The Puldiver’s Delvers were born when I ran into a local game store that had loose miniatures for sale. Amid the glass cases a Rakshasa, a large troll, and an oni stared up at me and I knew I needed to pick them up. As a drove home I came up with the idea for the Delvers, set their personalities within my mind, and came up with the first adventure for them. Luckily, I had some stand in miniatures for their human forms, which became all to important before they transformed.
Dr. Aidien Puldiver has collected likeminded individuals to help him explore the land and seek magical artifacts that could be used to save the world, or at least that is the story he is sticking to. The kind Dr. appears as a thin human or half elf male with travel worn clothing that look more suited for library work then crashing through a jungle. He wears oversized thick glasses and has ruddy brown hair. His oversized backpack is bursting with scrolls and maps and he seems to be in drastic disorder. What the party will find out is the Doctor is a Rakshasa, a backward handed tiger fiend with goals possibly in line with the parties, but most likely he is using them for his own purposes.
His body guard, Anchor, is a blonde-haired human looking man with red overlapping plate mail. Standing just over six feet tall and carrying a large oversized great sword, Anchor is the imposing strong silent type. If directly asked questions he will often redirect the questions to the Doctor to free himself from the conversation. Anchor is secretly an oni, hired by the Doctor and possibly owes him a great debt.
Thudds the troll. Thudds is a mountain troll from, as he will tell you, the mountains. He is not along to help with the research side of the adventures but big trolls can help see the simpler solution to problems the learned mind might miss. Thudds is nine foot tall, somehow has an ironed white button up shirt that fits him well. Thudds, unlike his companions, does not have a secret identity, something that eats away at him in those dark hours.
The kind Doctor and his crew first showed up in my Upon a Dark Place campaign and later in my Abyss Modified game. Both times they found a way into a dungeon or adventure with the party and in one case attempted to betray the group and in the other almost was betrayed themselves.
In Upon a Dark Place the party was offered three lines of work. Boring wine merchant squabbles, patrolling outside the city, or accepting an invitation to adventure with a strange Doctor that said he had a compass that could lead them to a dead god. Understandably the group traveled with him and his companions through the Shadow Maze, faced strange monsters, and discovered the final resting place of an ancient being. Dramatic reveals took place and the Doctor and his allies attacked the party, wanting the discovery for themselves, which went poorly. Luckily for Puldiver’s Delvers, death only delays their goals for but a moment. The kind Doctor has friends in the worst places.
In the Abyss Modified game the party was seeking one of many temples of the goddess of magic that happened to be on a floating cloud giant city. When the group arrived, they found another team already investigating the lack of giants. The Puldiver’s Delvers introduced themselves and informed the group they were seeking a magical artifact somewhere on the floating city and most likely in the treasury of the grand castle. The two groups worked together facing off against other would-be thieves and eventually found the cloud giant castle. There were strange patches of ice and large sets of gouges on the castle walls. The group made it unbothered to the throne room and found two frost dragons, one large and one huge, and went to work causing a scene. The group missed the other dragon approaching from behind, a gargantuan white dragon adorned with bracers, amulets, and rings. Escape seemed to be the best option and the Delvers made to run only to have the party’s wizard block off their only escape with a wall of force, telling them to fight alongside them or die. They murdered the two smaller dragons and angered the largest one. The Delvers and the party faced down this treat and were able to temporarily banish the beast, escape to the treasury, activate the temple, and flee before the dragon reappeared. They also realized they had the same employer, which helped ease some of the tensions. The Puldiver’s Delvers showed up for the finale and were soundly destroyed by the demon lords they were paired up to battle. Again, they will be back, death is just a mild inconvenience.
The Puldiver’s Delvers can be added into any campaign you run, as the Dungeon Master you can choose how and when they appear, if you want to play up the loveable troll oaf while the doctor bumbles scrolls and maps, perfect. If you want the Doctor to be brutal and scathing towards his hireling, great! I have also toyed with adding in more members to the Delvers but right now three worked very well.
Adventure Hooks:
-A strange team of researchers have been seen around town looking for someone to help them clear out a local ruin full of monsters. Once there and with the prize in sight it’s all bets are off as the Delvers scramble to get the prize before the party.
-The local museum has reported the theft of an important artifact. The item was last seen before a group of researchers barged in asking questions about it and were denied access.
-A troll in a very nice shirt was seen wandering the city looking for the friends that were headed to the “book stable”. Thudds knows the Doctor most likely is at the library, even if Thudds cant remember the right word for it. He will introduce the Delvers to the party and from there they might become allies. Puldiver uses this tactic to earn the party’s trust and find out if they have and good magic items for him to use.
-the party is hired by a traveling thrill seeker to take them on an adventure to some old mountain complex supposedly full of old ruins and lost secrets. When the party arrives, they find Puldiver’s Delvers already exploring the contents of the ruins, they are forced to team up when a terrible monster attacks and the Delvers reveal their true selves to better face the threat. It can turn out the Delvers are seeking something parrellel to the party’s goal so they are not seen as competition.
The Delvers also make a great rival party in later level games to hound the party’s footsteps or stealing away the treasure before the party can. With rakshasa in 5th edition games, you have the chance to have a reoccurring villain, since they reform in hell after their defeat, it just takes a while. Both oni and trolls regenerate so if they escape the fight there is a chance they will be back after they have healed up in a few minutes time. The Doctor also has allies from distant realms with the means to resurrect his fallen allies. Anchor would be the first he would bring back and if he is unable to get Thudds back he will just find another troll.
