I've got a campaign idea that I think is pretty solid. A powerful djinn sponsoring a sort of Great Race/Scavenger Hunt through several planes of existence. The problem is, that's all I've really got. Is the djinn planning something more nefarious? How can I still incorporate the sort of city exploration that I so dearly love? I've got no idea! Please help!
Campaign: Keys to the City
“In accordance with his ancient oaths and the love of his people, the great and deathless Sultan invites all champions of the realm and its tributaries to join him in the City-Beloved-by-Night. There, on the eleventh moonrise after this announcement, a great challenge will begin, a chance for the most worthy to be showered in riches and honours beyond their wildest imaginings. Glory to the great and deathless Sultan, Glory to the City-Beloved-by-Night“
-Proclimation read out across the eight affiliated worlds
Once thought of as a place of myth, the dusk shrouded metropolis of Hal’daje has become a thriving centre of trade and imperial majesty after it was discovered by the djinn Hammurabi and his warband as they gallivanted across the planes. They took the city as their own, and used its portal gates of unblemished ivory to strike out to distant worlds, undertaking journeys, fighting battles, and making wondrous discoveries that are still sung of to this day. It has been six centuries since Hammurabi declared himself sultan of the mystical city, and through careful alliance, fellowship, and in some cases conquest, eight worlds have bowed to him, and set Hald’aje as the centre of their empire.
Known to be magnanimous as he is fearsome, it appears Hammurabi’s latest attempt to charm his people is the biggest and best yet. The challenge works like this: Hammurabi has scattered nine keys across his eightfold empire, each one hidden in a place related in some way to his own glorious history with that world. Each key corresponds to a door in a specially constructed vault and a fabulous reward hidden behind it.. with Hammurabi giving announcing a hint as to where the next key is located in a ceremony as part of accepting the previous key. Many however whisper of discontent through the “affiliated” worlds, and that this stunt is just another in long series of ploys to win over those realms that chafe under the Sultan’s authority.
Adventure Hooks:
If the party are a bunch of low level nobodies who wouldn’t qualify for a invitation, they might start the adventure off on one of the eight affiliated worlds as a group of hirelings for one of the champions who happens to be searching for a key in their back yard. Said champion was intending to use the party as cannon fodder but ends up getting mulched by the very same defences he sought to avoid. With their employer dead and a key in hand, it’s just a matter of the party making their way to Hal’daje and presenting their key at the palace gate in order to obtain an audience with the Sultan and be made champions by default.
Alternately, a high level party might receive an invitation all their own, especially if they’re a daring crew of spelljammers who’ve made a name for themselves hopping across the eight affiliated worlds and wildspace beyond. This gives your party a great buildaround during party formation ( who’s who on the crew) and lets you include a bunch of fun space-based adventuring along with your treasure hunt
Finally, if you feel like your group is of a more... skullduggerous persuasion, perhaps have them be a gang of criminals who happen to live in the shadows of the City Beloved by Night, suddenlypresented with an opportunity to steal a key and get a great fortune when one of the champions decides to play dirty and use the party to mess with their competition.
Setup: If I was running this campaign ( which I just might) I’d start the narrative after two or three of the keys had already been claimed, which not only cuts down on the number of side adventures that need to be performed, but also applies a sense of urgency. Likewise, there’s nothing stopping the party ( or their rivals) from seeking out keys that haven’t been hinted at yet, meaning that some clever detective work will allow them to sidestep the other compeditors and start looking for keys on their own (going from a linear relay to a much larger game of capture the flag).... with atleast one rival coming in mid way through the campaign having jumped and stolen the 6th or 7th key.
Now, what is all this for? Well as it turns out Hal’daje was originally a terrestrial metropolis in the ancient, near forgotten past, one that was doomed to perish under a blood covered dawn when a prophesied destroyer arrived to raze the city and devour its rulers. As the appointed hour approached the people cried out for divine aid, which was awnsered by the goddess Nyx, who hid the city under a shroud of darkness and opened portals into other worlds that the populace might evacuate. There the city lingered, frozen on the edge of destruction, until it was found by Hammurabi, with the djinn only discovering the prophecy over a century after he had claimed the title of sultan for himself. Now bound by prophecy, the clever conqueror contrived a plan to dip out on his destined doom by shunting it off to someone else at the last moment, the ultimate prize of his competition being the throne of Hal’daje, with an oath of office secretly baked into the acceptance ceremony he makes each champion swear before claiming their prize.
Hammurabi announced the competition when the first signs of Nyx’s protection began to fade, and has been packed and ready to go ever since with a small jammer-ship fleet packed with the best of the treasury and his closest conspirators. As soon as one of the champions (likely one of the party members) sits the throne, he’ll be off without a word, leaving the people of the City Loved by Night to stagger through a sudden regime change while more and more signs of the end begin to manifest.
