Café de Nuit

Finally getting to play again in a couple weeks, and I'm thinking ahead a bit. After the current adventure, I want to send my PC's on an adventure I've been planning since the beginning of the campaign. It should be a rather large climax for one of the runing threads. Problem is, there are a couple of plot holes that I've been trying to plug and not succeeding.

History:
- Long, long ago, a Ba'al Verzi dagger was hurled into the mists and corrupted by the dark powers into the Soulstealer Dagger, with the power to store the souls of whoever it slays for some arcane use. Somehow the Guardians get a hold of the dagger and set up a monastery in the mountains of Lamordia to guard it. They (or the previous owner?) set up a dungeon, filled with traps and magical guardians to protect the dagger some distance away from the monastery.

- 25 years ago, Mad Clockmaker Gustav Malvoni tried to trick his creation, Talos the Clockwork Man, (a.k.a Vir) by promising him a Soul Engine, and secretly making a bomb instead, to destroy him from within. But Talos sensed the trick, and Gustav fled from his lab in Darkon, collapsing on the mountainside of the Guardians' monastery, after a cross-country chase, where Talos lost track of him. Gustav stayed at the monastery for some time, learning about the Dagger.

- 5 years ago, Talos stole Howard Lumley's Heart Chamber (CotN:Created) from the Guardians of Mordentshire, killing Brother Griggory.

- Recently, Talos decrypted part of Gustav's journal and read of the Soulstealing dagger held by the Guardians. Knowing only of the Guardians of Mordentshire, he returned there, ransacked the Guardians' library, taking anything he could find about the Dagger, which wasn't much, but included the location of the Lamordian Monastery. Sister Eleyna left her new recruit in charge and fled to the Lamordian Monastery to warn them.

- meanwhile, a Kargat vampire, Valric, has used the mimic mortal spell to infiltrate the Lamordian Guardians. He plans to take the dagger back to Azalin, who will use it as the prototype for his Death Shards for the Grim Harvest.

Enter the PC's:
Following a clue in Gustav's journal, they will hopefully be drawn to the Monastery, where they will hear Eleyna's story and know that Vir is coming for the dagger. The overall plan for the adventure is:

1) The Guardians ask the PC's to go get the dagger, or just prevent Vir from stealing it. They send one guardian (Valric) with them.
2) The PC's go through an old fashioned dungeon crawl past the defenses to reach the dagger.
3) Valric reveals his true loyalties and grabs the dagger, turning to a bat and escaping.
4) When the PC's give chase, they find a stunned or dead Valric. Clues reveal that Vir was there, Valric tried to bite him, and got shocked instead. Vir took the dagger.
5) Following Vir's trail leads to a small hamlet where Vir is collecting souls with the dagger. He needs 13 to power the Heart Chamber, which he has installed in his chest. Vir finally reveals his true nature (Which the PC's suspect, but aren't sure of), and tries to use one of the PC's for his final soul.

Of course, PC's being PC's I don't expect it all to go according to plan, but that's the general outline. Now I've got a few plot holes that need filling:


(1) A better name for the dagger is welcome
(2) Why keep the dagger in a dungeon far away and not at the monastery itself? Because then I wouldn't have a dungeon crawl to send the PC's on, and the rest of the guardians would be around to help the PC's. But what's the in-game reason?
(3) Why would the Guardians allow the PC's to try to go get the dagger? If they trust the dungeon to keep out thieves, why not let Vir go into the dungeon and die? Why do they think the PC's could succeed where others have failed, and what are they to do with the dagger once they get it? I realize the logical course of action would be to stand at the entrance of the dungeon, and attack Vir when he arrives, or leaves. But that's boring and doesn't give the PC's much to do.
(4) Why do the guardians send only one of their number to accompany them? (Perhaps there's something back at the monastery they need to do? A ritual? Prepare for defense against Vir?)

The best answer I can come up with to a lot of these questions is that the Guardians stay home to prepare a ritual to destroy the dagger so Vir can't get it, and send the PC's to fetch it so they can destroy it. But if they have a ritual to destroy it, why haven't they done so years ago?

any help or further ideas would be much appreciated.

