My campaign is titled ¨Carol of the Hells¨, it is a campaign filled to the brim with creatures from the nine hells and the abyss. Essentially a godlike lich calls for a truce between the Blood War between the hells and the Abyss, in exchange for the Abyss helping to take control of the material plane with the help of the devils and demons of the fiery hellscape. I have the main villain of the second adventure named Falgos, he is a bearded devil who is helping a cult to summon an ancient beast to claim siege over the town of Calence. I wanted to be able to smoothly introduce him as an encounter without making his involvment feel jarring and random. I would love some ideas on how I could run his encounter and make his involvment seem important and almost necessary.
The bearded devil could be leading a ritual to summon the ancient beast requiring his presence.
If you want to introduce him earlier he could be leading a raid for a component of the ritual, maybe something protected be the church and /or under guard requiring the devils strength to get it.
Another idea us he could be building his cult in the city and partaking in meetings as himself to show how strong he is.
Another idea could be if he sends out some cultists the party defeats then the devil may want o either get the job done himself or just see who is messing with his plan.
If anyone in the party is a tiefling and/or has questionable morals maybe the devil wants to recruit them?
If he's the leader of the devil faction, have his reputation precede him. Have the players go to the town that he's targeting, and all the townspeople whisper his name in hushed tones as they describe the defeats they suffered at his hand that drove them to cower behind their walls. Have outlandish rumors that the hellish commander exaggerated powers and exaggerated forces at his command. That way you can introduce the main bad guy and build anticipation without even including them in a scene.
I'd have a band of supposedly evil silent monks that the townsfolk believe are behind the recent animal attacks in the woods - these are smaller demons forcing their was through as the real cultist try to establish a powerful enough crossing to free this ancient beast.
The party goes in to investigate and thier is a prisoner in a pit screaming for help. This is Falgos - in disguise as a humanoid. They save Falgos and the monks pursue. Falgos takes them to the real cultists, pretending his friends will keep them safe.
Then the reveal. The monks have been stopping Falgos- now in his real form - from achieving the crossing and he thanks the party for removing that obstacle. Their usefulness isn't at an end though, Falgos tells them, he still requires a sacrifice of blood for the ritual.
My campaign is titled ¨Carol of the Hells¨, it is a campaign filled to the brim with creatures from the nine hells and the abyss. Essentially a godlike lich calls for a truce between the Blood War between the hells and the Abyss, in exchange for the Abyss helping to take control of the material plane with the help of the devils and demons of the fiery hellscape. I have the main villain of the second adventure named Falgos, he is a bearded devil who is helping a cult to summon an ancient beast to claim siege over the town of Calence. I wanted to be able to smoothly introduce him as an encounter without making his involvment feel jarring and random. I would love some ideas on how I could run his encounter and make his involvment seem important and almost necessary.
The bearded devil could be leading a ritual to summon the ancient beast requiring his presence.
If you want to introduce him earlier he could be leading a raid for a component of the ritual, maybe something protected be the church and /or under guard requiring the devils strength to get it.
Another idea us he could be building his cult in the city and partaking in meetings as himself to show how strong he is.
Another idea could be if he sends out some cultists the party defeats then the devil may want o either get the job done himself or just see who is messing with his plan.
If anyone in the party is a tiefling and/or has questionable morals maybe the devil wants to recruit them?
If he's the leader of the devil faction, have his reputation precede him. Have the players go to the town that he's targeting, and all the townspeople whisper his name in hushed tones as they describe the defeats they suffered at his hand that drove them to cower behind their walls. Have outlandish rumors that the hellish commander exaggerated powers and exaggerated forces at his command. That way you can introduce the main bad guy and build anticipation without even including them in a scene.
Thank you guys for the feedback! Gonna try to incorporate these great ideas!
I'd have a band of supposedly evil silent monks that the townsfolk believe are behind the recent animal attacks in the woods - these are smaller demons forcing their was through as the real cultist try to establish a powerful enough crossing to free this ancient beast.
The party goes in to investigate and thier is a prisoner in a pit screaming for help. This is Falgos - in disguise as a humanoid. They save Falgos and the monks pursue. Falgos takes them to the real cultists, pretending his friends will keep them safe.
Then the reveal. The monks have been stopping Falgos- now in his real form - from achieving the crossing and he thanks the party for removing that obstacle. Their usefulness isn't at an end though, Falgos tells them, he still requires a sacrifice of blood for the ritual.
Edit: I posted in the wrong thread. Oops, lol
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?