Further Adventures:
A few of the worlds ruled over by the sultan have suffered from the same doom that now approaches Hal’daje which the players may encounter on their travels, including one which bears a city sized crater hollowed out a millennia or so ago on a day of great darkness. If the party are paying attention ( and maybe visit a great library) they may be able to notice their ultimate foe before it crashes down upon them.
Even before the night-goddess’s protection began to fade, Hammurabi couldn’t have anyone know that his great metropolis was going to be flattened by a sun eating dragon-god. To this end, he created a group of assassins and iconoclasts to move secretly through his realm destroying evidence and historical accounts under the guise of creating pro-sultanate propaganda. Only a few circles know of this group’s existence, referring to them as “the silencers” without ever truly understanding what exactly is being silenced by their actions. Should the party learn to much, it’s likely that a silencer agent will be dispatched to nudge them onto the right track.. possibly at the end of a poisoned knife.
Suffused with magic and cloaked in eternal dusk, the “city loved by night” is a site of pilgrimage for those faithful to Nyx and other gods of star and shadow who flock from across the multiverse to take part in the rites performed in the veiled temples scattered across the city and in the barrens beyond. As a side adventure while off on another world, a devotee of mother night asks the party to escort her to a distant shrine outside Hal’daje to help understand the troubling visions she’s been having of late. This will put them behind on their search for the next key, but their kindness will pay off second: For one, having a fledgling oracle on their side will let them receive more information on where the keys are, narrowing down their search and possibly letting them get a jump on unannounced keys. Second, Nyx will be better disposed towards them for helping one of her chosen daughters and will be looking out for them in matters of the ephemeral. Finally, This oracle will seek to warn the party about the doom approaching the city once the sultan is finally out of the picture.
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This is written for the prompt ‘crown’ from @drarrymicrofic
Word count: 201
Drarry microfic: detention
Headmistress McGonagall’s office was warm and cosy, though Harry didn’t feel at ease right now. Nervous energy was running through him.
“I know you two have a… history of disliking each other. But this… this truly takes the crown.” McGonagall shook her head, taking a small sip of her tea. “I still cannot believe it.”
“Professor, I—”
“No, Mr. Malfoy, I don’t want to hear your excuses.” She gave them both a stern look. “You’re both Eighth Years now. You should have known better than to start a fight in the middle of the corridor. Again. For Merlin’s sake, you should be the ones setting a good example!”
Harry sighed. He looked down at the ground, ashamed. “I’m sorry, Professor.”
The room fell silent. Even the portraits seemed to be holding their breath, waiting for McGonagall’s verdict. “Two months detention for the both of you. You will be helping the new DADA professor Mr. Brumby after classes to clean his classroom.”
She waited a moment to let the information sink in, her expression unreadable. “You both may go now.”
On their way down the spiralling staircase, Harry and Draco shared a look. Their plan had worked better than they had intended.
Prompt from November 25th
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Let's state the obvious right now
We'll be victorious, we'll take the crown
(Just like we've always done before)
You're digging in, we'll step around
'Cause in the end we will stand our ground
Alter Bridge - Take the Crown
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DP x DC Prompt
…
There are no more heroes.
Well, okay. Rewind a bit.
Danny has been doing the hero thing for a while now. He’s had a big reveal; everyone has accepted him (including his parents), the GIW disbanded, the Anti-Ecto acts repealed, and generally, everything is going great. Some of the A-Listers are even training as junior ghost hunters to help give him a break from his rogues! (Being Ghost King makes things hectic sometimes, and he just needs the extra help. Sue him!)
The point is, literally nothing is wrong with Danny Phantom’s afterlife.
And then Valerie Gray, the Red Huntress, disappears in front of his eyes.
Danny is baffled! She’s just…gone! Valerie just popped out of existence, like she was never there. But no matter how hard he searches in the Ghost Zone, he can’t find her soul anywhere. His core isn't broken in grief. So she’s not dead. Which is good. So then, where is she?
Some of the others come forward with ideas on how to find her. A few ghosts volunteer to go out into the mortal realm, an area Danny had declared off-limits, to see if she was out there. Danny approves it. He rounds up some of the friendlier (i.e., discreet) ghosts and Amity Parkers and demolishes the outside travel ban.
So everyone spreads out, looking for their dear frenemy and teammate. But it becomes apparent very quickly that something is wrong with the rest of the world.
There are no more heroes.
Every single living superhero on the face of the Earth has just…vanished. Villains are running amok; the countries are in chaos! Some aliens are invading Earth, mythical deities are trying to take over, and society is crumbling to the ground. Everything is on the brink of collapse.
