Plot Assistance Needed: Memento Mori of Maykle

[DeepShadow of FoS]

One of my PC's was claimed by Darkon, only to get un-claimed by a group of Memento Mori in Maykle. This particular cell of MM isn't quite as fanatic as others, partly because they take advantage of a unique resource that they keep secret among themselves: Maykle hosts the demiplane's single connection to the World Serpent Inn, a planar crossroads that connects to hundreds of worlds. When people cross the threshold into the Inn, their memories are restored, and many join the cell and help keep the secret.

Now I know that the World Serpent Inn is more high-fantasy than many of you prefer, but they can't actually leave the demiplane that way; the Mists still have claim on them in the Inn, and they can't leave by any door apart from the one they entered by. This alone is very frustrating to members of the cell, so that while they use the Inn's magic to keep their memories, and for free food and healing, most of them don't spend much time there after the initial gloss wears off. The PC in question would be the exception, because she's meeting friends and family from offworld there and planning a desperate escape attempt to get her group back home.

So...I've been so focused on other aspects of this setup (see the DbtD Crossover thread) that I feel like I'm neglecting to set the proper tone for such a setup. It can't all be that easy, after all. Such a scenario would eventually warrant Azalin's attention, but I can see they would get away with it for a while, and even once he finds out, would he necessarily stop it, or would this fall under the rule of "never destroy a useful tool" that he uses to let nascent paladins live?

Oh, and the PC was led to this corner of Darkon by a Vistani prophecy that basically said Azalin's neglect would be the safest option for her...so I need him to be neglectful without seeming like this is all just handed to them.

So...what's a reasonable threat for such a scenario?

[DustBunny]

Oh, and the PC was led to this corner of Darkon by a Vistani prophecy that basically said Azalin's neglect would be the safest option for her...so I need him to be neglectful without seeming like this is all just handed to them.

By neglect - do you mean
*Azalin is completely ignorant of the Inn, but he would love to find out?
*He knows of it, but has lost immediate interest for now (for whatever reason)?
*He knows of it, but will not immediately interfere with what the PC's cook up?

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Oh, and the PC was led to this corner of Darkon by a Vistani prophecy that basically said Azalin's neglect would be the safest option for her...so I need him to be neglectful without seeming like this is all just handed to them.

By neglect - do you mean
*Azalin is completely ignorant of the Inn, but he would love to find out?
*He knows of it, but has lost immediate interest for now (for whatever reason)?
*He knows of it, but will not immediately interfere with what the PC's cook up?

Any of those would qualify as flavors of "neglect" for these purposes. I just don't want the party to feel like they are getting away with too much.

I was thinking of a Kargat officer/agent in the area who is snooping around and knows they are hiding something, and they have to remove the threat without causing a bigger problem. Y'know, the whole "Let him live and he'll blab, kill him and his superiors will investigate" situation. But a Kargat officer is presumably representing the threat of Azalin, who is supposed to be one of the above flavors of neglectful.

I think my problem is that my brain is searching for challenges and due to the above constraints, it's stuck on "Not Azalin." So if not Azalin, who? Who would be in a position to find out about such a situation and pose a threat to it?

[DustBunny]

I was thinking of a Kargat officer/agent in the area who is snooping around and knows they are hiding something, and they have to remove the threat without causing a bigger problem. Y'know, the whole "Let him live and he'll blab, kill him and his superiors will investigate" situation. But a Kargat officer is presumably representing the threat of Azalin, who is supposed to be one of the above flavors of neglectful.

*top of head thinking*

Azalin doesn't know about the Inn. As it is of extraplanar (sort of) origin it has its own 'circle of influence' like demons do. As a result it is essentially a 'blind spot' for Azalin. However that doesn't mean his agents dont know about it, but have decided not to tell him. Keep the Kargat as they are the most likely to seamlessly fit into the area - however this cell knows about the inn, its blind spot and its status as a planar nexus and have decided to run their own little operation on the side.

Sure things can't _leave_ Raveloft by the Inn, but things can _enter_ by the Inn. They have set up a nice little scheme where they have agents (just like the PC) bring lots of exotic goods , magic toys, luxuries, etc from the outside world to the inn, hand them over and then the cell takes the goodies to Ravenloft and sell them for astronomical prices. They also use the Inn as a meeting point, as due to the 'blind spot' they can plot all sorts of wonderful schemes without Az detecting them.

Now they wouldn't pay much attention to a new person (the PCs) at first, but after numerous repeated visits by the PC's they may start getting suspicious and worried that the PC will do something to alert Az of thier little scam, or are maybe even Az's agents. In turn the PC's just can't kill them all, as all the Kargat in town dropping dead would alert higher ups something is going on and be investigated.

Thus the PC's and the Kargat have to engage in a little dance, circling around each other, foiling each others attempts without making too much of a disturbance which would get them all in trouble. And then one of the deliveries in the regular good delivery contains a magic toy which is rumoured to let someone escape Raveloft and the stakes in the game just got a lot higher....

