Domain of the month - Necropolis

[Joël of the FoS]

Esteemed members of the Fraternity,

Another month, another domain ! The land of the undead people ... Necropolis!

Third edition: RL3E / RLPH, Gaz 2 (gotta love S's probing details for this area)

Second edition: Domains of Dread

Adventure: Requiem: The Grim Harvest

Formed from the ruins of Darkon after the Grim Harvest.
Necropolis was later reduced to the ancient of the Il-Aluk city.

Darklord: Death

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From now on, in these monthly adventure hook requests, we will eventually cover all domains, but will also offer brainstorming opportunity about famous NPCs of dread.

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So post here your adventure hooks or stories.

Reminder: This thread is not just for adventure hooks, it can also be to host short verbatim of local sayings or fireside tavern conversations, à la Gaz 1 web enhancement... or your DM thoughts about this domain.

This thread is for posting adventure hooks or comments / suggestion / improvements on another poster's hook. Other comments will be deleted.

Joël

[HuManBing]

I regretted the changes to Il Aluk and the formation of Necropolis. Death is a fairly interesting character, but Necropolis is of limited interest to anybody not playing an undead character.

Rather than say it never happened, I am trying to think up of a grand plot where Azalin and his numerically superior army of Kargat operatives are infiltrating Necropolis with an eye to overthrowing Lowellyn Dachine and his minions.

I think the state of mind might be very much like the Soviets operating in Poland, or the political intrigues of the Qing dynasty manipulating the Vietnamese or Burmese kingdoms - a large nation is trying to enforce its will on a smaller nation where the defiant leader is ensconced in a strong power base and difficult to remove.

Azalin might be able to send undead operatives armed with newborn paraphernalia to knock out the Necropolitan leadership. Perhaps this would make for a dramatic capstone adventure, when the PCs know their heroes are doomed to become undead, but are sacrificed for a good cause.

In an Invasion campaign, the only creatures that can get into and out of Necropolis are undead. Perhaps the Kargat are busy harvesting powerful sorcerors, mages, priests, and warriors to become undead soldiers who can use their old class skills in an assault on Necropolis. The older Kargat would certainly be eager to regain the Grim Fastness and expunge the stain of treachery. Maybe the PCs fall afoul of this, and are part of the mortal constabulary trying to figure out what is going on.

Another thing I was unable to figure out is how Death would ever have a vulnerability to the cry of a newborn. It makes sense that he's vulnerable, but given the parameters of the Shroud, no newborn can make it in alive.

Perhaps Azalin has decided to employ an undead child? Maybe the PCs get to see a Kargat member sneaking into an orphanage at night and "embracing" all the babies - definite cause for a horror check. Whether these newborn vampires would count as babies for the purpose of immobilizing Death is uncertain.

Another poster suggested that the Positive Planar energy created by the Rift Spanner device could reverse the Shroud or even destroy Necropolis entirely if the device is overcharged.

If the PCs are part of the plot, it could make for an interesting decision: do they hijack the device to try to leave Ravenloft on their own? Or do they sacrifice the device to bring down the Shroud? (Of course, to even be in a position for that sort of decision, they may well have failed several Powers checks, especially if they were involved in charging it up.)

These are all ideas for eliminating Necropolis. However, I'm sure the designers included the realm because they wanted to have a playground for undead PCs. Maybe the PCs are the spearhead of the overthrow - perhaps they have encountered an accident in Darkon and become undead, and instead of giving up their characters, they want to go out in a blaze of glory and try to take down the darklord instead. Or, just maybe, they find companionship amongst the other lost souls and Death is able to turn them into a weapon to use against Azalin...

