Due to its sheer destructive potential, as well as the diffi- culty inherent to beating it — let alone destroying it — the Juggernaut is ill-suited to any but high-level campaigns.
Further, it is most appropriate in a campaign involving substantial warfare between cultures and countries, or at least where such open conflict is feasible. Dungeon-based campaigns, or games set largely in a single urban environ- ment, are probably not suited for the Juggernaut of Shaddar Khan (though the DM might, perhaps, run a semi-urban game in which the heroes must prevent someone from using the artifact against their hometown).
Under most circumstances, the DM is probably better off pitting the PCs against the Juggernaut, rather than letting them use it. Even if they aren’t able to battle it directly, the heroes might quest to prevent someone from locating and using the Juggernaut, to destroy its master while he is unprotected, or even to find some other artifact or great ally capable of countering its might.
Alternatively, the PCs may live under the thrall of someone who owns the Juggernaut. Are they part of an enslaved populace, seeking freedom? Or were they soldiers fighting on behalf of a righteous king, who has since been cowed into submission by the fiendish artifact? The DM can involve the Juggernaut in multiple separate parts of a campaign. During the early stages, the PCs might quest for the Juggernaut on behalf of a ruler, someone who seeks to use it to destroy a great and powerful evil kingdom. The midpoint of the campaign might involve the PCs fighting alongside the Juggernaut. Finally, during the last portion of the campaign, the PCs’ liege has apparently turned evil; the heroes must learn that he is being com- manded by the artifact itself, and must locate some means of freeing him from its influence.
The DM should think twice before allowing the PCs themselves to get their hands on the Elephant. It is a weapon so potent, it would require unbelievably powerful foes, or armies so vast they seem limitless, to even po- tentially stand against them. If the PCs are of the sort to try to conquer their neighbors’ lands, the DM may allow them to do this, knowing that they will eventually have to abandon all they have gained if they wish to escape both the artifact and their many enemies. Most players, however, tend to play good guys — or at least people who aren’t overtly evil. If a party gets hold of the Juggernaut and uses it only to defend the innocent and crush invaders, they may never make enough enemies for its extortion to hold any weight. In these circumstances, the DM can simply decide that the artifact ceases to work — or even that it eventually seeks out the PCs’ enemies, going from advantage to the greatest danger they’ve yet faced.
Adventure Seeds
At the Head of the Horde
The home nation of the PCs — or at least one they cur- rently occupy — has fallen under assault by goblin hordes, an orc army, a small cabal of necromancers with legions of undead, or a similar, relatively traditional enemy. This
is a foe that the PCs are likely powerful enough to defeat, though their numbers, or the might of their most potent leaders, might prove a slight challenge. Unfortunately, rumors that the invaders have some great weapon at their beck and call are all too true. The invading army’s assaults are all led by the Juggernaut, which mows through the ranks of the defenders like wheat. The PCs must learn what the Juggernaut is, and either find some way of destroying it, or some means of locating and slaying the enemy leader who commands it.
Shadows of Arrendra
A large force of elves appears from the unexplored wastelands. They swear they are the lost descendants of a forgotten nation, and they demand restitution from the distant ancestors of those who destroyed them — an act for which they blame the human race in general. The PCs might come across reference to the Juggernaut of Shaddar Khan when researching Arrendra. They must decide if they wish to seek out the artifact themselves, for military use or as a sign of peace and friendship with this elven nation. But where is it? And what if the Arrendran elves already have it, and are holding it in reserve?
The War at Home
The PCs have long fought in the service of a great king. Recently, he and his armies have finally defeated a power- ful and vile enemy, one who has harried their borders and threatened the entire continent for generations. The king achieved victory by using the Juggernaut (perhaps acquired for him by the PCs earlier in the campaign). Now, the Juggernaut has begun to exert control, and the king has come to the PCs for help. He cannot afford to disobey the Juggernaut. Without it, the newly pacified enemy nation would rise up again, and his armies are not strong enough to battle them back; they have come to rely on the artifact too strongly. Yet neither can he in good conscience obey the Juggernaut, for it would have him become as evil and oppressive as the government he so recently overthrew. The PCs must find for him a way to destroy the artifact, and to carry it out, without giving it sufficient time to send its telepathic call and alert its former victims that their conqueror is defenseless. What’s worse, the PCs must also find some other great magic or weapon to make up for the loss of the Juggernaut. After all, no matter how swiftly they destroy it, the enemy will eventually realize it is gone, and may rise up on their own.
Goliath vs. Goliath
Someone has found the Siege Hound of Dhula’zar, and is using it to wreak havoc. The PCs, mighty as they are, don’t stand a chance against the Hound on their own. But just maybe, their research and desperate quest might show them the way to another weapon, one of roughly equal power, that could allow them to battle their foe. (This plotline can, of course, be reversed, with the PCs seeking out the Hound to counter the Juggernaut.) In either case, the result is a battle
J U G G E R N A U T O F S H A D D A R K H A N of truly earthshaking proportions, capable of leveling entire
cities. And regardless of which artifact they wind up with, they find themselves facing further challenges and repercussions at the will of the artifact itself.