Necromantic Plots
March 15th, 2011
Hello everyone and welcome to another exciting edition of Grave Plots, where we bring you new plot hooks and adventure ideas each and every week. This week, as you may already have heard, is Necromancer Week here at Necromancers of the Northwest. Finally, a week devoted to ourselves! For those of you who tuned into Alex’s article yesterday, you will have seen his review of Dark Designs in the past year. While I considered doing something similar when I went through the archive of Grave Plots past (available here), I noticed something I found to be incredible: I never actually did a Grave Plots about, well, necromancers. Imagine my embarrassment at the discovery that, while I had written articles on vampires, ghosts, ghouls, skeletons, witches, and a whole host of other evils, somehow I had neglected necromancers. Well no longer – welcome to Necromantic Plots! Below you will find the tale of a necromancer named Xenoc and some plot ideas involving him.
Xenoc the Persistent
Xenoc the Persistent, born Risiurdr Eran, was perhaps the most feared man in the world a century ago. Rising from an obscure farm town deep in the heart of the Dead Woods, Xenoc arrived on the world stage around 130 years ago when he attacked the city-state of Trudoris with a horde of undead. This horde was comprised of the fallen legions who gave the Dead Woods their name in the distant past. The attack caught Trudoris off-guard and its leaders had no choice but to surrender. After laying aside their arms and swearing oaths of fealty, the people of Trudoris were executed en masse by Xenoc’s horde, and the corpses were reanimated and added to the army of undead.
Now, with his ranks swelled to great numbers, Xenoc’s war of conquest began in earnest. City after city and nation after nation fell to Xenoc’s power as his horde grew with each victory, and as it grew Xenoc recruited the most wicked and ambitious of men to serve as his generals. These men, dubbed dreadlords, were nearly as loathed as Xenoc during his reign of terror, for while their power was not as great, often their cruelty far surpassed that of Xenoc.
For thirty-five years Xenoc conquered unchecked, until he controlled much of the continent. It was then, when Xenoc stood poised to triumph and all hope seemed lost, that Xenoc’s invincible empire began to crumble. In the wake of the ruin and destruction left by Xenoc’s hordes, barbarian tribes from the north and south moved in to take advantage of the weakened state of Xenoc’s conquered empire. At the same time, dreadlords who had grown powerful enough began to rebel against Xenoc, forcing him to deal with internal strife simultaneously with an external threat. It was during these struggles, when Xenoc’s not inconsiderable power had been checked, that crusaders from over the sea arrived, hoping to earn honor for their god by destroying Xenoc and his evil empire. As Xenoc and his dreadlords were engaged in other wars, they stood little chance against the great crusader armies and were, for the first time in decades, pushed back. The crusade was so successful that Xenoc and his only remaining dreadlord, Avadis, were driven back to the ruins of Trudoris with the remainder of his once-great horde. Before Xenoc could be defeated, however, the crusaders and the barbarians made war on one another, with the result being that neither side was left powerful enough to destroy Xenoc without the other side gaining too much of an advantage over the other. Now, nearly a hundred of years later, this rivalry has seen the forging of numerous petty kingdoms, strong enough to check Xenoc’s influence but not strong enough to fully defeat him without giving birth to another tyrant.
Adventure: Redemption
The PCs are citizens of the kingdom of Orizod, living in the shadow of Trudoris, growing up having heard the name Xenoc uttered both as a caution and a curse. Now in their mid-twenties and living comfortably as accomplished adventurers, a most unusual letter finds its way to the PCs: a letter from Xenoc. The necromancer that tormented the land they grew up on, that nearly enslaved the continent, is asking if the PCs will come to see him, and astonishingly he’s asking for their help! Should the PCs go to see Xenoc (who provides them in the letter with magical rings which hide them from the sight of the undead), he greets them most amicably and dismisses Avadis for the meeting. Xenoc explains that over the years he has come to see the error of his former ways and he wants to offer his life as penance; unfortunately, without his influence he knows Avadis will resume his war of conquest, costing even more lives. What’s worse, Xenoc admits that Avadis is even more powerful than he is, and that he needs the PCs’ help in defeating him before he can offer restitution and end this conflict once and for all.
Adventure: Unity
In the years since the formation of kingdoms, Xenoc has continued raids against those surrounding him. Fighting only one neighbor at a time, Xenoc often conquers some small ground until a coalition can force him back to his home. So many times has the land between Xenoc and his rivals been conquered and re-conquered that it has become so torn by war as to be suited for nothing but battle. As a result, the border kingdoms (as they have come to be called) have all become close allies – close enough, even, to consider a fully united effort that might rid the land of Xenoc once and for all, if not for their other neighbors, who might descend on their weakened kingdoms, starting a war that would make even the continued threat of Xenoc seem preferable. Uffa, a great king in the border kingdoms, remains ever faithful to his crusader roots and would like nothing more than to finally see the end of Xenoc and free the land from his lingering darkness. He has asked the PCs to come see him, for he has a daring plan to do just that and he needs their help.
Uffa starts by knighting each of the PCs, who have at this time already established themselves as a powerful force for goodness in the world. Next, he brings them into a private conference where he explains his plan for uniting all of the kingdoms under his rule and finally ending Xenoc’s reign of terror. His plan may not be the most morally upright, but he feels that it is ultimately in the best interests of the people. Uffa needs the PCs to sow civil strife in the kingdoms that neighbor the border kingdoms, pushing them towards war with one another. Then, while those kingdoms are so occupied, the PCs are to help him convince the other border kings to join him in a united strike against Xenoc; he asks that they will join him for that campaign as his personal lifeguard. Finally, after Xenoc’s destruction, a united border kingdom with the glory of having defeated Xenoc may, with the PCs’ help, be able to put an end to the fighting on the borders and perhaps unite the land under one banner.
Adventure: A Dreadlord in Disguise
The king of Yulis, a minor kingdom on the border of Trudoris, sends for the PCs, whose reputation for moral flexibility and ambition is well known throughout the land. The king, Nolan, recognizes that the PCs may be influential enough to help him to gain a position of real power within the land, and explains that if they are willing to help him in his plan he promises to give them similar positions of power within the new order as well as a great deal of wealth. King Nolan first instructs the PCs to perform some small intelligence gathering about the nobility of the other border kingdoms, particularly King Uffa, and asks that they bring him any material which he could exploit to blackmail or otherwise compromise his rivals. After earning his trust by committing these morally questionable quests for him, Nolan lets the PCs in on his plan and their role in it. The PCs are to force conflicts within the border kingdoms, weakening them enough so that Nolan’s master, Xenoc, can conquer them and use the fallen from such a battle to fuel the conquest of the world as he did in days past. As reward, during the war they will all be made dreadlords.
Well, that’s it for this week’s Grave Plots; I hope to see you all next week, and until then, I would like to wish you all the best in your gaming endeavors.