[ScS of the Fraternity]

Well, Necropolis may not be very gothic, but it is an ideal location for borrowing post-apocalyptic scenarios:

Escape from Necropolis

The PCs are arrested by the Darkonese for various crimes. They are sentanced to death and await execution. However, a powerful Kargat agent approaches them with an offer they can't refuse.
A noblewoman of great importance was passing through northern Darkon by convoy, when it was attacked by the minions of Death. Death has since sent back a finger with a signet ring - proving that the dread lord still has his hostage.
Naturally, the kargat wants the noblewoman back, but they dare not send their own agents into the shroud, for Death has ways of sensing the residue of Azalin's control. The only viable solution is to send outsiders into the city to find and recover the missing noblewoman. They are warned that because of Death's influence, she will resist. Still, the kargat requires her alive (or undead) and unharmed.
The players are disguised as zombies and put through a magical ritual to protect their lifeforces. Of course, the disguises and rituals are all fake - they are merely intended to keep the pcs ignorant of their own deaths in the shroud.

Contrary to the Kargat's story, the noblewoman in question is not Death's hostage. She is infact a spy sent from an enemy kingdom (Barovia? Falkovnia? Borca?) She had uncovered some of the deepest secrets of the Kargat through a contact, before being discovered. She fled into Necropolis, knowing that it was the one place she could hide. For their part, the Kargat need her alive so that they can extract the name of her contact within their organization.
What's worse, the contact is, in fact, privy the rescue mission. Counter-agents are shadowing the PCs, waiting for them to find the agent so that they can silence her once and for all.
Meanwhile, the Unholy Order of the Grave is out in force. Death is aware of the intrusion of foreign bodies and is determined to root out the intruders and discover what plot is at hand.

Between deathles assassins and unholy armies, the players must find the truth if they are to escape. And this time, what the PCs don't know, can kill them.
Again.

[Joël of the FoS]

An idea I work with for my campaign:

Some afflicted PCs with lycanthropy hear of a particular aspect of the Shroud: non magical disease do not survive the Shroud. Is it their last hope to get rid of this dreaded affliction?

How will they get the Amaranth plant?

What else will they encounter within Death's territory?

Joël

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

I hated Necropolis when it first appeared. I have since begrudgingly accepted it, but still decided never to have the requiem occur in my campaign. Necropolitan Amaranth was the single greatest invention in a Gazetteer, for taking a whole domain from unusable to usable in my mind.

The Amaranth could be used to get a live baby inside, so that weakness isn't totally useless.

Another great use of Necropolis doesn't even take place there: The Dunkel Kralle adventure from The Forgotten Children is highly recomended.

[Jester of the FoS]

He lived in Il Aluk all his life save for a brief trip to Lamordia. It was his home and home to his family for generations. Then the Requiem came and everyone died, the land was ruled (in name only) by the being known only as Death. But it was still his home. He died in the Requiem becoming a rotting husk of a man but his life continued much as it had before, even the dead needed furniture and thus a carpenter made his dues. Then came the year of the Horsemen and upheaval when the king return and the Necropolis became a true land to itself, but that was not his concern, Il Aluk always was and always would be his home.
Until the Darkonian memory effect faded, he was no longer within the borders of that land. His past returned slowly and he was not home. He hadn’t been home for years. He’d left his life in Lamordia behind for a fantasy. Everything he’s fought and struggled and died for has been a lie!
He needs help to gather together the pieces of his life: help to escape from the land of the dead, help to find his scattered family and help to tie up his forgotten loose ends. But who would help a corpse?

[Jester of the FoS]

Il Aluk, like most major cities, was built atop older cities. Choice real estate has never varied over the centuries. Ruins atop ruins sink into the depths of the city with the lowest levels of the sewers breaking into the upper levels of the ancient structures.
There are rumours of forgotten magics from Ages past when the wizard-kings ruled and Artifacts that could drive back the night or bring glory to the wielder. fought and the Pale Realm was at its weakest. Or so the legends go.
How deep does the Shroud go? Miles underground or just meters? The tunnels might even be safe for a time, but what are the effects of prolonged expose to the Shroud? Could there be side-effects other than death and resurrection?

* * *

There’s a feat, in Champions of Darkness I believe, where the character is immune to level drain and the Shroud (according to ask Azalin) at the price of having no soul.
A trader with this makes his living moving in between Darkon and Necropolis supplying one with the goods of the other.
Unfortunately, both sides (Azalin and Death) have learned of his existence and both see the benefits of having a living agent able to survive in the Shroud. Now he need protection to escape the grasp of not one, but two darklords!

