User:Quincy/Journey to Ebleah (5e Quest)
Journey to Ebleah[edit]
Ebleah is a city surrounded by mountains, but the city itself is on top of a large mountain in the middle of it all. Not only is that hard and tiring, but the area has random ice lakes, and is covered in at least 2 feet of snow.The journey to get there is the easiest part. (The player will be referred to as Alpha)
History[edit]
A city once controlled by The Empire is now overrun with criminals. The Empire used to have a strong grip on the criminals but corrupt guards led to less and less control over the city. Finally, after nearly a century of the city being occupied The Empire, the criminals fought back under The Rebellion flag. The guards didn't stand a chance. After a full day of fighting on the streets, The Empire pulled back from the major city. It was a major blow the control The Empire had over the world. Not only that, it boosted moral of The Rebellion soldiers. After The Rebellion won the fight, the criminals left their organization and took the place for themselves. Now, a kingpin rules the city with an iron fist. He's practically a king. He gets whatever he wants, but no one knows his name, they just call him "Deadsilver". Nobody knows why, either. He has his own guards patrol the streets and protect him and his "Corporation". He owns nearly half the stores, but owns all of the protection. He practically sells "insurance", so if someone were to destroy or steal from the store, the guards would go after them.
The journey[edit]
Over the first set of mountains, most players will want to go through a valley, rather than go over a whole mountain. Random encounters:
1-5: An ice patch is discovered and any player that crosses the 5 ft. radius area must make a 12 Dexterity save. If it's a success, they keep their balance, but a fail will result in them falling down and taking 1 damage.
6-10: A storm starts to pick up, and snow starts to blow everywhere. The storm only stays as long the DM decides. If any player has an AC lower than 15, they must make a Constitution save of 15, or take 1 cold damage.
11-15: A pack of winter wolves appear on the horizon, and if the players turn around, there's more.
16-19: While walking, they notice a corpse of some adventurer. It comes to life if looted or touched. Use zombie in MM.
20: There is a faint glow. As the party nears it, they notice that it's a magic sword, a magic bow, a magic dagger, a magic battleaxe, and a magic staff. Each of these weapons does a bonus (PC level x 3) cold damage.
Once reaching the base of the Ebleah mountain, the PCs will notice a spiralling staircase that seems to go all the way around the mountain. Random Encounters:
1-10: Ice patch, use above as necessary. Add 1/10 chance of slipping off.
11-15: They are stopped by a group of guards. The guards perform a routine search and take what they want. Use guard in MM for combat.
16-19: A storm picks up. Use above, if there already is a storm, ignore this one.
20: They notice a door in the side of the staircase. Inside is a long hallway and a ladder leading up. Once reached the top of ladder, they can open up and be in the middle of the city.
Now that the PCs are inside the city, they will need a place to stay. As much as they ask around, nobody will tell them a thing. But, if a player asks a guard, the guard will say: "Go to Baldur, he's the inn keep around these parts. But watch yourself approaching us, next time could be fatal."Baldur's Inn can be found near the city gates, toward the front of the city. Once entering Baldur's Inn, a lady by the name of Elysia will greet the party: "Hello, I'm Elysia, how can help y'all, tonight?" The players can say they each need rooms or pair up. Elysia will say: "Sorry, but you'll have to wait a few hours, they're being cleaned up right now. We have a pub over here. now, take care." The players can rest at the pub area or leave and go shop around places. But if a player tries to interact with someone else, the NPC will ignore them and walk away.
After a few hours (minutes irl), the room will be ready and the party can sleep in the designated rooms chosen by the DM. During the night, one of the players will wake up randomly (or one that wasn't sleeping gets up). Alpha leaves their room and has a strange urge to go into the large room with the balcony. They wiggle the handle and it opens. Alpha sees a person on the balcony that mildly intrigues them for an unknown reason. Alpha approaches the person is suddenly thrown off the balcony by the person but while falling, a dragon swoops by and pick them up, carrying them up high, into the sky. Suddenly that chosen player actually wakes up (possibly from a trance) and sees a person standing in front of them holding a wand. Alpha is immobilized and can't yell. A guard barges through the door, waking everyone else up. The person holding the wand disappears into a cloud of mist. Alpha and the guard make eye contact.
The guard takes Alpha and the party down to the protection building. He introduces himself as Racen, an orc ambassador. He explains: "The person you saw was an illusion of the powerful Illusionist, Firroth. He is a force to be reckoned with. You must've done something to anger him. What have you guys done so far?" One of the players has to tell the whole story of what they've done since seeing the mountains. To which Racen says: "I don't see how you could've angered him but you've managed to do it. You all will stay with us for the time being." If any players object, they will be thrown out of the building. Outside the building will be an illusion of a dragon surrounded in plate armor. The player will automatically be frightened and run inside. Afterwords, Racen will give the party all one room to sleep. The whole party will sleep.
Once everyone has woke up, they will find the person standing in the middle of the room. The illusion will vanish right as Racen enters. He tells the party: "Carry on to what you were doing before all this happened. If he wanted you dead, you would've already been dead by now." The players then leave the building and can go shop or the DM can make up another quest. But each time the party enters a different village, city, cave, or dungeon, there will be an illusion of the person standind in the middle of their line of sight.
Once each player in the party has reached level 20, the illusionist will show himself. "I am Firroth. A fun game we've played so far. We're practically old friends by now. *laughs* Now time to really meet you in person. *evil grin* What's your name?" He charges the players, but disappears on contact. Use User:Quincy/Firroth (5e Creature) for the battle.