I'm a longtime lurker and I was hoping I could get some critique(sp?) on the upcoming portion of my current AoM DL campaign I'll be running in a few hours.
Story so far : The party (Half-ogre fighter, Human KoC, Elf Wiz, Human Fighter, Human Monk) all now 6th level, have been investigating elven abductions from amongst the elven refugee population in the Plains of Dust in the area's surround and including The Missing City.
Brutes in the service of Sable, make regular and ferocious assaults on the Missing City as a distractionary tactic for the elven abductions (PC's recently have figured this out).
Having managed to release a group of elves being transported by wagon to the New Swamp, after questioning the guards find that the elves are being transported to the Trueheart Mines and/or Takar.
The half-ogre fighter is a low ranking member of the Legion, whose mentor a Kagonesti elf scout, failed to return from a scouting mission during the last brute attack on the city.
Last session the party learned the kagonesti elf's fate, as well that of some of the other elf prisoners. The kagonesti had been turned into a "drider-esque" creature in one of Sable's experiments (I wanted a new enemy for the party to face and this seemed like a creature that with some mods might be the result of one of Sable's grotesque experiments). The party being forced to slay him, and discovered a group of elven hostages being "bled" (Sable has brokered an arrangement with an Ogre clan in Blode to supply elven blood for the Titan transformations in exchange for Ogre subjects to use in her experiments and the creation of dragonspawn). The party were too late to save the elven hostages however.
Thats the short version of whats happened to date.
Next : OK here's the bit I'm having a few problems with. I've been using the Map from one of the 5th Age products that details that area of the New Swamp and Silvanesti, the party are currently a few miles East of a tower called Wentil's Tor. I couldn't find any information on the tower or its purpose in any age so far so came up with this backstory for the tower.
The tower is crumbling and covered in the slime and filth of the surround swamp. Stationed at the tower is a small contingent of Knights of Neraka that serve the Black Dragon Sable. Unbeknownst to them, Sable has them here under false pretenses. Order's from Neraka were sent for them to pull out of the New Swamp as the Knighthood's situation during the War of Souls began to grow grim. However one of Sable's spies managed to intercept the orders, and Sable has been supplying the Knights with false orders ever since, always to her advantage.
To keep an closer eye on the Knights, Sable has one of her young black dragon minions make it's lair in the flooded and crumbling cellar of the tower (I was going to use Ricandroth, but I just read that that particular dragon is an attendant in Sable's palace, so I'll just change the name to keep things consitent), the dragon is juvenille category.
I'm going to station about 25 knights at the tower, most of which will be 1-3rd level fighters (squires?) with some slightly higher full blown Knights of the Lily and maybe a Knight of the Skull. (Don't think Thorn Knights would be appropriate as their divining powers might see through Sable's ruse?)
Essentially the party will have an encounter this evening with the juvenille dragon and a pair of spawn as they make their way towards the Trueheart Mines, should they not survive the encounter, I'm going to have the dragon take the incapacitated party members back to his lair (Sable could always use more test subjects)
I'd really appreciate any suggestions or comments any of you might have, either on the feasibility of the scenarios/plots, or if think it might be a bit much. My game's suffered a bit lately cos I've not had a great deal of time to prepare each session, this is the first in a long time where i've got time to write up something significant before hand, and I really want to get my players really engrossed in the stories like they used to be before I got a busier job LOL.
Thanks in advance
One possibility that springs to mind is that the PCs might be able to get the Knights of Neraka to actually work on their side, if they are provided a way to show the Knights that Sable's been manipulating them all this time. In this case, it becomes the group of adventurers and the evil Knights working hand-in-hand against an even greater threat of an alliance between Sable and the Titans, neither of which have much use for humans (such as the Knights) beyond test subjects or slaves...
Christopher
The good thing about the half-ogre fighting his mentor was that, he was wearing a mask of bone and iron used as part of the transformation. (A fact pre-empted by the monk in the party having strange dreams about an elf wearing the mask and the scurrying of spiders). It wasn't until the drider-elf slumped to the floor and the mask rolled off that they realised who they had killed. Few shocked faces at the table that night.
Tonight's session went great, although the half-ogre was killed in the encounter with the juvenille dragon and the 2 spawn (3rd level sorcerer and 4th level mystic, who spent the first 2-3 rounds "buffing" the dragon, shield of faith, bears endurance, bulls strength
). Although the party managed to kill the dragon, the half-ogre having been taken to -8 hps by the dragons last bite, the exploding spawn mystic finished him off unfortunately 
Finding a journal of detailing Sable's treachery against the Knight's at the tower, and the hint that elves might be being held captive by the Knights, the party went to inform the knights of the situation. The elf and the Knight of the Crown keeping safe distance (due to the antipathy between their relevant factions and the Knights at the mo) the human fighter amd the monk went on to the tower.
The pair were locked in a storage room while the Knight's deliberated over the journal, eventually interrogating the pair. This is where everything got a bit surreal, lol, the pair concocted some story about having found the journal on the body of a half ogre who appeared to have fought a black dragon, the half-ogre being the fallen party member (not sure why they went down this road but still kinda fun). Having picked up the half-ogre player's new rogue character (caught sniffing around the swamp by the Knights, but had no real use for him as he's not an elf), the party make a hasty retreat (though the elf wizard wants to go back and rescue the elves the others had seen at the tower).
I'm going to have the Knight's send a contingent out to check their story about the half-ogre, and considering having the Skull Knight at the tower "raise" the half-ogre up as some form of undead to pursue the party (the half-ogre was a very competent fighter and would be a shame to waste him). Anyone got any suggestions on what type of undead I could make him?
Thanks again for everyone taking the time to read my long ramblings and for your generous comments
it´s good reading! anyways as for the undead half-ogre...you could add the Bone Creature or Corpse Creature template (from Book of Vile Darkness) or the Skeletal Warrior template from the DLCS...even the haughtiest fighter could shiver a little at the thought of fighting the rotting corpse of his former comrade or fighting a surprisingly challenging skeleton only to see that it is wielding his former comrade´s sword...just a suggestion