[Coan]

Death has penetrated through to the Dark Vault -Azalin's inner sanctum and storage for his most valued possessions.

Inside Death finds many tools for the Undead Order, weapons of horror, biological plagues contained in magical fields and vast experiments including notes relating to the original spread of the 'Crimson Death' plague. But what is most intriguing is within a single cell at the very pits of the vault. Locked away inside is a madman. Someone claiming to be a multitude of personalities that often change from disturbingly peaceful and precise to outrageous extremes. This man says he knows about the secret of the world's creation and how to tune it right so to make it sing his masters music. He has great knowledge that should not exist including information on who Azalin really is -what will Death do with him? What is this man's connection to Azalin? (or ol' Firan as the lunatic sometimes calls him) and how does he know so much?

[Coan]

Death has consorted with the greatest minds of the core (through whatever means the DM wishes as this itself may form an investigative part of the adventure) and has created a device capable of erasing Lowellyn Dachine from Death's mind.

Lowellyn has now taken on incorporeal form as he taunts and replays his life's most memorable scenes infront of his ever more twisted reality of himself.

As the device activates the PCs are sucked into the mind of Death and Lowellyn. Inside they see events of Lowellyn's life replaying themselves up to his transformation. They realise Lowellyn was not so bad but was made to be that way through the conditioning of the Kargat and that through messages left by the subconcious of Lowellyn -he wants there help in changing his mind's past so that his current self can change.

But is this all a game? Does the true Lowellyn just wish to escape the negative energy prison of 'Death' and give rebirth to the Eternal Order. To be its true messiah?

And what of Death? He stalks the inner memories of Lowellyn himself with intent on distroying the human within.

What can happen in a man's mind? Are the rules of reality even boundries there? The PCs will have to find out...

[Coan]

Just what would happen if the negative energy barrier began to fail? Currently it is the only thing stopping a Darkonian army from retaking the once 'Jewel of Darkon'. Well as all energy eventually fades (perhaps being slowly used up over time by animating the dead of Necropolis and feeding Death itself) Death has devised several contingencies.

One of these options is creating replicas of itself to confuse his enemies. Through a rift created by his routine of liches he has leaked more negative energy into his plane of existence and is slowly 'cloning' himself. The problem is that as with his own mind -each believes itself the 'real' Death.

Death has also thought to transfer himself back in time. This would greatly weaken him even after extensive preparations, reducing him to a shade of himself. In this form he would retreat to a tomb he has recently become aware of in his current time and there his shade would go into a deep sleep for many years until he was strong enough to begin feeding.

Feeding is also something new Death may have learned. He has gained knowledge of the connection between the plane of Ravenloft and of the enigmatic 'Grim Reapers' (from Denizens of Darkness). Now in possible control of them he uses them as agents through out the core or by process of an altered planar 'transposition' plans to exchange his current position for that of a reaper itself.

As his Darklord status falls away more options become open to Death. In perhaps all of Darkon he may be unique in being the only thing immune to Azalin's power of memory alteration and undead command. This places him in an interesting position as he begins researching his nemeses' weaknesses. The Eternal Order -once a sociological tool for mass control has fallen out of favour with Azalin and is in tatters. If the lich can alter memories perhaps in an irony only the Dark Powers could know -the reverse is true. Azalin is nothing without his minions and pawns. Should Death arise and become the prophet of The Eternal Order he might begin to alter the written history of Darkon, to replace Azalin and the laws and past he has so carefully constructed. To in turn replace the lies the lich has cast around himself with new half-truths and falsehoods that serve Death's purpose.

As Azalin struggles to maintain control of his empire his own memories leak into those minds he touches. By means of soul harvesting Death accumulates this knowledge to his own advantage and keeps Azalin busy and away from other machinations.

Death also secretly knows he is no match for Azalin, so he may retreat to another domain so to gain more power for what he knows will one day be a final confrontation with his 'father'. This need to prove himself as the Death that comes for all drives him while inside his bottled emotions are troubled as his souless eyes watch the humanity he never had but inwardly wishes he could experience. This causes much self loathing as the two personalities of Death and Lowellyn struggle.

