with races and the evolution of deities which goes contrary to most D&D publishings.

Ancient History

In the time before humans, the world was a violent place where demigod-like entities satiated their basic lusts for power and influence through wars of genocidal proportions. One of these entities was a vampire consciousness: the first true vampire. This being of incredible power was the genesis for vampires and vampirism. This entity was eventually defeated after a century-long brutal war with the elves, a fledgling race learning to master the arcane arts.

The entity, a being so powerful that no known method would ensure his destruction, was captured and entombed in a magical prison, a crystal sphere no larger than an apple. The entity’s vampire armies remained however, and soon after his imprisonment the crystal sphere holding him captive was stolen by his minions. His forces, unable to break the prison, managed to crack the sphere just enough to allow his will to escape the barrier.

The vampires crafted a powerful sword and secured the crystal sphere to the pommel. Now the entity could lead his armies once again by controlling the one who wielded the sword. The entity’s wrath was devastating. He took the battle underground, to the Underdark, where his vampire legions were safe from the sun’s harmful light.

The elves carried the battle to him. For a thousand years, elves and vampires fought a bloody war of attrition in the darkness. In the Underdark, the elves found an ally in the form of a powerful witch with influence over spiders. Although the witch used tactics and methods that disagreed with many elves, she undoubtedly aided the elves in rounding up the vampire forces, defeating the entity, and reclaiming the crystal prison.

Unable to repair the damaged crystal, the elves hid the sword and sealed it in a vault where it was to be lost in time.

With the Vampire Wars over, the elves looked forward to a life of peace and beauty; however, many of the elves had been changed over the centuries of warfare in the darkness. They found little joy in peaceful contemplation, art, or music. They longed for confrontation, the comfort of battle…and the darkness. They rallied behind the witch, the Queen of Spiders, and returned to the darkness. The elves remaining on the surface denounced their brethren as fallen from grace and turned their backs to them; thus fracturing the elven race into two distinct races.

History

Over two thousand years ago dragons emerged from the southern continent. They overran the kingdoms and established themselves as warlord rulers. Dragons of all colors warred and politicked with each other and used the demi-human and humanoid races of this world as their servants, their soldiers, and their slaves.

The elves knew the dragons were coming and knew they could not mount an effective resistance. Resigned to their fate, the elves hid many of their unique arcane advances, literature, and artwork in secret tombs. They also unearthed the vault containing the vampire consciousness and transported it to one of these tombs to ensure the dragons did not stumble upon and accidentally unleash the entity.

Decades before the coming of the dragons, elven miners stumbled upon a unique landmass deep in the forests of their lands. A hill not unlike the hundreds of hills around it, this hill contained a large deposit of a unique ore not commonly found near the surface. An in depth study of the ore found it to be a massive Urdrukar (p. 20, Arms and Equipment Guide) geode that had been pushed towards the surface by unknown geological forces. The elves secretly carved their way into the geode and began to mine the metal ore from within the hollow center. For years the elves mined the metal in secrecy, but when the dragons came they quickly converted the mine into one of their greatest secret tombs. Because of the tomb’s virtual immunity to divination magic, the site was chosen as the tomb to house the vampire entity’s vault.

The vault was not fully completed before the dragons reached the elven forests. To continue developing the tomb, numerous elven families sealed themselves inside to continue working on the tombs magical barriers and defenses. The elves placed a powerful magical seal on the only entrance to the tomb. This magic allowed only an elf who was “pure at heart” to open the tomb’s entrance. As the dragons waged war on the surface, a handful of elves lived their life in isolation, meticulously carving rooms, passages, traps, and magical barriers to improve upon the tomb; never leaving for fear of drawing the attention of the dragons above. All was going well until a few months after the elves sealed themselves inside. Unrenowned to them, the vampire entity’s will was able to slowly permeate the vault housing his prison. The entity’s will was extremely faint, but the unique geode structure reflected his thoughts and amplified them to a point where it was possible to ever so slightly influence the will of those inside the tomb. One by one the elves slowly succumbed to his will. By the time the elves realized what was happening to them they were unable to escape the tomb. The magical barrier sealing the door no longer recognized them as being “pure of heart”. Trapped inside the tomb the elves fought each other until one remained. The most powerful of the elven wizards remained as the lone survivor. The guilt of slaying his comrades, the isolation of the tomb, and the constant psychic attacks from the vampire entity plunged the wizard into insanity. He continued developing the tombs defenses, but, as his insanity grew, so too did the fiendishness and cruelty of the magical traps and sentries he created to protect the tomb’s treasures. The wizard died a few years later, never having emerged from the tomb.