1) Aggarath -What a cool name for a soul sucking dagger
2) and 3) and maybe 4) So its in lamordia, so let Adam's Children take the dagger and put it in the dungeon under the sleeping beast. Could have the dagger recently just stolen, or perhaps replaced by a fake, or best option in my opinion maybe Adam not so bad of a guy and befriended a guardian and vowed to help protect the dagger by going where only a unliving creature would dare to venture. Guardian expected to get it back would be easy but since the orginal befriended guardian recently died, Adam will not return it so by avoiding dealing with adam and just steal it seems to be best option since Adam does not lair their. And small numbers are better for sneaking.

gonzoron wrote:(2) Why keep the dagger in a dungeon far away and not at the monastery itself? Because then I wouldn't have a dungeon crawl to send the PC's on, and the rest of the guardians would be around to help the PC's. But what's the in-game reason?

Since it is a soul-stealing dagger, I would give it some sort of secondary effect that slowly leeches away heat and life from around it. Nothing major as far as game mechanics, but you could have the dagger radiate a certain amount of cold and shadow within a certain radius (for example, the dagger creates cold and shadows in a 100-foot radius around it). While not overtly harmful, it will cause plant and animal life to slowly die as it sucks out their warmth and vitality. The guardians recognized this inherent evil and hid the dagger in the trap-filled labyrinth where it wouldn't be likely to harm anything.

gonzoron wrote:(3) Why would the Guardians allow the PC's to try to go get the dagger? If they trust the dungeon to keep out thieves, why not let Vir go into the dungeon and die? Why do they think the PC's could succeed where others have failed, and what are they to do with the dagger once they get it?

I suppose some of it depends on how complex and dangerous you plan on making the dungeon that protects the dagger. If it is truly that difficult to get through the traps, then they might be better off leaving the dagger hidden inside. Perhaps, the guardians know enough about Vir to realize that he would be immune to many of the traps (for example, they've somehow learned that poisons don't harm him).

Then again, the guardians might be under the mindset that anyone powerful enough to survive the dungeon would truly be terrifying if they also possessed the dagger. They might figure that the PC could either retrieve the dagger or die trying (which doesn't hurt their organization if only one member is lost in the process).

gonzoron wrote:(4) Why do the guardians send only one of their number to accompany them? (Perhaps there's something back at the monastery they need to do? A ritual? Prepare for defense against Vir?)

I like the idea of the ritual. Perhaps, the ritual is very complex and demands a high price to fulfill. The guardians found it better to leave the dagger hidden and mostly forgotten than trying to detroy it (which might cause more harm than the dagger itself). Realizing that potential threat the dagger would be in the wrong hands, the guardians finally decide to try and destory the dagger once and for all.

In fact, this could be an interesting scene to role-play as the players' characters are being drawn into the adventure. Different members of the guardians present arguments either for or against trying to destory the dagger, and the players could potential add there own opinions (which might give them all the more reason to retrieve the dagger).

2) A few suggestions:
- The dungeon entrance could be located low on a mountain with the monastary up top. They hid the dagged under the monastary but soon discovered an old series of mines and natural caves that essentially lead up to the storage vault. So the filled the mines/caves with traps.
- The dagger has a One Ring corrupting effect inspiring desire or twisting the dreams of those near it so it can't be stored too closely. Alternately it could suck and drain the souls of those nearby. It is a sould sucker dagger.

3) If the dungeon is full of poison or traps that only affect the living the Guardians might decide to send the heroes as Vir will just waltz through it.

4) Vir could have crashed the monastary and found the dagger missing but in the process injured the other young monks able to travel with the heroes. This might lead to another reason the dagger was moved. They saw him coming and used an emergancy plan to move the dagger. Maybe there is a thin air shaft leading into the mines below and they toss in the dagger (maybe in a chain-wrapped chest). So the 'dungeon' is just trapped to protect the monastary's lower levels. This also gives motive for the Players if the mine has many branches and is maze-like. It may be necassary to race Vir through the dungeon and forking paths to beat it to the dagger.

Or more then one faction could be running after the dagger:

Just days before the PCs arrive to the temple, it was attacked by a group of (whatever*), leaving all the monks dead or seriously injured except one that would follow and help them recover the dagger.

Or perhaps Vir attacked the monks and meanwhile whatever* raided th eplace and took the dagger?

