I'm in the midst of running my PCs through the Q-plane of Steam, with an eventual trip through radience as they make their way to each of the 4 Towers embedded in the border of those planes with Positive Energy.
What sort of unique little encounters of treatments of the 'terrain' so to speak have any of you all used. Or what use or elaborations have you used with respect to the Towers of Lead, Storms, Ice and Color?
Water genasi pirates in the Q-plane of steam, Yugoloths riding Styx Dragons through the steam, mephits mephits and more mephits, etc. Fun fun, and thats not including the border regions with the surrounding planes, paraplanes and quasiplanes
However, here's some ideas:
-Use the borders. The Bright Land, The Dark Land, Brighthome, Misty Caverns, Shard Forest, and The Death Cloud are all full of possibilities, like mephit wars (The Mephits from Steam and Lightning despise each other, etc). In general, the more the elements mix (aside from fire; we just don't like fleshy things), the more likely something can find purchase there, because there's that much more material to adapt to and utilize.
-Crafters at the Towers; since positive energy is unaligned, there's as good a chance for villains to be working on dread artifacts as happy sweet cuddly devas making potions for a charity benefit. Perhaps someone has a complex item that requires using ALL of the towers... or wants to test out something on the nearest living being.
-Work the pockets. Considering the vast energies of the positive, and the flux that is the quasi, it wouldn't be unreasonable for a "Limbo Storm" to be encountered, namely, an unstable elemental pocket drawn from multiple elements (or quasielementals or paralements), possibly by a misuse of magic, that's creating unique scenery and causing general havoc. A gigantic chunk of ash-tainted mineral floating in the midst of the quasiplane of lightning, perhaps... drawing lightning strikes and heat in like mad as pockets of negative energy form just long enough to explode and send electric, heat-draining shrapnel across the expanse.
-Mineral, I'd think, would be a great place to encounter accidental animated objects'. Veins of ore that have become 'living', snake-like beings would be rather interesting.
-Sentient, incorporeal matter is always interesting. A wall of mist that can do little more than form a visage and speak, but with no actual 'abilities' beyond that.. almost like a sentient spell, would make an interesting source of exposition. A wall of lightning doing the same would be refreshing.
- Drifting illusions are always an idea. An illusion forged on the plane of radiance, perhaps, might remain as a free-floating, semi-aware image, albeit one without physical matter beyond light.
I then "borrowed" my DM's old science textbook that he was using for research. It's still at my house.
*click* *whhiiirrrrr* He STILL owes that Dao a "favor" I have yet to collect in exchange for that mithril.