Well, Danny was still there. And so were his people. They were pretty spread out, so could they just…take up the mantles? He also knew where to find the souls of dead heroes in the Zone; surely they wouldn't mind coming out of retirement for a little bit, especially if they couldn't die again. Oh! And that skeleton army leftover from Pariah Dark's reign might be useful in repelling those invading forces.
Honestly, there were more than enough hands to go around! And with the heroes gone, Danny didn't mind letting everyone out for a little break, as long as they followed his rules. They wouldn't stop the search for the other heroes, but hopefully, when they found them, the heroes wouldn't mind Danny's intervention too much. :)
In other words:
Someone fucks up, and all of Earth's living heroes are either wished out of existence or are whisked away to some far-off realm where Danny hasn't checked yet. In the attempt to figure out what's going on, Danny lets the dead run amok over the Earth as they search for clues. The skeleton army repels the invading armies, the souls of dead heroes deal with the world leaders, and his rogues and other Amity Parkers set up shop in place of famous heroes, trying to get the cities under control again.
Basically, they just do their best to keep everything from imploding until the Justice League and others are back.
(And why is it that Danny hasn't disappeared? Well, whatever caused everyone to go poof! only affected living heroes. Anyone heroes that were dead in the first place, or even just half-dead, stayed behind.)
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Dc x dp idea 95
Danny wasn’t thrilled with the whole ghost king bs. So he just doesn’t do it. The realm was just fine without pariah. Someone else can deal with the paperwork.
The biggest problem tho. The summonings.
No one will teach him how to say no to them. All wanting him to do his duty. He is barely passing his human classes. He refuses king lessons. He’ll take the summons over kingly duties.
Besides. Jazz has a solution.
At all times he is awake, thankfully summons don’t happen when he is asleep. A friend or Jazz is with him.
Armed with the Fenton anti-creep stick or another weapon. Ready to step over the summons circle smack down the cultist here and there and break the summoning circle. Then Danny just opens a portal and they dip.
John on the other hand is more stressed then normal. For some reason the new ghost king is letting any body summon him. Hell. They got reports that a slumber party summoned him.
Rather then ignore the summons. The new king has one of three teenagers deal with the problem. A goth armed with a wrist laser and brass knuckles, a guy with apparently a pda, and then the orange haired one with a flipping bat.
Now he had to summon the king and figure out what’s up.
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I am completely obsessed with a crown of candy. like caramelinda and lazuli were IN LOVE. imagine you're caramelinda. you are married to the love of your life. and she dies. your country is unstable, you need to remarry, politically. you have to remarry to her baby brother who up until now has just been a reckless prince getting up to stupid shit in the war. and now he's your husband. and now he's king. you have two daughters with him. he is a useless ruler, so you manage everything. you try to keep your family safe. your daughters grow up and take after their father. they take after lazuli. they are reckless. they just want to fight things, and you feel like their jailer, trying to impose rules, trying to keep them safe. you love them and would break apart if anything happened to them. you miss your wife. you have been married to your husband for 20 years now. he has been by your side longer than you even knew your wife. you deserved her, not him. it is impossible not to love him. but never like you loved her. he is still an irresponsible reckless warrior. he is a coward. he is your partner in life. you have children and a kingdom together. one of your daughters dies. she dies sneaking away after you told her to go to bed. you are queen. you are supposed to be able to protect her. you had ordered people to follow her and keep her safe. she still died. you want to blame her. you want to blame everyone. you want to blame yourself, you tried so hard to keep her safe. you cry in your husbands arms. you find out your wife kept secrets from you. you have to leave your home. your family is in danger. your family is protecting itself. you feel like dead weight. you miss your wife.
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sometimes you just gotta draw the king
DP X DC ghost king danny
What if Danny’s King Regalia always shows up in the dark? Danny can keep it invisible/unequip it, but it’s permanent in dark settings. Yet, it always shows back up in dark rooms etc.
except he has a really hard time figuring out if it is dark out or not because his vision is tinted green 100% of the time, and he has night vision anyway, so whenever the lights flickered in a room, and his crown was visible for a few seconds, and whatever hero he is with thinks they were seeing things, he just never notices
so danny’s a daylight hero, and avoids dark rooms with the JL because he thinks being a king isn’t a big deal. There are demigods and champions of magic, so what difference is a king? Or maybe he assumes they already knew or smthn, and he didn’t like the weird looks people used to give him when he left the crown visible, and the JL never seemed to care that he was (technically) ruler of infinite realms, only that he could save people, and stop world-ending threats
and, of course, they don’t actually know; cue misunderstandings.
art taglist: @i-amtransexual @badatgmrt
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