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*Could be any any NPC our society you wish to insert or introduce to your campaign, as side quest, such as:

- the culprit could Blackblade (BoSorrows), working for (whatever*)?

- the Keepers of the Black Feather, foolishly wishing for the ultimate weapon against Strahd? They would aggressively protect their latest item ?

- etc. I like the Adam's children idea.

I always like the idea of making everything complicated and triple layered.

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Or the dagger could attract the attention of mad men in the area by corrupting their dreams, and one of them successfully posing as a devoted monk stole the dagger and ran away with it?

Joël

Thanks everyone for the great ideas so far!

I'm normally all for triple layered plots, but I want to keep this one on the simple side. The Forgotten Terror is one of the 9 RL products I don't own, so I'm not going to use Aggarath (didn't even know it sucked souls). And I want to save Adam for later, with Adam's Wrath. I may use him as a sort of generic bogeyman, but not in direct contact. I also like to think there's more to Lamordia than Adam and his Children. Also, his character is a bit too near Vir's.

I like Jason's quarantine idea for why they don't keep it nearby. I'll give it an aura of cold and life draining. (Shadows may be a bit too much. Maybe a few inches radius of shadow aura). That explains 2.

The Guardians know little about Vir, they will only have Eleyna's frightened ramblings. (She thinks he's enchanted somehow.) But the PC's could fill them in on their suspicions that he's a construct. I like the idea of factions within the guardians. This gives me an opportunity to work in an idea I couldn't find a place for before: A magic "intruder alarm" in the form of a wooden frame supporting a spider web, kept back at the monastery. As long as the entrance of the dungeon is undisturbed, the web remains. If any living creature larger than a rat enters, the web will break. Some of the guardians will be unwilling to admit any danger as long as the web is intact, (they are non-superstitious Lamordians after all) but the PC's suspect that he's not a living creature, so they should realize the alarm won't trip for him.

I like the idea that the traps are things he can easily get through, like poison. The trouble is, things that contructs are immune to tend to kill PC's pretty easily. I will have to be cautious.

Having the ritual be risky or costly is a good idea. I can use that as the reason they haven't done it. I prefer that to the cooincidence of just recently discovering it.

I'm going to flip Jester's idea around, and put the monastery near the base of the moutnain and the dungeon up top. Then I'll put the town Vir attacks on the other side of the mountain, down a cliff, out of range of the dagger's aura. This should make it impossible for the villagers to get up the mountain, but easy for Vir to get down without going past the monks.

I'm not so hot on the chute to drop the dagger. It's a good idea, but seems prone to false alarms, and too easy for the PC's to try something like "reduce" to lower someone down the shaft. But I do like the idea of a race for the dagger. That was the original idea. Making the dungeon fork a lot will work well. They can reach the dungeon after Vir has already entered, but still find the dagger first. I may even be able to put in some interaction, as the different paths cross. (Two bridges criss-cross across a chasm. The PC's are headed down one, and see Vir crossing the other. Roleplay ensues.)

I don't know if I want to involve another faction. I'll think on it a bit. The guardian factions, Vir, the PC's, and the Kargat seem to be enough for now. Maybe I'll add a vassalich or something that has taken up residence in the conviently life-free dungeon, but maybe not.

I think things are coming together a bit. Vir has something that belongs to the PC's, so once they know he's there, they will try to find him. And the ritual gives enough justification for the monks to let them do so. Now I just need a name for that dagger.

The Bloodknife? Sorry, but it's the other famous soul-stealing dagger, and nobody says you have to use the same powers. For that matter, you could even use The Fang of the Nosferatu!

Okay, okay, I'll try to come up with something halfway original.

The Serpent's Fang--Yeah, it's a rip off of the FotN, but if your PC's don't recognize it, there's no problem.
LifeDrinker--easy imagery
The ShadowKnife?--descriptive of the blade itself
Nox Bellorum?--Latin is a good language for hiding clues in (like you did with Vir Stannum) but I don't recall what "bellorum" means, so you might have to change it.
Ebonnacht?--German is appropriate for Lamordia, so that's yet another option. Of course, this name already applies elsewhere, so if your PC are that RL-savvy, you may need to brush up on German and make your own.