Alright! Here is my first shot at creating some Epic tier hooks/plots. I have never run a game in the Epic tier, nor played in one - but these sound sufficiently epic to me!
Sorry they are so thin in concept but I'm having a bit of writers block at the momment!
Enjoy!
Mt. Kojimi
In a time even the longest lived races of the world would be hard pressed to remember a race of mysterious beings carved the remote Mount Kojimi in the likeness of their God in meditation, hollowing out its core to house a holy site for their people. After a war that destroyed their civilization the monolithic man shaped mountain was abandoned and its secrets and purpose forgotten for centuries. It is rumored that they implanted into the giant statue an artifact of such power that it could move mountains and alter the flow of rivers. In recent times the secluded mountain has been relocated, and many foolish treasure seekers have attempted to plumb its deapths and few have ever returned, and fewer still with their sanity intact. Those few that could still speak have reported all manner of dangers in the deapths of Mt. Kojimi, and all have warned that none should enter that place.
Possible Plots:
- A mage of considerable power has found that in order to gain admittance to the inner chambers of Mt. Kojimi you must be a member of that ancient race. He has made it his obsession in the past ten years to find a remaining member of that race, to no avail. He has finally turned to dark magics to allow him access, he has pettitioned the Raven Queen to send back a soul of one of the ancients so that he may raise it into this world again and enter the inner sactum of Mt. Kojimi. The goddess of Death has denied his petition, and now this mage seeks to steal a soul from her domain in order to complete his plans.
- Mt. Kojimi holds at its heart an artifact called "The Blood of the Land" that is a large blood red gem that is shaped like a tear drop. It has the power to move the lay lines of magic in the world, and by increasing or decreasing the amount of different magics in the land it has the ability to shape the landscape. The ancients used this gem to continually battle the pull of the Elemental Chaos on the material plane and to shape the landscape into something that suited their desires. Unfortunatly, its presence also lead to the downfall of their people, as civil war began to spread due to conflicts of faith and power. Now an ancient of considerable age has amassed a force of monsterous humanoids to hold the mountain while he breaks into the vault so that he can finally claim The Blood of the Land for himself. With it, he plans to unleash the Primordials and watch as they destroy the world that has rejected his people.
- Mt. Kojimi is actually the last remaining Colossus built by the Gods to halt the Primodials durring the war at the beginning of the world. It has the ability to control the landscape around it in order to better defend against the Primordials that were made of the same materials. A cult to one of the Primodials has discoved that it may be the last line of defense that the world has when they finally complete their fell rituals that will release their master. They have began to devise ways of destroying the massive construct without disrupting its sleep.
- In the center of the Mountain is the fallen God that the mountian depicts. With all of his worshippers gone his powers have waned, and he took refuge in the one place that would sustain him. After centuries of isolation the God has grown mad. Now a group of adventurers have found the truth of the mountain and plan to slay the weakened Diety and claim his power for their own.
Getting the PC's involved:
- Most of the Plots presented assume that the PC's have some interest in the mountain, be that a want for the mysterious treasure at its heart or to use its rumored powers to help them accomplish something. Depending on the plot you choose to use with this one the setup for your PC's could come in many different ways. I'll present one possibilty for each:
- (Obessed Mage) If the mage is successful with his plan the word of a goddess would have been broken by a mortal with no help from the Gods. While this has happened before in the history of the world it has never resulted in a good thing. If the Raven Queens decree is broken her hold on the realm of Death will falter - durring which time the dead would rise from their graves and the bounds between this world and the Shadowfell would thin. In this space, Orcus plans to make his bid for power. Fortunatly for the world Orcus cannot directly interfear, or the Raven Queen will not slip.But Orcus is not the only one watching the events that are unfolding and a mysterious group of individuals approach the PC's asking for their help to stop the mage.
- (The Blood of the Land) The PC's get wind of the plot of the Ancient, and decide to put a stop to his evil plan. This plot could result in some really interesting combat options for the PC's - starting off with a full frontal assult on the ammassed forces camped out in the lap of the giant statue. Then leading into the Monolith they could come face to face with several of the most powerful creatures presented in the Monster Manuals, such as the deadly Phane or even the Tarrasque imprisioned within the mountain. The battle would culminate at the peak of the mounain as the ancient (whose race is left vauge on purpose) uses the power of the gem to open a rift to the Elemental Chaos and unleash the Primordials from their cages. After defeating him the PC's must make a choice: Use the gem to seal away the escaping Primordials or face them and put a stop to this once and for all.
- (Colossus) This one is similar to the last one, but with little differences. First of all the ancients are absent from this one so you dont have to set them up much prior to its use - in fact their invovment in the creation of Mt. Kojimi is all false in the first place. Second, the cultist have to destroy the monolithic construct without waking it. This last part could be interesting to explore as the Colossus could become enraged by being woken without reason and the last guaurdian of the world suddenly becomes one of its greatest enemies. Perhaps the PC's have been battleing with these cultists for some time and have found that they are unable to stop the coming rituals, and so they travel to the Colossus in order to reactivate the guardian at the correct time. When they arrive the find the cult has already started to work, and the PC's are in a bad spot because they must now figure out a way to stop their enemies without prematurly waking the Colossus.
- (Fallen God) One of the PC's begin to get visions of a man bound in diamond chains pleading for help. These visions are sent to the PC by the fallen God of the Ancients because this character is one of the last remaining beings in the world with any trace of ancient blood flowing through their veins. At first the pleading is for this character to rekindle the worship, but soon the become fearful. The God knows what is coming and is requesting help from the PC - as he cannot defend himself in his weakend state.