This way neither the PC's or Kargat want the higher ups to be involved as it would be bad news for both of them, but neither can they ignore the problem each represents to the other. You could even have the Kargat intervene if the PC does something which could alert the higher ups. Neither side would like it, but its better than the alternative.

[Mistmaster]

Azalin and neglet are two opposite words in my hopinion; Azalin is a micro managing control-crazy undead tyrant. He always knows.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Azalin doesn't know about the Inn. As it is of extraplanar (sort of) origin it has its own 'circle of influence' like demons do. As a result it is essentially a 'blind spot' for Azalin.

I kind of like this, and not only a blind spot as in he can't see into it, but a blind spot as in he can't even notice that he can't see into it. If you've ever done one of these things:
https://visionaryeyecare.wordpress.com/ ... -each-eye/
you'll know that when something is literally in your blind spot, you don't see it all, and that we all have a blind spot in each eye and never notice it all day.

[tomokaicho]

I was thinking of a Kargat officer/agent in the area who is snooping around...

Let me help you out. In Troy Denning's Prism Pentad series of Novels for Dark Sun, there is a quest for the Dark Lens. Now, the protagonists are far weaker than the Sorcerer Kings and Dragon, so a reason must be given as to why the Sorcerer Kings do not seek it out themselves. Quite simply, the Dark Lens is cursed. Anyone that tells a Sorcerer King or Dragon of the location of the Dark Lens by any means dies a quick death, their brains coming out their ears. This is a useful literary device to explain why powerful beings cannot do X.



Have the PCs spy a Kargat agent doing just that - using a magical communications device to talk to Azalin (and perhaps he can be seen like Darth Sidious' holograms) to tell him about the Inn, only to die on the spot, with Azalian cursing at his tormentors before he fades out.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Azalin doesn't know about the Inn. As it is of extraplanar (sort of) origin it has its own 'circle of influence' like demons do. As a result it is essentially a 'blind spot' for Azalin.

I kind of like this, and not only a blind spot as in he can't see into it, but a blind spot as in he can't even notice that he can't see into it. If you've ever done one of these things:
https://visionaryeyecare.wordpress.com/ ... -each-eye/
you'll know that when something is literally in your blind spot, you don't see it all, and that we all have a blind spot in each eye and never notice it all day.

Well, Azalin is aware of reality wrinkles. Perhaps with this one being stationary, he assumes it's a slumbering or bound fiend. The last time he sent a Kargat officer into such a blind spot, the guy pursued his own agenda and opened a portal into the Hells (see: The Heart's Final Beat). Maybe Azalin is deliberately ignoring this one, figuring he'll deal with it personally when and if the "fiend" wakes up.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Azalin and neglet are two opposite words in my hopinion; Azalin is a micro managing control-crazy undead tyrant. He always knows.

Of course you are welcome to pursue your own version of him, but the type of neglect I am describing has been established repeatedly in canon, and explicitly in Gaz2. He simply doesn't have all the time and attention to watch all those who oppose him all the time.

And on the scale of threats, Memento Mori is pretty small potatoes. They aren't even fighting Azalin, only the memory drain effect. For all we know, Azalin can't stand the memory drain either. It surely plays havoc with foreign trade.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

For all we know, Azalin can't stand the memory drain either. It surely plays havoc with foreign trade.

We know he either likes it or doesn't care. If he truly wanted it gone, he'd assign a zombie to cross out names in the book of names in the Avernus library as soon as they get written in.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

For all we know, Azalin can't stand the memory drain either. It surely plays havoc with foreign trade.

We know he either likes it or doesn't care. If he truly wanted it gone, he'd assign a zombie to cross out names in the book of names in the Avernus library as soon as they get written in.

True. I guess that's my bias bleeding through...but that does suggest a new direction to take this in. I'm sure some of you may not want to follow me, but I'm going to do a deep dive into the mechanics, because of course I am.

Gaz2 says that people who leave the domain and then return, the Book of Names in Avernus "simply starts over 1d3 months later." So, members of this cell would have to regularly visit the Inn to keep from being claimed again. But...it doesn't say that the biography immediately picks up again the moment they reenter. The way it's worded, it sounds like the quill starts writing some undetermined time after they enter, and the 1d3 months only refers to the moment the name is reentered and the memories are swapped. This actually makes a lot of sense, because the quill has to cover all the people who enter; it must have a huge backlog.

This means that if the members of MM are entering the Inn at least once a week, their biographies may not ever pick up again with the new material. They keep dropping to the end of the list. This puts them in a unique position of being within the scope of Darkon's memory loss but never affected by it. It's possible that this also makes them 99% immune to Azalin's modify memory power, because their most recent memories are unavailable until inscribed. Technically he can rewrite their memories because they are within the confines of the domain, but in order to do that, he would need some other means of knowing they were there.

