D&D Campaign Concept: Secret Invasion of the Sword Coast

I had the idea for a D&D campaign on a long car ride a few days ago. Okay, so. Marvel’s Secret Invasion set on the Sword Coast. Worse? You discover it’s not just the Sword Coast. It’s EVERYWHERE. Follow me, won’t you?

The Secret Invasion was a storyline from 2008, where it was revealed that a large number of the various superheroes and public figures in the world had been taken over by Skrulls for years, secretly infiltrating and taking over the whole world. This gave be a similar idea.

So, the PCs learn that the Red Sashes have been growing in number, expanding far beyond Phandelver. They’ve been recruiting and expanding their operations all along the Sword Coast. The PCs spend some time learning the Red Sashes are actively trying to overthrow the leaders of the major cities on the Sword Coast. 

Each city has a group they’ve brought in to help them deal with this rising Red Sash menace. Waterdeep has welcomed in a militant church group called the Church of Five Colors, with a symbol that is a star with each point a different color: green, blue, red, white, black.

Neverwinter has the Wardens of Janus, their symbol a two-headed man. Baldur’s Gate has a mercenary group known only as The Hand.

It isn’t until further into the campaign, the leaders of each of the cities seem to be giving too much power to each of these factions. The factions have essentially replaced the city guard of all of these cities.

The players are eventually captured by the Red Sashes. Once captured, their leader reveals the plot: The leadership of every major city has been slain from the top to the bottom, steadily over YEARS. Each has been replaced with dopplegangers. Three powerful entities are working together to conquer the world.

The Church of Five Colors is Tiamat. The Wardens of Janus are Demogorgon, and the Hand is Vecna. The problem is: How do you prove they’re dopplegangers? And how deep does the conspiracy go? Who do you turn to for justice when the entire justice system has been undermined and is in the control of these dopplegangers all serving these omnipotent beings? You have no city guard, they’re all replaced with these factions.

It’s not just the Sword Coast. It’s everywhere. The Purple Dragons were undermined years ago. Chult has been taken. Every worker of Candlekeep. There is no invasion. It already happened, and you lost.

So now what do you do? How do you overthrow a system that is pervasive and everywhere, where everyone is working against you, and if you tell the population, they’re gonna think you’re insane. And you don’t know who to trust. ANYONE could be a doppleganger.

You also can’t trust anyone around you. Anyone could turn out to be a doppleganger. Even if they aren’t currently, in the future they could be killed and replaced.

I honestly don’t have the solution to this campaign. I’m not sure if there is a way to win this campaign, but it would be really cool, and leave the players wondering who they could really trust.