[Tobias Blackburn]

In an attempt to claim Darkon, Death has begun to rebuild the Doomsday Machine. He has his agents kidnapping scientists and mages from across the Core and beyond in order to use their knowledge to adjust the machine. He plans to use it to drain the energy of the Shroud directly into himself, gaining ultimate power and enabling him to bring about the end of all things living.

[Coan]

Time bubble:

The Necropolitan Barrier is experimented on by the Fraternity of Shadows (or a consortium of Hazlani mages) in an attempt to discern its nature and find a possible application of it for themselves.

The magic they inflict on the bubble has a strange and unforeseen effect. By a strange combination 'time alteration resonation sequence' occurs which turns the negative energy barrier into a barrier in time. Within which time moves much faster than outside. Evolution of the undead takes place and Necropolis changes until such time as the resonations cease, the mages stop it or those within evolve/find a way out.

Necropolis in this way becomes 'the unknown' armies of cloned undead troops could emerge, invasion plans drawn up over hundreds or thousands of years are implemented before Darkon and the Core have only a comparitive number of weeks or possibly days to prepare.

Could this be the Dark Powers final plan brought forward by the folly of mortals? Or simply the herald of the time of unparalleled darkness?

[Coan]

Fixing Necropolis:

Many people lost families in Il Aluk (now Necropolis) some are still alive due to being outside the city when the twilight fell. Some have come to a realisation and have mourned their friends and kin. Others still seek revenge, while a few have turned to reversing the effect.

Negative energy can be neutralized with positive energy. So if a large explosion of negative energy can do this an equally sized release of positive energy (released all at once in circumstances similar to the Twilight) might destroy the barrier and return the city to life.

A man or woman from a civilized domain who studied in the University of Il Aluk and married there lost all they had ever loved when Azalin's plans were foiled. Now they have spent the time needed to gather the instruments of 're-establishment' (not the least of which is their own child!)

What is the greatest source of positive energy? Ancient Undead and Clerics capable of channeling it. Turning their own child into an Ancient Undead and using them as a vessel for the positive energy gathered by Clerics around the core (each from a different religion) they will sacrafice their own child into a device capable of magnifying the energy and bringing down Necropolis for good.

How are the other religions conspiring in what is obviously an evil act of murder to gather the positive energy? Well each religion has shady dealings and many may be mis-guided in seeing the ends justify the means if it is possible to rid the world of the blighted city. It is a global conspiracy linking each major religion for the first common goal they have ever had.

But will anyone stop them? And does this key player who set the plan in motion have other goals hidden from his/her partners?

[Coan]

A sabatical (note extended adventure hook from Gaz 2):

The Fraternity of Shadows once had a powerful sect in the University of Il Aluk. Many of their prized works of research and theories still reside there. But that was years ago and they've since given up on trying to retrieve them -until now.

A necromatic plague is taking over books throughout Darkon, spreading diseased passages of the dark arts and hidden truths in independent passages. It began in the far east of Darkon and over time has spread like an epidemic. Book stores in Dementlieu now occasionally find debase descriptions of sacrafice in new and old shipments alike. And it is spreading further.

The Fraternity of Shadows is just one of the major players seeking to collect these books -hoping to pool all the strange knowledge and decrypt its message. But as the diseased books spread they begin to realize the plague is out of control and even reaching their own prized texts.

What is more, several authors of the newer books are comitting suicide in strange acts of madness. This symptom then mutates as readers themselves begin to fall under the sway of books in isolated circumstances. Anyone could be a ticking timebomb waiting for orders in any text that appears (store signs? newspapers? or simply an ordinary book).

The Fraternity trace the true source of the disease to Necropolis. Death or someone else may be the cause. Perhaps the great books of the dead University itself seek revenge for being abandoned and left to the ravages of time. But what is the message behind the passages? And what is their overall goal?

[The Lesser Evil]

After a horrific battle between the party and a fiend, the demon subdues the party but does not kill them. Instead it takes them deep into the heart of Necropolis and demands them to do its bidding. That is if they want to live through the night. Now the party has to deal with the fiend in a city of undeath, but if they kill the demon, the reality wrinkle goes with it...