This is different from the Inn itself being a blind spot to standard DL powers, like a reality wrinkle. This makes for the Memento Mori cell members specifically being individual blind spots for Azzie's most reliable grip he has on his citizenry. BUT it also means there's someone else who is in a unique position to know something about what's going on: the Librarian of Avernus, Elzarath. He would eventually notice that there were books floating there open, waiting to be written in, but never getting a turn. If he changed the priority for these biographies to be amended first, he'd find that they were all in Maykle, and that they all know each other. With enough time, he'd know all about Memento Mori and everything else they were hiding, including the Inn.

In a previous Bait This Hook, Rock proposed that Elzarath might have his own agendas to pursue. This would be an interesting opportunity for him to do so. He has access to the biographies of people who are already in the Book of Names, and can communicate that way with them in a crude fashion, with little chance of getting caught and lots of believable excuses if he was.

I'm thinking the end-of-queue loophole is their first line of defense, as above, and Elzarath is their second...but also their first big liability. He's going to want to communicate with them via a method they will object to, and will demand things of them in compliance with his own agenda.

Have the PCs spy a Kargat agent doing just that - using a magical communications device to talk to Azalin (and perhaps he can be seen like Darth Sidious' holograms) to tell him about the Inn, only to die on the spot, with Azalian cursing at his tormentors before he fades out.

I may end up including part of this as well. The mysterious Owner of the World Serpent is a meta-deity, putting them on par with the Dark Powers. I'm sure this isn't the first time that the Inn has been sought after by evil forces for exploitation, the Owner may have measures in place to avoid that.

[DustBunny]

Is the Inn an actual physical building, or a door into an extraplanar interior?

That is - if you strolled into Maykle would you see a building called the 'World Serpent Inn'? Or is it more like the Midnight Market where you have an unassuming door you enter which takes you 'elsewhere' - elsewhere being the Inn's interior.

If it is physcial, are you 'in the nexus' the moment you walk through the front door, or is there a discreet 'members only' area which takes you to the nexus. Just thinking of what happens if an ordinary RL citizen wanders in for a drink and notices a parade of obviously (tails, wings, glowy halos, etc) extraplaner enteties at the bar.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Is the Inn an actual physical building, or a door into an extraplanar interior?

That is - if you strolled into Maykle would you see a building called the 'World Serpent Inn'? Or is it more like the Midnight Market where you have an unassuming door you enter which takes you 'elsewhere' - elsewhere being the Inn's interior.

If it is physcial, are you 'in the nexus' the moment you walk through the front door, or is there a discreet 'members only' area which takes you to the nexus. Just thinking of what happens if an ordinary RL citizen wanders in for a drink and notices a parade of obviously (tails, wings, glowy halos, etc) extraplaner enteties at the bar.

Good Questions. It's mostly just a portal; there's a bar in Maykle called the Masterwork Donkey, and if someone knocks three times in the open doorway (i.e. in the empty air) and says, "In the name of [insert any deity] I will enter," the doorway becomes a portal to the World Serpent Inn. Crossing the threshold is all it takes to leave Darkon.

So, to anyone who doesn't know the trick, it's just a bar. The owner of the bar is a PC, and a member of Memento Mori. He's planted bushes and stuff to hide the front door from the street, but there's always a risk, especially because the sign for the bar changes to read "The World Serpent Inn" until someone goes through. So far they are not been spotted.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Okay, this one has been percolating a while, and I've got another possible adventure hook that could go multiple directions. This one had a lot of potential because it's a potential adversary who is not part of a power structure that leads to Azalin.

In this article, the final entry is about the Soldiers of Truth, a group of missionary minded anchorites and supporting laypeople who use Mist-travel for rapid-fire proselyting and rescuing their converts from oppressive theocracies. They have some imitators among the LE sect who aren't quite as discriminating about who wants to go to the Promised Land. I cut out the part of the article where it explained that "Wonderworking" was the general term for such a practice. So, there's your background.

What if some of the Ward of Perdition congregation is participating in Wonderworking, and taking advantage of the Claiming effect of Darkon to wipe people's minds? This would create an influx of Claimed that Memento Mori would seek to un-Claim using the Inn, BUT it's not like everyone is being hogtied or shanghaid. It's possible a majority of them did want to go, and some of them may have wanted to be Claimed. Then there the logistics that will almost certainly involve kidnapping them AGAIN, and they would be obligated to get the people home...it's a huge deal, and it's exactly the kind of can of worms I'd expect MM to get into.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

I'm moving forward with this plot about the Wonderworkers, but I'm concerned about the mechanics. The flavor text for clergy of Ezra says they ought to be able to guide a group like this, but the PF mechanics don't quite support this. The Anchorite prestige class doesn't have an ability like this like they did in 3.5. The Mists domain allows for teleport without error, but it doesn't say that will work across domain boundaries. Not to mention, this doesn't make a lot of sense. The prestige class has all these other powers that would go along with mist travel, but what ought to be the signature power of the prestige class is available to just straight clerics?