After over a thousand years of rule by the dragons, they all mysteriously vacated their lairs and headed back to the southern continent. It is unknown why the dragons left (or why they came in the first place). Some say they simply grew bored of living as rulers, some say they only came to rule the northern continent as part of some twisted game only a dragon could comprehend. Whatever their reason, they did in fact leave.

The sudden and unexpected departure of the dragons threw the nations of the northern continent into chaos. Fear and prejudices erupted though out the demi-human and humanoid masses that had come to rely on their dragon lords for guidance and leadership. People with common beliefs, common appearances, and common abilities banded together and fought those who were not like them. Eventually prominent groups established themselves into new nations. Many of these nations exist today, and many of these nations still fight each other over ideological and racial differences.

The Story

The PCs are affiliated with a nation that has been overrun by a hoard of humanoids. They currently live in refuge on a distant island with many of the nation’s premiere wizards, clerics, warriors, craftsmen, architects, and aristocrats. From this island, the survivors of the assault launch raids, mount rescue and recovery missions, and dispatch diplomatic envoys back to the mainland.

The PCs are charged with one of the diplomatic missions for this campaign. They have been tasked with the mission to return to the mainland, make contact with a nearby elven nation, and request aid for the war with the humanoid hoard.

Unrenowned to the PCs, there is a separate struggle they will stumble upon. A psychotic drow warrior has discovered the location of the sword and the tomb. He has made his way to the surface to claim the sword and unleash the vampire entity’s power. A team of drow hunters has followed him to the surface in an attempt to prevent him from succeeding (after all, the drow hate and fear the vampire entity just as much, if not more, than the surface elves). The drow warrior has a problem, he cannot bypass the magical barrier that keeps the door sealedis very cunning. He has managed to mislead the drow hunting party into believing that he has already succeeded in entering the tomb, but his plan is to follow the drow hunters and hope that they can gain entry for him.

The PCs will be traveling through the elven lands when villagers will approach them with horrific tales of drow kidnapping young elven girls and dragging them off into the forest. The drow warrior will then introduce himself as a local “ranger” (he is wearing a Hat of Disguise and other concealing magics) and offer to assist the party in locating these drow. He will lead them to the magical doorway (which looks like nothing more than a large stone surface on the side of a hill) where the drow have dismembered dozens of elven children in an effort to activate the magic seal (the magic door will open when blood from an elf “pure at heart” touches the stone). The PCs will not know this, but the drow were unsuccessful at opening the doorway and have resorted to mining their way through from the bottom.

The PCs will be unable to open the door either. With some basic investigation they will be directed to the capital city to speak with the queen – surely she would know how to open the magical doorway. The PCs should eventually determine how to open the doorway – they must retrieve a specific elf (a descendent of the bloodline of the elven family of the wizard who created the magical doorway) and convince her to help them open the door.

The heart of the campaign will be inside this tomb. I want the tomb to be huge and filled with magical traps, some undead, and a bunch of constructs. The PCs will face the drow inside of the tomb – I intend on making the drow use hit-and-run tactics so they are a persistent foe (not just one big fight). They will also have a challenge when they reach the area where the sword is kept as the DM’s character all of a sudden turns on them as soon as he has the sword in his hand. If the game goes a certain way it might be possible for the PCs and the drow hunters to fight along side each other in the end.

So are you asking for help, or people to join?

I was looking for some feedback on what y'all think of the campaign idea, and I was looking for some help with fleshing out the tomb...ideas on what things to incorporate into the tomb, traps, puzzles, etc.


This is a live game held in Houston...I'm not opposed to taking on a new player or two...but that was not my intention.

I like your setting.

Too bad I don't live in Houston. Good background work!! Like your twist on how the Drow came into being. Have a couple of ideas I used that may fit into your geode. Will PM them to you instead of openly posting (just in case).

