Friday, December 4, 2009

Regalia of the Demon King

These items were a major part of a campaign I ran in the middle 80s around the Viridistan Empire. During a tense fight within the city of Viridistan one of the PCs panicked and put on all three items. Possessed by the Demon King he proceeded to lay waste to the city's hierarchy. (this was after the death of the Viridian Emperor in a previous campaign) Afterward when the PC were all gathered, he thanked them and was going to send them all back to the realm they came from (Harn).

One of the characters, Bolothous, stepped up, played by Dwayne of Gamer's Closet, and stated he did not wish to return and offered his allegiance. The rest of the party was angered because they knew the character was evil being a priest of an evil god, Agrik. The PC wearing the Regalia happily accepted and allowed Dwayne's character to stand by his side. However when Dwayne got there he pulled out the one magic item the party had of nullifying the regalia and zapped him. Then proceeded to cold cock and knocked him unconscious.
-see the first comment for a more detailed account.

The PC that put on the items apologized while everybody else rolled their eyes as he was known to panic in pressure situations. The good thing is that PC stepped into the power vacuum caused by him killing just about everybody in charge and took control of Viridistan as the Council of Viridistan.



Regalia of the Demon King
The Demon King was one of the lords of the demon host during the Uttermost War. He created several items of jewelry to increase his powers.

The Scepter
This is an ebony rod ¾” inch in diameter and a foot long, topped with a carved quartz figurine in the shape of an ouroboros (a worm eating its own tail). The ouroboros is the universal symbol of demons in the Majestic Wilderlands. Every round it can cast a Finger of Death.

The Diadem
This is a cloth of gold strip two inches wide and about 36 inches long. It can be wrapped around the head and knotted in the back with the ends resting on the shoulders. It confers the ability to fly at a movement rate of 180 ft/rd. Embroidered within the strip is a continuous row of ouroboros in black silk.

The Usekh
This Egyptian style neck collar is made with strips of silk interwoven in with beads of lapis lazuli and pearls. The Usekh is enchanted with +5 protection to armor class. The lapis lazuli beads are woven to form an Ouroboros encircling the wearer’s neck.

The Combined Regalia
Through centuries of use the three Regalia became infused with much of the will and personality of the Demon King. The following effects occur when one or more of the items are worn.

When one item is worn it will send hints in the wielder’s dream and daydreams of the location of the other two items. If the player enjoys roleplaying then have his character become obsessed about other items and devote their energies to finding them. If your player is uncomfortable with role-playing this obsession an alternative is to start throwing hints of the locations of the other items into your plot hooks and events. The player will be bombarded with reminders until they take off the item. Dealing with annoyance will have much of the same effect as roleplaying an obsession.

When two items are worn, a shadow of the Demon King will appear in the character’s mind. The objective of the shadow is to tempt the character into evil and to find the final item to complete the Regalia. The shadow will assume any form (male or female) that works best to tempt the character. The shadow has ability to act as a Commune spell 1/day. The shadow will try to twist the answer to bring the most benefit to the character while doing the most evil to others. The shadow has complete access to what the character knows.

When all three items are worn, the will of the Demon King will fully manifest and fuse with the character. The main goals of the character now are: liberating the Demons from the Abyss, seeking revenge against the gods, against their followers, and achieving dominion over the Wilderlands. In the Majestic Wilderlands the first thing the reborn Demon King will do is go to Viridistan and seize control.

The character will be considered an enchanted creature and a demon for the purposes of spell casting. It is up to the referee whether the fused character is under the referee’s or player’s control. In either case the campaign is likely to be going in a radical new direction.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

As one of the players I remember it a little different. The whole cast of 8 players where from a different realm transported to the world of City State. Bolothous the character I played was a priest of Aggrik. He was hunted by the church but still in favor with the evil god. The other players all knew he was still loyal to the evil god but liked the fact he would hunt down members of his own church. When we were aquiring the control crystal for the maelstrom Mitra appeared to us and God awed us. After game I asked you can I buy off my loyalty to Aggrik and become good because I saw Mitra? You agreed and the rest of the party never new. Over confidently we went to Virdistan and got into some trouble with the current leadership. That was when Scott put on the 3 artifacts he was guarding in the rear. We did not find out until we saw him fly over the city headed for the palace. I turned to the dwarf as said. " Hey the Mage never learned to fly did he? " a quick "No." and we all knew we had bigger problems. A short will later our mage possessed by the demon king came to the group. He told us that he appreciated our help in his release. For our service he was sending us back to our own realm. He told us we had no choice in the matter. I stepped forward and told the Demon King I did not want to return to a world I was hunted and serving him would be an honor to serve him. The Demon King searched through our Mages mind and found that I was evil and no one in the party really trusted me. He agreed and asked me to step to his side. The only thing any of the party ever trusted me with was the control gem. It had no powers other than keeping the demons imprisoned. The whole party mad began hurling insults and calling me a traitor. I simply stepped to the Demon King’s side and when he began to open a portal to send them home I touched him with the control crystal. The artifacts fell to the ground and I knocked the mage out. Every surprised at what happened looked at me and I said for the glory of Mitra. After much debate and in fighting we set up the Council of Virdistan and split the control crystal into 8 shards. Each of the council had a shard.

Anonymous said...

It is great when crazy stuff like that happens in a campaign.

I take it that the Regalia is basically indestructible? What happened to it after it was taken from the wizard?