Hello.
Pls check my 2nd post for some ideas on the conspiracy part.
Lately my group got captured by the villain of the story, who was surprisingly kind.
He was LE and hid himself on a very desolate place to build an army and a godlike weapon. The PCs tried to stop him, but bit more then they could chew with this.
They spent 2 days in his dungeon and had quite some time talking to him.
He wanted to hear the storys and adventures they went through and was particular interested in by citys and kingdoms.
After the 2 days his weapon and army was finnished and he plans to invade the material plane/ a kingdom to create his own kindgom.
Befor he let them go he gave them the advice to stay away from waterdeep for a while.
Not knowing what that meant the players left the fortress.
So obviously he is going to attack somewhere. But he isnt stupid so telling them to not come close to waterdeep could as well be a fint so that they move there and maybe even draw soldiers away from another kingdom, where he actually wants to attack.
The troups so far consist of:
Main force: Iron golems (Some could be gargantuan as siege weapons)
Fire Elementals: Different creatures from the fire plane. Led by 2 greater and 1 elder fire elemental
Drow: The PCs killed the drow embassador so there wont be many of them.
Steel predators: Again, the Pcs killed the pack lord, so not many left of those. The remaining might as well leave too.
They are also allied to some mindflayers who might take some actions there.
NPCs:
Imperagon: LE Duergar cleric with dragon blood heritage. Wielding a huge +5 unholy fire blast scimitar with additional effects. (Fireshield, true seeing...)
Devastra: His bodyguard. A duergar monk.
Lydzin: A pitfiend
A fallen trumpet archon
A cloud giant (half fiend) with his pet a 10 h cryo hydra
And another sorcerer, whos name I forgot.
Everyone of them is a pretty hard one to take down, not to mention all together + the army.
Now I am thinking of how to organzize this so that the PCS might actually stand some kind of chance to win this.
Even if the get help from Silverymoon, Cormyr and maybe some other places they know, its still very hard.
-----------------------------------------------
After my 2nd post I am aiming more for a social sheming encounter here:
Collecting my thoughts:
Waterdeep:
1) Anybody can enter as long as you stick to the rules.
2) Mindflayers/mindbenders corrupt the leaders so that Imperagon has a better position.
3) Imeragon caused a big metal crisis, which effected a lot of citys, now he has a lot of metal to offer and even is a very skilled blacksmith himself.
4) He is allied with a lot of forces, he could order the drow to siege the city, together with a Pit fiend and fire elementals, just so that he can come to save the city with his iron golems. Allowing him to bring them into the city. And he would bring "peace" to waterdeep and the constant Drow problem. Maybe even offering businesses with them.
5) He wants to take over the city with less force as possible. The end result would be to unmask or even kill the masked lords witout pulling the attention to him. ( The Drow could have assasinated some of them already spreading fear in the noble classes)
WIth the remaining lords in fear he could easier introduce himself as a hero with special authoritys. Finally taking over if he has enough support in the city.
So what to do with the PCs if they decide to but in?
1) They came to him first, he had never seen them befor they entered his hidden castle. There they broke in and killed some of his men. While he was generous enough to let them go.
2) Isnt EVERYBODY welcome in the city of waterdeep (esp. if he brings tons of metal and protection) ?
3) What has he done so far to threaten the city ?
4) Maybe one of the other masked lords brings up the idea to steal his magical sword. Imperagon has planned for this and always has a faked sword at his bed instead, while the real one is hidden. If stolen he could easily accuse the PCs in public and maybe even the lord.
The only thing that led the PCs to him was a series of murderer done by steal predators. Resulting in killing the pack leader. This doesnt really connect to Imperagon, he could indead point out that he had "HIS" predators under control until they killed the packleader. Setting them loose. Those who killed poeple might have been from another pack.
If they continue to but in:
He could use a noble in waterdeep to send a message to Cormyr. Sending our Cleric back there so that he is out of the way. Request for some stupid task.
