Worldbuilding Prompt #376 - The Black Opals of Lady Tarizen

This is a response to a prompt in the Worldbuilding community;

Are there any items or weapons in your setting that were created by either angels or demons/devils? What properties do they have, if so? Are they rare or common?

Image by starbright from Pixabay

Rather than my usual technique of telling a tale that illustrates a point, I thought it might be useful to show you the briefing for a recent adventure I ran, and add a few words of explanation - mostly at the end, but in-line notes are in bold. It was a slightly unusual adventure, and totally didn't go the way I expected it to !

The Harrowing of New Sconce

OOC Briefing

This adventure is designed as a “short shot”, estimated at 3-4 sessions, but this could be flexible depending on how the party does, if everyone is enjoying it and wants to extend the mayhem, and what other DM’s have in the pipeline ! (Note - in the end, it ran for about 10 sessions, so not as short-shot as I expected !)

The adventure is designed for an evil party as a bit of therapy so everyone can have fun letting their evil side out to play. However, the intention is that although a bit of inter-party bickering is probably inevitable (and could be fun), the real action is directed outward as a team rather than inward on each other.

In Character Briefing

It is the 14th day of the month of Settling, in the year 1022 AFJ. It is winter, and New Year is only 16 days away.

You have recently arrived in the snow-clad town of Vardin at the southern edge of the great grey inland lake known as the Werfjord Sea. Most unexpectedly your arrival appears to have been anticipated. As you pass through the main gate to seek out lodging, one of the guards hands you a letter and informs you that food, drink, and lodging has been paid for you in advance at the Smashed Chain Inn near the docks.

The letter is in an ornate hand and sealed with an unfamiliar emblem consisting of eight swords radiating from a central point imprinted onto golden wax.

It reads:

The 8th Day of Settling, 1022

Greetings

I would be most grateful if you would allow me to hire your services. Your reputation and methods appear to be exactly what I need for a certain task, when combined with the talents of a small group of fellow experts. I am confident you will find that all of you share certain views on life which will allow you to work together effectively.

Naturally, I will offer a handsome reward for the service I ask of you, and I suspect you will find the mission in question thoroughly to your tastes.

I have an account at the Smashed Chain Inn, and have arranged for you and your soon-to-be comrades to have board and lodging until I arrive. Pyotr the landlord is an old friend of mine, so I would be appreciative if you don’t give him any trouble. His current appearance is no guide as to his great skill or the fearsome reputation we earned together in years gone by.

There is a small matter I need to attend to, but I anticipate I will be back in town by the 16th of the month to give you all more information on the task I wish to hire you for, and the rewards I offer.

With Great Regard,

The Lady Tarizen

Meeting With Lady Tarizen

Lady Tarizen appears to be a tall, pale elven woman of indeterminate age. She appears young, but her eyes tell a tale of centuries. She is dressed in a long white velvet robe trimmed with sable with a hooded cape on top in dark green trimmed with white mink. Her jewellery is limited to a ring on each hand, a golden necklace, a silver circlet holding her blonde hair in place (Note - the circlet is actually a Hat of Disguise. Without it, she would appear as a Drow version of her elven self, but even this isn't her true appearance, she's actually a Yochlol, a shape-shifting demon with a truly horrible true form), and a low-slung chain belt of gold with ivory plaques with a single pouch on the right side. The overall look is one of simple grace, but every item is incredibly well made of the finest materials and speaks of pure wealth. She appears to be totally unarmed.

Her mission is simple; she wishes the party to exercise their talents upon the port of New Sconce. The place is an outpost of the Janarian Empire on the northern shore of the Iceflame Gulf. Those who Lady Tarizen is loyal to have determined that Janar must not be allowed to control that region, and that the best remedy is to break the desire of the new settlers to stay. “That land is for the elves, and the elves only” will be her line.

The party’s goal is to create fear and terror in New Sconce. It is likely to be beyond their abilities to totally sack the place, but they should be able to sow doubt, damage, chaos and fear. Harming the economy is great, doing moral damage is better. A perfect result would be for the populace to become so fearful (whether the threat is physical, psychological or spiritual harm) that they abandon the settlement and return to Janar. Doing something fear-inspiring to the Temple of the Emperors would be a good start. This is a psychological campaign as much as a physical one. Some reconnaissance would be wise – Janar is a fairly closed empire.

Lady Tarizen will arrange to teleport the party to the vicinity of the port, a day or so away on the seaward road. She will also give each party member a black opal, their name inscribed on it in faintly glowing runes. When the party feels they have done enough, the surviving party members should each hold their opal and press them together, and she will remove them to a place of safety. She won’t mention that the opals will also allow her to scry the party to view their progress. She is keen that the party work as a team, and will not evacuate any party member who has attempted serious harm upon one of their fellows. She will explain that a certain amount of animated discourse is naturally expected as the party works out which methods will be most effective.

She anticipates that the party will wish to discuss a strategy to achieve the objective. She’ll return at dusk with a view to finding out any special requirements requested and transporting them either than and there, or at dawn on the 17th.

With the Mina being full on 26th Settling, the New Year (and its attendant festivities) on 30th, and Maja full on 1st Ice 1023, the time is auspicious to wreak the harm needed.

In reward for this service, the party may keep whatever they can take from New Sconce, the (deactivated) black opal, which has a value of 4000gp, and magical item(s) within reason of their choice (up to 4K value).

Commentary

The idea of the Black Opals came about because the players were well and truly up for playing an evil party, which is something our group doesn't often do.

But I am well aware of what our players are like, and we frequently joke that if we play an evil party, the DM doesn't need a dungeon and monsters, just to put the party in a locked room and give them 20 minutes....

So what I needed was a way to allow the party to have lots of black-hearted fun, but focus it outward rather than spiralling down into inter-party conflict. Just saying "no PVP" strikes me as taking too much agency from the players.

From a mechanical/rules perspective, the opals don't actually have any property that prevents inter-player conflict. But the threat of not being evacuated with the rest of the group from what could be a dangerous situation works as a powerful incentive to stick to the mission.

What is unspoken is that the opals act as a scrying focus, as well as a focus for the teleport out of trouble at the end. They also become part of the payment for the mission. However, with Lady Tarizen really being a disguised demon, the promised deactivation is nothing of the sort. She just passes her hand over them to cast a version of the Nystul's Magic Aura spell homebrewed to be longer-lasting than usual, which hides the fact that they are still magical.

After all, this band of evil characters might be useful to her again in the future, and even if they give the opals away or sell them, they are a useful tool for her to have out in the world enabling her to scry on the rich and unscrupulous !

I hope you like this insight into the way I set my D&D games up. I'd love to hear how other dungeon masters keep evil parties working together instead of tearing each other apart !