Unfortunately I dont really have any dungeon ideas (as I prefer to run more "outdoors" adventures) accept look in the DMG at sample traps, they can be useful and there are some spell-like ones in there, but i love the idea for your campaign, and love the background (especially the part with the drow). Good luck, hope it goes well for you.

Thanks VII. I am looking forward to running my players through it...I just hope they use the right skills and ask the right questions for them to learn all this info.

The Final Challenge

Here is my plan for the final area of the tomb.

One of the "arcane advances" the elves hid in the tomb was a magically treated metal known as Sonic Brass. As the name would imply, Sonic Brass is a soft metal treated to react to sound. Elven wizards and alchemists created the metal so that elven blacksmiths, architects, and artists could sculpt, mold, and form the metal into desired shapes through the sounds and melodies of music. The technology was relatively new at the onset of the Dragon Wars so when the secrets of Sonic Brass were locked away in the tomb, the technology was eventually forgotten.

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The elves sealed the bottom portion of the geode into a large cavern approximately 100' high and 200' in diameter. In the center there is a large carved pillar standing approximately 60' high and measuring approximately 80' in diameter across its flat surface. The entire cavern is filled with water up to just a foot or two below the surface of the pillar...so the surface of the pillar appears to be an island in the center of this small lake. There is a carved pathway (10’ wide) that spirals around the pillar from the base to the summit.

The ceiling to this cavernous area is made of carved stone in a honeycomb pattern. Small amounts of soil have been packed into the honeycomb recesses, and a very rare type of poisonous mushroom was planted in the soil. The mushrooms thrive in the environment, and, over the years, as mushrooms die, they fall from the ceiling into the water below. The mushrooms slowly dissolve and decompose in the water. This has slowly turned the small lake into a lake of poison that causes paralysis on contact (DC 20).

Submerged at the bottom of the lake is the vault containing the vampire entity sword.

The entrance to this cavernous area is through a single open tunnel located at the water’s edge. There is a slender metal bridge that connects the tunnel entrance to the island in the center; however, this is no ordinary bridge. The bridge is constructed out of Sonic Brass and comes to a razors edge just above the water. Walking across the bridge would be similar to walking across a razor-sharp sword for 60’. Anyone attempting to walk across the bridge takes 1d10 damage, has their movement reduced to half (until the damage is healed), and must make a DC 25 balance check to avoid falling into the poisonous water.

The key to getting across the bridge lies in a small masterwork flute that lies in a niche on the wall. There will be an inscription on the flute that gives a hint to a famous elven nursery rhyme (DC 20 Knowledge: History/Local, or a Bardic Knowledge check will reveal the tune). Once the PCs know the right tune to play, a successful DC 20 Perform check using the flute will cause the Sonic Brass bridge to flatten along its edge into a 5’ wide path. The bridge will remain flat 1 hour.

To prevent people from just flying over the bridge, the opening from the tunnel to the cavern is shielded by a Dispel Magic field. Anything passing through the barrier is affected by a Dispel Magic spell. In addition, hundreds of ultra-fine razor wires are stretched across the upper portion of the domed cavern. The wires require a DC 20 spot check to notice, and anyone attempting to move through them takes 1d4 damage per round and becomes entangled (as the spell).

The island is a storage area for hundreds of bars of Sonic Brass, and is the location of the lever that opens large drains at the bottom of the cavern. Guarding the lever and the bars of metal is an Iron Golem made of Sonic Brass (basically a standard Iron Golem except it heals 1d6 hp every round it is exposed to any sound). The golem’s favorite attack will be to Bull Rush opponents off the island and into the poisonous lake.

I think it should be rather challenging room. :devil:

I need some creative help.

I need a cool elven name/title for a special honored group within elven society.

Under the description of "Unicorn" in the MM it says that sometimes a unicorn may allow an elven maiden who is "pure at heart" to tame and ride her.

...well...surely the elves have a name for those who are good enough to attract the favor of a unicorn.

Any ideas on what this select group of elven females would be called by other elves?

well, the most honorific honorific is usualy a normal word, but used in such a context that anyone knows it's special. someone who is a member of some brotherhood and is, to the populace simply a Brother, is very much more well known than a "brother of the iron steed", so the easiest name would be "Maiden", as in "Maiden of the unicorn knights", but if someone would sy, she's a Maiden, or she wants to join the Maidens, anyone would know.

thats one way